GENEVA: The United Nations voiced deep concern Tuesday over what it said was a climate of fear in Venezuela following the country’s disputed presidential election results.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said he was troubled by the high number of arbitrary detentions and the disproportionate use of force.
“It is especially troubling that so many people are being detained, accused or charged either with incitement to hatred or under counterterrorism legislation,” Turk said in a statement.
“Criminal law must never be used to limit unduly the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.”
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro called Monday for the state to use an “iron fist” after deadly protests in response to his re-election, dismissed at home and abroad as a sham.
As the official protest death toll rose to 25, Maduro urged “severe justice” for violence he blames on the opposition, which insists its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won a July 28 vote by a landslide.
The UN human rights office said that according to official statements, more than 2,400 people have been arrested since July 29.
The figure includes the arbitrary detention of protesters, human rights defenders, adolescents, people with disabilities, members of the opposition or those perceived to be connected to them, as well as people who served as electoral observers accredited by opposition parties in polling stations, Turk’s office said.
Some of these cases would amount to enforced disappearances, it added.
“I call for the immediate release of everyone who has been arbitrarily detained, and for fair trial guarantees for all detainees,” said Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights.
“The disproportionate use of force by law enforcement officials and the attacks on demonstrators by armed individuals supporting the government, some resulting in deaths, must not be repeated.”
Turk’s spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a press briefing that the UN rights office wanted to see the right to political representation and freedom of expression upheld.
“In a climate of fear, there is no way that democratic principles can be realized, and there is no way that human rights can be protected,” she said.
“In such a climate of fear, when you have disagreement with a government policy, you will not express it.
“The very serious issues that Venezuela is facing right now on many fronts — economic, social — these will not be resolved if the people are living in a climate of fear.”
On Monday, the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela and rights violations urged the government to “immediately end the escalating repression” following the election.
It said more than 100 children and adolescents had been detained, and had not been accompanied by their parents during judicial proceedings.
The mission said street protests and social media criticism were being met with “fierce repression” and the government must “thoroughly investigate the spate of grave human rights violations that are currently occurring.”
UN concerned by ‘climate of fear’ in Venezuela
https://arab.news/nfg59
UN concerned by ‘climate of fear’ in Venezuela
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- “It is especially troubling that so many people are being detained, accused or charged either with incitement to hatred or under counterterrorism legislation,” Turk said
- “Criminal law must never be used to limit unduly the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association“
Biden says ending ban on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons being worked out
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- The US has been reluctant to supply or sanction the use of weapons that could strike targets deep inside in Russia for fear it would escalate the conflict.
US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that his administration was “working that out now” when asked if the US would lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long range weapons in its war against Russia.
The US has been reluctant to supply or sanction the use of weapons that could strike targets deep inside in Russia for fear it would escalate the conflict.
Kyiv’s other allies have been supplying weapons, but with restrictions on how and when they can be used inside Russia, out of concern such strikes could prompt retaliation that draws NATO countries into the war or provokes a nuclear conflict.
Sources told Reuters last week that the US was close to an agreement to give Ukraine such weapons, but that Kyiv would need to wait several months as the US works through technical issues ahead of any shipment.
Ukraine braces for hardest winter due to intensified Russian attacks on energy infrastructure
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- “Energy resilience is one of our greatest challenges this year,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a news conference in Kyiv
KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine’s prime minister warned Tuesday that the country could be facing its toughest winter since the full-scale Russian invasion began, as airstrikes against the country’s beleaguered energy infrastructure intensify.
Russian attacks continue to hammer Ukraine’s energy generation capacity, leaving the country heavily reliant on its three functioning nuclear power stations and electricity imports from European Union countries.
“Energy resilience is one of our greatest challenges this year,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a news conference in Kyiv.
“We successfully got through what was essentially two and a half winters. We will get through three, with this upcoming heating season likely being just as difficult, if not the hardest,” he said.
Shmyhal said Ukraine’s government, helped by European countries, was urgently developing initiatives to decentralize its power generation, to make it less vulnerable to attacks. That includes expanding renewable power capacity — a development applauded by environmental groups.
Greenpeace has argued that a decentralized solar power network — which would be harder to damage with Russian missile and drone strikes — could rapidly help repair domestic capacity, and is urging the government to make a bolder expansion into green energy.
The group is calling for internationally backed investments worth nearly 4.5 billion euros ($4.9 billion) through 2030, focusing on renewable projects dominated by the solar photovoltaic sector.
“(Our) research says that the current targets, which the Ukrainian government set for reaching solar energy by 2027, could be increased at least fivefold. This is a very conservative evaluation,” Natalia Gozak, head of Greenpeace in Ukraine, told The Associated Press after the group opened an office in Kyiv on Tuesday.
According to the United Nations and the World Bank, Ukraine lost more than half of its power-generating capacity in the first 14 months of the war, with the situation continuing to deteriorate. Much of the country’s solar power generation was also lost because areas in the south of the country with more abundant sunlight came under Russian occupation.
The pre-war power mix in Ukraine was heavily dominated by traditional sources of energy, with coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear making up nearly 95 percent of the total, according to the two bodies.
Alexander Egit, an executive director at Greenpeace for Central and Eastern Europe, urged Western donor nations to back projects focused on renewable energy during and after the war.
“We expect billions of euros to be invested in Ukraine’s reconstruction by the European Union and beyond,” he said. “Greenpeace’s role is to advocate for decentralized renewable energy to ensure Ukraine is rebuilt as a modern, green, and independent nation.”
Biden says Israeli killing of US-Turkish activist appears to be ‘accident’
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- "Eygi's family in the US released a statement saying “we are deeply offended by the suggestion that her killing by a trained sniper was in any way unintentional"
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Israel’s killing of a US-Turkish activist during a protest in the occupied West Bank last week appeared to have been an accident.
“Apparently it was an accident — it ricocheted off the ground, and she got hit by accident,” Biden told reporters, hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the killing was “unprovoked and unjustified.”
Germany insists tighter border checks in line with EU rules
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- Faeser on Monday announced that border controls already in place with Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland
BERLIN: Germany on Tuesday insisted its move to launch border controls with its nine neighboring countries to stop irregular migrants is in line with the EU’s rules and not an attempt to go it alone.
Berlin would not take unilateral measures “that could harm the European Union,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said after Poland slammed the decision and the EU cautioned that border checks could only be introduced as an “exceptional” measure.
Faeser on Monday announced that border controls already in place with Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland would be extended to the borders with France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark for an initial six months.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk condemned the move as “unacceptable” and said Warsaw would “reach out to other countries affected by Berlin’s decisions for urgent consultations.”
But Faeser’s ministry said the step complied with national and European law and reflect “coordinated action within Germany as well as within the EU.”
Her ministry added in a statement that “Germany continues to rely on close cooperation with its neighboring countries, for example through joint patrols and joint police centers at the borders.”
A heated political row has flared within Germany about ways to limit the entry of irregular migrants at a time of rising public anger after several deadly attacks by suspected Islamist militants.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition has come under intense pressure to address the issue, which has fueled the political rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD).
The conservative CDU opposition party and its Bavarian sister party have demanded far tougher steps and on Tuesday walked away from a high-profile crisis “summit” on the issue with the government.
“The government is incapable of action and leaderless,” charged Friedrich Merz, the CDU’s likely candidate against Scholz in elections a year from now.
The CDU has demanded Germany declare a national “emergency” to allow for across-the-board rejections of undocumented migrants at the border — a proposal the government has rejected.
Faeser instead presented a plan under which police could temporarily detain asylum seekers already registered in other EU member states, while authorities work to speedily send them back to that country.
EU police have access to the Eurodac database that captures fingerprints and other biometric data of irregular migrants and asylum seekers.
The interior ministry said that under its proposal, German police who stop asylum seekers at the border would check Eurodac and, if the person is identified, detain them while initiating steps to speedily deport them.
Police would quickly “check whether detention capacity is available” and apply to a court for detention or to assign them to a fixed residence to “prevent the persons from going into hiding.”
Russia’s Lukoil set to resume supplies via southern Druzhba in October, sources say
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- Under new deals with suppliers and pipeline operators, effective Monday, MOL said it would take ownership of the relevant crude at the Belarus-Ukraine border
MOSCOW: Russia’s Lukoil is set to resume oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline to Slovakia and Hungary in October after Hungary’s MOL said it had struck deals to transport crude through Belarus and Ukraine via the pipeline, two sources said on Tuesday.
The sources said the supplies would resume next month because this month’s export plans had been made in advance and it is difficult to reroute volumes.
One said Lukoil might be able to reroute a small volume this month, but it was yet to be seen.
In the summer, Kyiv banned Lukoil supplies after putting the Russian group on a sanctions list, preventing the transport of its oil to MOL refineries in Hungary and Slovakia.
Under new deals with suppliers and pipeline operators, effective Monday, MOL said it would take ownership of the relevant crude at the Belarus-Ukraine border. Previously, Russian oil suppliers sold crude oil on an FIP (free in pipeline) Feneshlitke basis in Hungary.
One of the sources said that MOL would bear all transport and other costs from the Belarus-Ukraine border to its refineries. Previously, Russia had to pay for oil transit via Ukraine, which raised many complications.
According to the sources, Russian oil supplies via Druzhba in September are planned at 510,000 metric tons for Slovakia and at 360,000 tons for Hungary. MOL’s refinery in Slovakia has planned maintenance at its only crude distillation unit starting on Sept. 23, which will result in lower crude intake.
Russia’s Tatneft and Russneft were seen as main suppliers of crude oil to Slovakia and Hungary in September, one of the sources added.
Russian oil is shipped via the Druzhba pipeline to Slovakia, Hungary and Czech Republic, which got an exclusion from an EU embargo on Russian oil due to limited opportunities for alternative oil supplies.