The Human Rights Actions Network
www.derechos.org/human-rights/actions/
ACTION REQUEST
Case VEN 300699
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your urgent intervention
in the following situation in Venezuela.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed of grave
concerns for hundreds of people fleeing from Colombia to Venezuela.
According to the Red de Apoyo por la Justicia y la Paz, member of
the OMCT network, on 29 June 1999, approximately 700 people (coming
from the Catatumbo region, Department of Norte de Santander),
including children and women, arrived in La Vaquera municipality, State
of Zulia, Venezuela.
According to the information received, following recent paramilitary
attacks in the Colombian Catatumbo region (see Appeal Case COL
030699, whereby OMCT denounced paramilitary killings and expressed
serious grounds for concern of further acts of violence in the Catatumbo
region), inhabitants started leaving their homes fearing for their physical
and psychological integrity.
It has been further reported that according to local newspapers, 300
Colombian who had been previously arrived in Venezuelan territory
fleeing from the Colombian violence were compelled by the Army to
return. This action was taken in the absence of any inquiry as to their
status, in violation of the international refugee law, in particular the
principle of non refoulement, according to which no State shall return a
refugee in any manner to a country where his or her life or freedom may
be endangered. The principle also encompasses non-rejection at the
frontier.
OMCT is seriously concerned over the possibility that, as in the
previous cases, the authorities of Venezuela return these approximately
700 people to Colombia in spite of the non refoulement principle and the
1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees (whose principles were
reaffirmed by the 1994 San Jose Declaration on Refugees and Displaced
Persons) established a new definition of refugee according to which, "in
addition to containing the elements of the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol, includes among refugees persons who have fled their country
because their lives, safety or freedom have been threatened by
generalized violence, foreign aggression, internal conflicts, massive
violation of human rights or other circumstances which have seriously
disturbed public order".
Furthermore, Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture prohibits the
return of a person to another State where there are substantial grounds
for believing that he or she would be in danger of being subjected to
torture.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities of Venezuela urging them to
i. adopt adequate protection measures for the Colombian people
arrived in Venezuela fleeing from the Catatumbo violence;
i. comply with international human rights standards on
refugees, particularly, with the non-refoulement principle and
the definition of refugee as embodied in the Convention
Against Torture and in the Cartagena Declaration on
Refugees.
iii.ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms in accordance with national laws and
international human rights standards.
Addresses
S.E. D. Hugo Chávez Frías, Presidente de la República, Palacio de
Miraflores, Caracas, Venezuela. Fax (+ 58 2) 83 82 39
Dr. Iván Darío Badell Gonzáelz, Fiscal General de la República, Manduca
a Ferrenquín, La Candelaria, Caracas, Venezuela. Fax .(+ 58 2) 577 21 44 o
(+58 2) 564.74.61
Ministerio de Relaciones Interiores, Ministro de Relaciones Interiores y
Justicia
Ignacio Arcaya, Fax00582 8627516/ 8644334/5768719
Presidenta del Instituto Nacional del Menor, Dra. M. Pérez Sierra, Fax
00 582 5078400 /5078401
Diplomatic representatives of Venezuela accredited to your country.
Geneva, 30 June 1999
