The ISHR sharply condemns the increase in violence in Venezuela. Maduro’s regime is making dozens of minors disappear. At least 114 of the more than 1,500 arrests since the electoral fraud at the end of July are minors. The physical and psychological abuse of minors constitutes a serious violation of children’s welfare. Maduro continues to criminalise the peacefully demonstrating democracy movement.

About a month after the elections in Venezuela, 86 of the arrested 14 to 17-year-olds were released, with at least 28 others still imprisoned. The arrested adolescents are being denied age-appropriate treatment, some are being held in high-security prisons and some are being charged with ‘terrorism’.

“These are serious violations of children’s rights that cannot be justified. The ISHR strongly condemns this. The international community must act urgently to stop this injustice and protect the weakest members of society”, demands Edgar Lamm, President of the German section of the ISHR.

At the end of August, at least 20 of Venezuela’s 23 federal states were without power, in some cases the blackout lasted several days. Dictator Maduro speaks of a ‘war of hatred’ and blames the opposition and foreign powers, such as the US, for this alleged ‘sabotage’. The authorities did not provide any concrete information about the reason for the large-scale power outage. The regime used this power outage in the early hours of the morning to transfer numerous arrested protesters to other prisons. The detainees were not given any details about their transfer and were also denied legal assistance.

This exemplifies, how the hunt for the opposition continues. On 2 September, the public prosecutor’s office issued an arrest warrant for election winner Edmundo González. González had previously been summoned three times by Attorney General Tarek Saab to answer to arbitrary charges, including forgery, computer crime and incitement to disobedience. Fearing arrest, González did not attend the court summons. As regards representative Biagio Pilleri, who was arrested on August 28, there is still no information about his whereabouts or well-being.