UN consultants criticise US blockade for endangering human rights and name for an investigation into alleged violations.
Revealed On 24 Dec 2025
4 United Nations human rights consultants have condemned the partial naval blockade of Venezuela by the USA, discovering it an unlawful armed aggression and calling on the US Congress to intervene.
“There isn’t any proper to implement unilateral sanctions by means of an armed blockade,” the UN consultants mentioned in a joint assertion on Wednesday.
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The US has deployed a significant navy drive within the Caribbean and intercepted oil tankers as a part of a naval blockade towards Venezuelan vessels it considers to be beneath sanctions.
A blockade is a prohibited use of navy drive towards one other nation beneath the UN Constitution, they added.
“It’s such a severe use of drive that it is usually expressly recognised as unlawful armed aggression beneath the Common Meeting’s 1974 Definition of Aggression,” the consultants mentioned. “The unlawful use of drive, and threats to make use of additional drive at sea and on land, gravely endanger the human proper to life and different rights in Venezuela and the area.”
US President Donald Trump accuses Venezuela of utilizing oil, the South American nation’s major useful resource, to finance “narcoterrorism, human trafficking, murders and kidnappings”.
Caracas denies any involvement in drug trafficking. It says Washington is searching for to overthrow its president, Nicolas Maduro, to grab Venezuela’s oil reserves, the most important on the planet.
Since September, US forces have launched dozens of air strikes on boats that Washington alleges had been transporting medication. It has but to offer proof for these accusations. Greater than 100 individuals have been killed.
‘US Congress ought to intervene’
“These killings quantity to violations of the precise to life. They should be investigated and people accountable held accountable,” the consultants mentioned.
“In the meantime, the US Congress ought to intervene to forestall additional assaults and elevate the blockade,” they added.
They referred to as on nations to take measures to cease the blockade and unlawful killings and convey the perpetrators to justice.
The 4 who signed the joint assertion are: Ben Saul, particular rapporteur on defending human rights whereas countering “terrorism”; George Katrougalos, an knowledgeable on selling a democratic and equitable worldwide order; improvement knowledgeable Surya Deva; and Gina Romero, particular rapporteur on the precise to freedom of peaceable meeting and affiliation.
