Venezuela orders suspension of UN rights office, gives staff days to leave
Al Jazeera
Earlier this week the UN agency expressed ‘deep concern’ over the detention of prominent rights activist, Rocio San Miguel.
Venezuela has ordered the local office of the United Nations human rights body to suspend operations and given its staff 72 hours to leave, accusing it of promoting opposition to the South American country.
Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil announced the decision at a news conference in the capital Caracas on Thursday.
He said the office – the local technical advisory office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – had been used by the international community “to maintain a discourse” against Venezuela.
The move came two days after the UN agency expressed “deep concern” over the detention of prominent rights activist Rocio San Miguel and called for her “immediate release”.
Gil said the UN rights office had taken on an “inappropriate role” and had become “the private law firm of the coup plotters and terrorists who permanently conspire against the country”.
