On 27 June 2025, Lawyers for Lawyers and the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute delivered an oral statement during the interactive dialogue regarding the report of the High Commissioner on the situation of human rights in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
The statement reads as follows:
Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L) and the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)[1] thank the High Commissioner for this report.
The repression of dissent in Venezuela continues at an alarming rate. At least 932 individuals remain detained for political reasons.
Following the 2024 elections, an increasingly hostile environment for the legal profession has taken hold. Lawyers are denied access to clients and case files, and face threats and arrests for carrying out their work.
Prominent cases include the detentions of Rocío San Miguel, Kennedy Tejeda, and Eduardo Torres. Like other political prisoners, they have been subjected to enforced disappearance, torture, prolonged incommunicado detention, and denied the right to legal representation of their choice.
In many cases, criminalization is the most evident expression of a broader pattern of stigmatization of lawyers and human rights defenders as “enemies of the State,” in a context of escalating repression against civil society.
These practices create a climate of fear among those practicing law, severely hindering access to justice.
We call for the immediate and unconditional release of San Miguel, Tejeda, Torres, and all those detained for political reasons. We urge this Council to maintain a firm response to the deterioration of the rule of law in Venezuela and to ensure that lawyers can carry out their professional duties freely and safely.
[1] The following NGOs without consultative status also share the views expressed in this statement: Foro Penal and AlertaVenezuela
For the pdf version of the statement in English and Spanish: click here
