Join us for a discussion about the path taken by the civil society to bring the Venezuelan situation before the International Criminal Court.

Panelists:

• Genesis Davila, President of Defiende Venezuela NGO and Transitional Justice Fellow at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University
• Rodrigo Diamanti, President of Un Mundo Sin Mordaza NGO, Harvard MPA

Moderator:

• Pablo De Greiff, Director of the Transitional Justice Program at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University and Rapporteur, HRC Experts’ Group on Prevention (2019-2020), and former Special Rapporteur for the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence (2012-2018), United Nations

Background:

On September 27, 2018, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court received a referral from a group of States Parties to the Rome Statute namely the Argentine Republic, Canada, the Republic of Colombia, the Republic of Chile, the Republic of Paraguay and the Republic of Peru regarding the situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela since February 12, 2014. Pursuant to article 14 of the Statute of the International Criminal Court, the referring States requested the Prosecutor to initiate an investigation on crimes against humanity allegedly committed in the territory of Venezuela.

On September 28, 2018, the Presidency assigned the Situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to Pre-Trial Chamber I. On February 19, 2020, the Presidency reassigned the Situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela I to Pre-Trial Chamber III.

In 2020, the Office concluded that there is a reasonable basis to believe that crimes against humanity, particularly in the context of detention, have been committed in Venezuela since at least April 2017.

On November 3, 2021, the Prosecutor announced that the preliminary examination had been concluded with a decision to proceed with investigations. The Prosecutor’s announcement was coupled with an agreement between the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Office of the Prosecutor to continue to foster means and mechanisms to support and promote genuine national proceeding in Venezuela, while undertaking to establish mechanisms to enhance cooperation between the parties to facilitate the discharge of the Prosecutor’s mandate on the territory of Venezuela.