Paper on President Chavez

So for my Human Rights class at the UW (that's Washington not Wisconsin for those of you east of the Mississippi) I wrote a paper on the growing authoritarianism in Venezuela. While I am writing on authoritarianism I do not call President Chavez a dictator and i urge you all to pay particular attention to my conclusion. Enjoy!
The issue of human rights has always been a pressing one; ever since the end of World War II, when the world saw the horrors of the Holocaust. With the creation of the United Nations the issue of human rights became an international issue rather than a domestic one. The United Nations has many documents that protect human rights. These include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Social and Economic Rights. While there have been many improvements in the area of human rights, some countries still have human rights violations. One such country is Venezuela where, since Hugo Chavez won the Presidency in 1999, has been slowly drifting towards authoritarianism. To be fair not everything Hugo Chavez has done for Venezuela has been negative such as this Washington Post article suggests, “Eight years into what Chavez calls "21st century socialism," Venezuela's economy has evolved into one marked by contradictions: the highest growth rate in the Americas and grinding underemployment, out-of-control consumerism and a lack of investment, troubling uncertainty and golden prospects. The economy is expected to expand by more than 8 percent this year, the highest rate in South America. Gross domestic product has shot up from about $92 billion in 2002 to a projected $170 billion this year” (Washington Post). President Chavez has been very concerned with helping the poor and disadvantaged in Venezuela and his policies are helping them. On the other hand he is doing whatever it takes to get what he wants done without thinking of the consequences. In this paper one will examine several issues that are happening in Venezuela and how human rights are being violated. These issues are: imposing jail sentences on people who offend government officials, shutting down schools that don’t follow the government plan, not renewing the TV and radio licenses if they are critical of the government, and throwing out foreign dignitaries. These issues will be compared with the Venezuelan Constitution, the Convention on Discrimination in Education (CDE), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant on Social and Economic Rights (ICSER), and the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR), all of which have been signed and ratified by Venezuela. Once these issues have been fully explored solutions will be given to help Venezuela become free of human rights violations. One area of concern in Venezuela is the tightening of free speech restrictions and the possibility of jail time if offending remarks are made about government officials. The Venezuelan Constitution of 1999 declares that people have a right to freedom, to participate in public matters and declares that Venezuela is irrevocably free (Venezuelan Constitution, Articles 1, 44, and 62) in the Constitution. One can interpret these articles to mean that freedom of speech should and will be respected. However this is not the case, as in 2005 President Chavez made changes to the Venezuelan Criminal Code that punished dissent, “The president, vice-president, government ministers, state governors and members of the Supreme Court are already protected from disrespect under the law. The new provisions extend this protection to legislators of the National Assembly, members of the National Electoral Council, the attorney general, the public prosecutor, the human rights ombudsman, the treasury inspector, and members of the high military command. Anyone convicted of offending these authorities could go to prison for up to 20 months. Anyone who gravely offends the president, on the other hand, can incur a penalty of up to 40 months in prison” (Human Rights Watch). By making these changes President Chavez violated several treaties that Venezuela has signed and ratified. Venezuela is violating article 1 section one of the International Covenant on Social and Economic Rights which states that all people have a right to self-determination and have a right to determine their political status. (ICSER). Venezuela is also violating article 1 section 1, article 2 section 1, article 9 section 1, article 18, and article 19 of the ICCPR, which state that all people have the right to self-determination, the state shall respect its citizens, no one should be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention, every has the freedom of though, and to hold freedoms without interference (ICCPR). In addition to international treaties the regional American Convention on Human Rights has articles 7, 12, and 13 violated which state that individuals have the right to personal liberty, freedom of conscience and religion, and freedom of thought and expression (ACHR). It is clear to see that President Chavez is curtailing freedom of speech. President Chavez is also shutting down schools that don’t follow his socialist agenda. President Chavez is very committed to the idea of a socialist Venezuela and is willing to do whatever it takes to see that happen. One way President Chavez is doing that is by threatening to shut down private schools that don’t follow his ideology, “All Venezuelan schools, public and private, must submit to state inspectors enforcing the new educational system. Those that refuse will be closed and nationalized, Mr. Chavez said. A new curriculum will be phased in during this school year, and new textbooks are being developed to help educate “the new citizen,” said Adán Chavez, the president’s brother and the education minister, in their televised ceremony on the first day of classes” (New York Times). This directive by President Chavez violates articles 102 and 103 of the Venezuelan constitution which state that Education is a human right and a fundamental social duty; it is democratic, free of charge and obligatory and every person has the right to a full, high-quality, ongoing education under conditions and circumstances of equality, subject only to such limitations as derive from such persons own aptitudes, vocation and aspirations (Venezuelan Constitution). Venezuela is also violating international treaties they signed; for instance they violated Articles 1(a and b), and 5(b) of the CDE which state that a state cannot deny any person to education of any type, limit them to an inferior education, and to respect the rights of the parents to choose where there child attends school (CDE). Article 13 Section 2(b) of the ICSER is violated which states, secondary education in its different forms, including technical and vocational secondary education, shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education (ICSER). In addition Venezuela violates articles 18 and 19 of the ICCPR which state that everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice (ICCPR). President Chavez is not just violating international treaties he is violating regional treaties as well that includes articles 12 and 13 of the ACHR which state, No one shall be subject to restrictions that might impair his freedom to maintain or to change his religion or beliefs, everyone has the right to freedom of thought and expression. This right includes freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing, in print, in the form of art, or through any other medium of one's choice (ACHR). President Chavez is violating all these treaties by shutting down private schools that don’t follow his socialist ideology. Schools are not the only institution that President Chavez is threatening to shut down he is also saying the same for TV and Radio Stations. The reason for doing this is President Chavez does not feel he or his plans for Venezuela should be criticized, “Venezuelan police fired tear gas and plastic bullets Monday into a crowd of thousands protesting a decision by President Hugo Chavez that forced a television station critical of his leftist government off the air.Police fired toward the crowd of up to 5,000 protesters from a raised highway, and protesters fled amid clouds of tear gas…Chavez had refused to renew RCTV's broadcast license, accusing it of "subversive" activities and of backing a 2002 coup against him” (Washington Post). In addition to shutting down this TV station Venezuela passed a law that would undermine freedom of expression, “A draft law to increase state control of television and radio broadcasting in Venezuela threatens to undermine the media’s freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said today. Venezuela’s National Assembly, which has been voting article by article on the law, known as the Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television, is expected to approve it today, This legislation severely threatens press freedom in Venezuela,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “Its vaguely worded restrictions and heavy penalties are a recipe for self-censorship by the press and arbitrariness by government authorities” (Human Rights Watch). These new laws violate articles 2, 57, and 58, of the Venezuelan Constitution which state that Venezuela is a democratic state, everyone has the right to freely express their opinions by any from of expression and no censorship shall be established, and communications are free and plural (Venezuelan Constitution). These laws also violated articles 18 and 19 of the ICCPR, which state that, “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice” (ICCPR). Article 13 of the ACHR is also violated which states that everyone has a right to freedom of though and expression and that there can be no censorship (ACHR). President Chavez seems to only want his ideology expressed and will end freedom of expression to achieve that. President Chavez has declared that foreign dignitaries that criticize him shall be deported from Venezuela, “Hugo Chavez has served notice that foreign dignitaries visiting Venezuela will be deported if they presume publicly to criticise him as he attempts to transform the country into a single-party state dedicated to his vision of "21st century socialism".How long are we going to allow a person from any country in the world to come to our own house to say there's a dictatorship here, that the President is a tyrant, and nobody does anything about it?" Mr Chavez asked during his weekly television and radio program, Alo, Presidente, on Sunday” (The Independent). This executive order violates article 12 and 13 of the ICCPR, Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement. An alien lawfully in the territory of a State Party to the present Covenant may be expelled there from only in pursuance of a decision reached in accordance with law and shall, except where compelling reasons of national security otherwise require, be allowed to submit the reasons against his expulsion and to have his case reviewed by, and be represented for the purpose before, the competent authority or a person or persons especially designated by the competent authority. (ICCPR). Article 22 of the ACHR is also violated, which states that Every person lawfully in the territory of a State Party has the right to move about in it, and to reside in it subject to the provisions of the law (ACHR). Deporting foreign dignitaries from the country for criticizing the President and his policies is a violation of international and regional treaties. Also president Chavez has traveled to the US and criticized President Bush so it is hypocritical for him to give this executive order. It is clear that changes need to happen in Venezuela, as President Chavez is not only violating the national constitution but international and regional treaties as well, which according to the Venezuelan Constitution are to be respected. In order to fix these human rights violations the other countries of the world have to come talk to Venezuela in a respectful manner to get them to see that these human right violations are not right. Sanctions would just be putting oil on the fire as it would further upset President Chavez and he might place more restriction on Venezuela. One reason that President Chavez is acting this way because he sees the US and other countries trying to undermine him, if the US were to accept the fact that Venezuela is a socialist country now and have a friendly relationship with them it could go a long way in fixing these human rights violation in Venezuela.
Work Cited
American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR)BBC News, “Venezuelans 'lost faith in polls'” 6 Dec 2005.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4501890.stmHuman Rights Watch, “Venezuela: Curbs on Free Expression Tightened, 24 March 2005. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/03/24/venezu10368.htm
Human Rights Watch, “Venezuela: Media Law Undercuts Freedom of Expression, 24 Nov 2004.http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/11/30/venezu9754.htm
International Convention on Economic and Social Rights (ICESR)
International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)New York Times, “Chavez Warns Private Schools Not to Resist His Inspectors” 18 Sept 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/world/americas/18venez.html?_r=1&oref=sloginReuters, “Chavez foes attack push to end term limits” 16 Aug 2007. http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN1526395420070816Venezuela ConstitutionWashington Post. “Crime Brings Venezuelans Into Streets” 10 May 2006http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/09/AR2006050901803.html
Washington Post, “Venezuelans Protest As TV Station Shuts” 29 May 2007. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/28/AR2007052800161.html