The United Nations said Tuesday that US air strikes on Venezuela over the weekend, coupled with the seizure of the country’s leader, clearly “undermined a fundamental principle of international law.”
“States must not threaten or use force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state,” Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office, told reporters in Geneva.
“And this is what we are seeing,” she added, calling on the international community to “come together with one voice… to make clear that this is an action in contravention of the international law established by member states.”
US commandos, supported by warplanes, naval forces, and air strikes, forcibly seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in the early hours of Saturday. Maduro appeared in a New York court on Monday to deny drug trafficking and other charges brought by Washington, insisting he remains Venezuela’s legitimate president.
Maduro, who became president in 2013 after the death of his mentor Hugo Chavez, has faced criticism from the United States and European Union for allegedly rigging elections — most recently in 2024 — imprisoning opponents, and overseeing widespread corruption.
Shamdasani emphasized that the UN rights office has reported for years on the “continued deterioration” in Venezuela.
‘Unacceptable’
She dismissed US justifications for the operation, saying accountability for human rights violations “cannot be achieved by unilateral military intervention in violation of international law.”
“Using human rights arguments as a justification for this kind of military intervention is unacceptable,” she said, warning that it “will only make the situation worse.”
The UN spokeswoman highlighted that Venezuela’s state of emergency, declared on Saturday, allows property seizures, restricts free movement, and suspends the right to protest.
“Far from being a victory for human rights, this military intervention… damages the architecture of international security, making every country less safe,” Shamdasani said.
The rights office has been monitoring the situation from Panama since its staff were expelled from Venezuela in early 2024.
Nearly eight million Venezuelans, roughly a quarter of the population, needed humanitarian assistance even before the US operation, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR said it had not yet observed mass displacement since the intervention. UNHCR spokeswoman Eujin Byun said the agency is closely monitoring developments and is ready to “support emergency relief efforts and to protect displaced people in need as required.”
