VENEZUELA: Social Rights Take a Battering in 1996

By Estrella Gutiérrez Reprint | | Print |

Estrella Gutierrez

CARACAS, Dec 10 1996 (IPS) - A serious deterioration in economic and social rights and persistent endemic violations of civil and political rights – especially the right to life – marked Venezuela’s human rights record in 1996.

The Venezuelan Education-Action in Human Rights Programme (Provea), the leading national human rights organisation, released its annual report this Tuesday, saying the violation of prisoners rights is especially rife within the nation.

The timing of the report coincided with world human rights day, which was also greeted in Caracas by a feminist meeting entitled “the rights of female humans,” calling for action against gender discrimination.

Raul Cubas, Provea general coordinator, told IPS rights like health, social security, worker and environmental protection had been seriously damaged by the second adjustment plan imposed in the country in the last seven years.

Civil and political rights have also suffered, and the right to life has been the most abused, with 146 deaths at the hands of State security – 30 more than in 1995 – 95 of which correspond to “de facto” application of the death sentence.

Some 220 prisoners died in the penitentiaries, 94 were shot, against a background where the most positive aspect was the reduction in reports of arbitrary detentions and violations of personal integrity and security.

One of the black marks highlighted by Cubas was that the Rafael Caldera administration had decided to refuse to accept reports from international and local human rights organisms, openly criticising entities like Amnesty International or the United Nations Commission on Torture.

The “Agenda Venezuela,” agreed by the government with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in April fell hard on the weak social fabric of the nation, with short and medium term effects on the local quality of life.

According to official figures, Cubas said open unemployment increased to 11.1 percent in 1996, the highest level since 1989, when the first economic stabilisation plan was brought in under IMF-imposed conditions.

The informal sector of the economy included 49.4 percent of activity and real salaries fell by 43.6 percent in value between Dec. 1995 and August this year, while only one in every 3.5 bolivars (the local currency) made contributions to worker welfare payments, as the rest is paid in bonds – against the social security laws.

The minimum income is fixed at around 110 dollars per month, a figure which does not even cover the cost of half the basic goods needed and has generated the poverty which now affects more than 80 percent of the nation’s 22 million inhabitants.

Inflation will reach a record level of 100 percent by the end of the year, while the Council of the Economy, which is generally conservative in its analysis, said the “misery index” (a combination of unemployment and cost of living) in creased from 34 percent in 1995 to 85 percent this year.

Provea analysed the impact on health, but it will only directly include the problem of nutrition in 1997, as this issue was recently established as a human right in a the World Food Summit in October.

At least 20 percent of young people suffer from malnutrition, while this year 55 hospitals were totally or partially closed with the subsequent deaths of 37 patients, while erradicated diseases, like tuberculosis, began to make a comeback.

In 1996, while the government stockpiled monetary reserves worth 16 billion dollars, public sector health spending fell to 33 dollars per person compared with 50 dollars in 1995.

Meanwhile, 50 percent of the people aged over 60 lacked protection of any kind, nearly 200,000 people had been waiting two years for unemployment benefit, and 100,000 people classed as pensioners had been expecting their first payment for the last four years.

Environmental deterioration led to the deforestation of 70 hectares per hour, according to a United Nations report. Marine pollution affects between 56 and 97 percent of the beaches in the far eastern and western areas of the nation.

As for the prisons, Provea reported that apart from the 220 who died between October 1995 and September 1996, there were 1,133 wounded, while 73.4 percent of the 25,000 prisoners are still awaiting sentence, and overcrowding was running at 56.2 percent in August.

In its annual report, Provea also said demonstrating can be a dangerous passtime in Venezuela. For 66 people were wounded by firearms and 756 detained, while one in five peaceful marches was violently put down.

Meanwhile, the women related non governmental organisations decided to launch a campaign to get in depth information on the discrimination and abuse against women in the country, as so far only “the tip of the iceberg” is known.

Also, in a meeting on “the development of female humans,” they agreed to pressure Congress for prompt approval of a bill on violence against women and children, establishing action to raise consciousness against impunity for the aggression tolerated by women.