Venezuela

Interpretation: Larger text = more human rights experts identified this group as being at risk.

When asked to provide more context about who was particularly unlikely to enjoy their right to education in 2025, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• All people, due to underfunding of public schools, lack of materials, low attendance, poor infrastructure, heavily politicised curriculums, low teacher salaries, and teacher shortages

• Children, due to needing to skip school or drop out to help their families economically, as well as malnutrition impeding their ability to learn or walk long distances to school

• University students, due to political interference, budget cuts, and academic freedom restrictions

• People in fishing towns

• It is common for teachers to only be available two days a week due to low pay and lack of transportation, contributing to low levels of literacy in the country, especially in rural areas

Interpretation: Larger text = more human rights experts identified this group as being at risk.

Right to freedom from arbitrary arrest

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to arbitrary or political arrest and detention by government agents in 2025, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Anyone who opposes the government, especially students, professors, journalists, human rights advocates, women, and girls

• Leaders of political opposition parties, such as Juan Pablo Guanipa

• Members of political opposition parties affiliated with the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) alliance

• People who denounce the government on social media

• Protesters, political opponents, members of labour unions, and activists are frequently detained on false accusations of terrorism or incitement to hatred

• Members of non-governmental organisations

• People living in mining areas

• Venezuela employs a ‘revolving door’ system of political imprisonment, where people are arbitrarily imprisoned then conditionally released, only to be detained again under new false charges, creating constant fear and uncertainty in detainees and their families and increasing the influence authorities hold over them

Right to freedom from forced disappearance

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to disappearance by government agents in 2025, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Anyone who opposes the government, especially students, professors, journalists, human rights advocates, women, and girls

• Protesters, political opponents, members of labour unions, and activists are frequently detained on false accusations of terrorism or incitement to hatred

• People who denounce the government on social media

• Victims of political detentions and arbitrary arrests, due to incommunicado detention for days or weeks before seeing a judge and the frequent use of torture in this time to make a false confession

• Detainees, due to the authorities concealing their location or denying their detention

• There are reports of detainees being reportedly released but their whereabouts remain unknown

• Enforced disappearances are used as a method of intimidation, punishment, and psychological pressure against detainees and their families

• Members of political opposition parties affiliated with the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) alliance

Right to freedom from extrajudicial execution

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to extrajudicial killing by government agents in 2025, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• All people, especially young men, despite underreporting

• Anyone who opposes the government, especially students, professors, journalists, human rights advocates, women, and girls

• People who denounce the government on social media

• Members of political opposition parties affiliated with the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) alliance

• Members of the military who are accused of disloyalty

• Detainees, due to extreme torture, the denial of medical care, and poor conditions in detention centres

• Detainees are held incommunicado for long periods in clandestine detention centres before being extrajudicially killed

• Extrajudicial killings are committed by state security forces, special operations units, and paramilitary groups known as ‘Colectivos’, especially against protesters

Right to freedom from torture and ill-treatment

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to torture and ill-treatment by government agents in 2025, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Anyone who opposes the government, especially students, professors, journalists, human rights advocates, women, and girls

• Members of political opposition parties affiliated with the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) alliance

• Members of the military who are accused of disloyalty

• People who denounce the government on social media

• Political prisoners

• Detainees in official or clandestine detention centres throughout the country, especially in El Helicoide and the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) headquarters in Caracas

• Detainees and prisoners are regularly subjected to psychological and physical forms of torture, such as sleep deprivation, strangulation, electric shocks, and the torturing of their family members

• Election observers for the 2024 presidential elections and journalists who covered the elections

• Indigenous communities, especially those that are isolated, are frequently extorted and mistreated by security forces

• Indigenous peoples, especially Pemón and Yanomami people, who oppose exploitation in the Orinoco Mining Arc

• People living in mining areas

• People suspected of criminal activity, especially young men

• Health care professionals

• Torture and ill-treatment are common during any arrest

Interpretation: Larger text = more human rights experts identified this group as being at risk.

Right to assembly and association

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to restrictions on their rights to assembly and association by the government or its agents in 2025, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Civil society organisations are required to provide the government with private documents in order for the state to authorise their operations, forcing many organisations to cease operations or act in secrecy, since the passing of the 2024 ‘Anti-solidarity law’, the Law on Control, Regularization, Operations and Financing of Non-Governmental and Related Organisations

• Civil society organisations are forced to appear before civil registries and disclose information about their donors and members to comply with Venezuela's laws, severely restricting their ability to receive funding and compromising their security, and very few are able to successfully register or update their registration

• Certain organisations aligned with the government are allowed to operate to create the appearance of free association

• Non-governmental organisations, especially those involved in human rights advocacy or political opposition activities

• Social movements, especially when advocating for freedom of speech or the right to information

• Members of political opposition parties associated with the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) alliance, such as María Corina Machado’s Vente Venezuela

• Leaders of political opposition parties are frequently arrested on false charges

• Members of homeowner associations, called ‘juntas de condominio’, who oppose the government

• Family members and friends of political detainees

• The government closely surveils and monitors people and organisations through state security forces, paramilitary groups, Local Committees for Supply and Production (CLAPS), and the Units of Battle Hugo Chavez (UBCh)

• Public reunions are generally prohibited and met with force by the police or paramilitary groups, particularly those for political opposition parties

Right to opinion and expression

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to restrictions on their rights to opinion and expression by government agents in 2025, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• All people, due to the normalisation of self-censorship

• People who speak out against the government, especially public officials, political activists, researchers, radio professionals, and members of the military

• People who express opinions opposing or questioning the government, especially on social media and WhatsApp, are frequently detained, disappeared, extrajudicially killed, or tortured

• Political opposition parties, especially those that are affiliated with the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) alliance, such as Vente Venezuela, Voluntad Popular, and Copei

• Non-governmental organisations, particularly due to the laws preventing foreign funding

• Traditional media such as newspapers, television, radio stations, and magazines are heavily controlled by the government

• Members of the National Union of Press Workers (SNTP)

• Journalists and members of the press who covered the election results and related protests, due to mass arrests and detentions

• People seeking to denounce their abusers, especially women, girls, and children, who are victims of harassment, sexual abuse, sex trafficking, arbitrary detention, or forced disappearances

• People are incentivised to inform the government when friends or neighbours criticise the government, particularly since the 2024 presidential elections

• The government restricts access to international news and social media sites, such as Twitter/X and YouTube

Right to participate in government

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to restrictions on their political participation by the government or its agents in 2025, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• All people who are not part of the ruling party, United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV)

• Political opposition parties, especially those that are affiliated with the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) alliance, such as Vente Venezuela

• All leaders of the political opposition are disqualified from running for election, harassed, persecuted, and often imprisoned, such as key opposition leaders in exile, María Corina Machado and Edmundo González

• Rafael Tudares, political prisoner and son-in-law of presumed winner of the 2024 presidential elections Edmundo González, was forcibly disappeared for over a year and condemned to prison

• Millions of Venezuelans living abroad cannot vote, despite being eligible

• Elections are neither free nor fair, and the electoral authority has faced criticism for lack of independence from the ruling party

Right to freedom of religion and belief

When asked to provide more context about who was especially vulnerable to restrictions on their freedom of religion and belief by the government or its agents in 2025, our respondents mentioned all of the following:

• Any religious group or leader who opposes the government or denounces the humanitarian crisis is persecuted and harassed by state officials

• Several churches are unable to register under the ‘Anti-solidarity law’, the Law on Control, Regularization, Operations and Financing of Non-Governmental and Related Organisations

• Catholic churches are restricted from holding large events

• Indigenous peoples, such as the Pemón and Warao, whose sacred lands are destroyed and exploited by the mining industry, state control, and non-state armed groups

• Certain religious groups receive government funding and favourable treatment in exchange for political loyalty, to counter the influence of the Catholic Church and evangelical churches who demand respect for human rights - Antisemitic speech and actions have increased

• Antisemitic speech and actions have increased amid the Israeli government’s actions and Venezuela’s strong pro-Palestinian stance, which, while not directly causing antisemitism, contributes to a climate where such behavior is tolerated.