Venezuela’s National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez looks on while holding a folder containing the recently approved Simon Bolivar Liberator law after a session at the National Assembly.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Venezuelan lawmakers on Thursday (November 28, 2024) approved a bill that codifies economic sanctions, like those imposed by the United States, as crimes against humanity and allows the prosecution of anyone who expresses support for the measures.

The bill, approved by the unicameral National Assembly, implicitly targets leading Opposition leaders, many of whom have supported economic sanctions as a means to pressure the government into negotiations. The measure bans supporters of economic sanctions from running for office and allows authorities to prosecute them in absentia and seize their property.

“The unilateral coercive measures and other restrictive or punitive measures adopted against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela constitute a crime against humanity, within the framework of a systematic and widespread attack against the civilian population,” the bill, as read during Thursday’s session, states.

A conviction under the bill would carry a sentence of at least 25 years in prison.

The approval comes one day after the White House announced it had imposed sanctions on 21 individuals it accused of undermining Venezuela’s July presidential election. It also followed the decision by the U.S. House of Representatives last week to pass a bill that would block the federal government from contracting any company doing business with the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

The measure is the latest effort by Venezuela’s ruling party to silence dissent after the July election, which Mr. Maduro and former diplomat Edmundo González both claim to have won.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared Mr. Maduro the winner hours after polls closed on July 28. But unlike previous Presidential elections, electoral authorities did not provide detailed vote counts.

Meanwhile, the main Opposition coalition collected tally sheets from 80% of the nation’s electronic voting machines, posted them online and said the voting records showed González won the election with twice as many votes as Mr. Maduro.

Anti-government protests erupted nationwide the day after the election, drawing repression from state security forces, which arrested more than 2,200 people, including political leaders, lawyers, poll workers, election volunteers and protesters, both minors and adults.

González left Venezuela in September for exile in Spain after a warrant was issued for his arrest in connection with an investigation into the publishing of the vote tally sheets, while opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been hiding for months at an undisclosed location.

Machado last year won the presidential primary organized by the main opposition coalition. But Maduro’s government kept her off the July 28 ballot via an administrative decision that concluded she could not run for office because she allegedly sought the broad economic sanctions the U.S. imposed last decade in an effort to topple Maduro. The sanctions crippled Venezuela’s crucial oil sector.

Machado’s hand-picked substitute was also barred from representing the Unitary Platform opposition coalition. That prompted the faction’s leadership to choose González as candidate.

Last week, Venezuela’s Attorney General’s Office announced a new investigation against Machado. Her comments in favor of the U.S. House bill, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office, “constitute the commission of crimes of treason against the country,” conspiracy with foreign countries and association.

Machado rejected the accusations in a video she posted Thursday on social media.

“Let them accuse us of treason against the country the day we stand by with our arms crossed, when we believe that there is nothing more to fight for,” she said in a video showing images from this year’s presidential campaign. “In that moment, accuse us of betraying the country… resigning ourselves would be a betrayal.”

A view of the International Criminal Court, in The Hague, Netherlands. File
| Photo Credit: AP

A key United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly committee adopted a resolution on Friday (November 22, 2024) paving way for negotiations on a first-ever treaty on preventing and punishing crimes against humanity after Russia dropped amendments that would have derailed the effort.

The resolution was approved by consensus by the assembly’s legal committee, which includes all 193-member U.N. nations, after tense last-minute negotiations between its supporters and Russia that dragged through the day.

There was a loud applause when the chairman of the committee gavelled the resolution’s approval. It is virtually certain to be adopted when the General Assembly puts it to a final vote on December 4.

International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former Defence Minister, Hamas leader Mohammed Deif

“Today’s agreement to start up negotiations on a much-needed international treaty is an historic achievement that was a long time coming,” Richard Dicker, Human Rights Watch’s senior legal adviser for advocacy, told The Associated Press.

“It sends a crucial message that impunity for the kinds of crimes inflicted on civilians in Ethiopia, Sudan, Ukraine, southern Israel, Gaza and Myanmar will not go unheeded,” he said.

The resolution calls for a time-bound process with preparatory sessions in 2026 and 2027, and three-week negotiating sessions in 2028 and 2029 to finalise a treaty on crimes against humanity.

Mr. Dicker said Russia’s proposed amendments left in question whether treaty negotiations would have been completed. Russia’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Maria Zabolotskaya said Russia withdrew the amendments “in a spirit of compromise.” But she said Russia “dissociates itself from consensus.”

“This, of course, does not mean that we are not ready to work on this crucial convention,” Ms. Zabolotskaya told the committee.

The great significance of the ICC’s step

The International Criminal Court was established to punish major perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide and it has 124 countries that are parties to it. The ICC says crimes against humanity are committed as part of a large-scale attack on civilians and it lists 15 forms including murder, rape, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, sexual slavery, torture and deportation. But the ICC does not have jurisdiction over nearly 70 other countries.

There are global treaties that cover war crimes, genocide and torture — but there has been no specific treaty addressing crimes against humanity. And according to sponsors of the resolution, led by Mexico and Gambia and backed by 96 other countries, a new treaty will fill the gap.

Kelly Adams, legal advisor at the Global Justice Center, also called the resolution “a historic breakthrough” after many delays. Pointing to “the proliferation of crimes against humanity around the world,” she expressed hope that a treaty will be “strong, progressive and survivor-centric.”

Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard expressed disappointment that the timeline had been extended until 2029, but said, “What’s important is that this process will deliver a viable convention.”

“It is long overdue and all the more welcome at a time when too many states are intent on wrecking international law and universal standards,” she said. “It is a clear sign that states are ready to reinforce the international justice framework and clamp down on safe havens from investigation and prosecution for perpetrators of these heinous crimes.”

After the resolution’s adoption, Gambia’s Counselor Amadou Jaiteh, who had introduced it hours earlier, called its approval “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a difference,” to hope for a world without crimes against humanity, “and a world where voices of victims are heard louder than their perpetrators.”

Dhaka:

A fresh complaint was filed on Tuesday with Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal accusing deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 23 others of committing crimes against humanity and genocide during a rally by an Islamist group in May 2013.

Supreme Court lawyer Gazi MH Tamim filed the complaint on behalf of Mufti Harun Ijahar Chowdhury, joint secretary general (education and law) of Hefajat-e-Islam, The Daily Star newspaper reported.

“We registered the complaint, and thus the investigation has started from today,” Ataur Rahman, deputy director (admin) of the investigation agency, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

“Once we complete the preliminary investigation and visit the place of occurrence and the tribunal is reconstituted, we, through the prosecution, will seek arrest warrants against the accused,” he said.

The complaint accused Hasina and 23 others of committing crimes against humanity and genocide during a Hefajat-e-Islam rally at Motijheel’s Shapla Chattar on May 5, 2013.

This is the fourth complaint filed with the International Crimes Tribunal accusing the 76-year-old former premier, who resigned and fled to India on August 5 following massive protests against her government over a controversial quota system in government jobs.

Of the four, three cases are connected to the recent violence centring on the quota reform movement.

The other accused includes Awami League general secretary and former road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader, former minister Reshed Khan Menon, former mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, ex-advisor to prime minister Salman F Rahman, former security advisor to the prime minister Tarique Ahmed Siddique, former inspector general of police AKM Shahidul Haque, editor of ABnews24.com Subhash Singha Roy and former army chief Aziz Ahmed.

Besides them, some unnamed ministers, state ministers and lawmakers, unnamed individuals from law enforcement agencies and the then policymakers of some electronic and print media were accused.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday asked India to extradite Hasina to face trial as he accused her of plotting to thwart the country’s revolution.

Over 230 people were killed in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina-led Awami League government, taking the toll to more than 600 since the massive protest by students first started in mid-July.

An interim government was formed after the fall of the Hasina-led government, and 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was named its Chief Adviser.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologises for the events surrounding Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelenskyy’s visit at a media availability in Ottawa, Ontario, on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologised Wednesday, September 27, 2023, for Parliament’s recognition of a man who fought alongside the Nazis during last week’s address by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Mr. Trudeau said the speaker of the House of Commons, who resigned Tuesday, was “solely responsible” for the invitation and recognition of the man but said it was a mistake that has deeply embarrassed Parliament and Canada.

“All of us who were in the House on Friday regret deeply having stood and clapped, even though we did so unaware of the context,” Mr. Trudeau said before he entering the House of Commons. “It was a horrendous violation of the memory of the millions of people who died in the Holocaust, and was deeply, deeply painful for Jewish people.”

Mr. Trudeau repeated the apology in Parliament.

Just after Mr. Zelenskyy delivered an address in the House of Commons on Friday, Canadian lawmakers gave 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka a standing ovation when Speaker Anthony Rota drew attention to him. Rota introduced Hunka as a war hero who fought for the First Ukrainian Division.

Observers over the weekend began to publicise the fact that the First Ukrainian Division also was known as the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, or the SS 14th Waffen Division, a voluntary unit that was under the command of the Nazis.

“It is extremely troubling to think that this egregious error is being politicised by Russia, and its supporters, to provide false propaganda about what Ukraine is fighting for,” Mr. Trudeau said.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that the standing ovation for Hunka was “outrageous,” and he called it the result of a “sloppy attitude” toward remembering the Nazi regime. Russian President Vladimir Putin has painted his enemies in Ukraine as “neo-Nazis,” although Zelenskyy is Jewish and lost relatives in the Holocaust.

Speaker of the House Anthony Rota stepped down on Tuesday, September 26, after meeting with the House of Commons’ party leaders, and after all of the main opposition parties called on him to resign.

House government leader Karina Gould said that Mr. Rota invited and recognszed Hunka without informing the government or the delegation from Ukraine, and that his lack of due diligence had broken the trust of lawmakers.

In an earlier apology on Sunday, Mr. Rota said he alone was responsible for inviting and recognising Hunka, who is from the district that Rota represents. The speaker’s office said it was Hunka’s son who contacted NMr. Rota’s local office to see if it was possible if he could attend Zelenskyy’s speech.

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies has called the incident “a stain on our country’s venerable legislature with profound implications both in Canada and globally.” (