Intervention of the Delegation of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela 8th Period of Sessions on the Forum on Minority Issues Addressing the profound causes of discrimination in the administration of justice Geneva, November 24 and 25, 2015 Thank you Mr. President, The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela considers the present forum appropriate for the exchange of best practices destined to contributing towards the protection of those excluded in the world, in particular minorities, who in many cases continue to see their human rights violated, subjugated to discrimination and racism. Mr. President, For the Venezuelan State, the promotion and protection of the human rights of minorities contribute towards the political and social stability of States and to the strengthening of and cooperation among peoples. The Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela enshrines the principle of non-discrimination, the right to the free development of personality, the freedom of worship and belief, with the end goal of guaranteeing that every person fully enjoys the inalienable, indivisible, and interdependent exercise of their human rights. In this order of ideas, the Venezuelan State has promulgated laws that consolidate the guarantee of respect of the human rights of individuals, without any discrimination, which is evidenced in the Organic Law against Racial Discrimination, which codified the crime of racial discrimination. The Law of Victims, Witnesses, and other Procedural Subjects Destines to Guarantee the protection of all persons, individual or collective, before all threat, discrimination or any other arbitrary action. Within these normative advancements and in what concerns the guarantee in the penal judicial system of equal treatment of individuals belonging to minorities, in Venezuela there are dispositions in the national legislation oriented towards guaranteeing the right of equality, like the Organic Law on the Rights of Women to a Life Free of vVolence; the Law on the Protection of Children and Adolescents; the Law on Indigenous Peoples; the Law on People with Disabilities; the Law on the Protection of Families, Maternity, and Paternity; the Law on Special Procedures in Matters of Familiar Protection for Children and Adolescents; the Organic Law on the Special Jurisdiction of Justice in Communal Peace; the Law on Foreigners and Migration; and the Organic Law on Refugees and Asylum Seekers. On the other side, the Venezuelan jurisprudence has been pronounced in favour of the recognition of minorities, equality, and non-discrimination. Through the ruling of October 17, 2000, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, which has a binding character on the rest of the tribunals in the country, which concerned the understanding of the Right to Equality and Non-discrimination, the ruling ensures that it is the obligation of the Public Powers of the State to