Intervention of the Delegation of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela 7th Period of Sessions of the Forum on Minority Issues Preventing and Addressing Violence and Atrocious Crimes Directed against Minorities Geneva, November 25 and 26, 2014 Thank you Mr. President, The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela considers the present space opportune for the contribution and exchange of good practices to contribute to the defense of the marginalized in the world, in this particular case minority groups, which in many cases continue to see their rights violated, subjugated to discrimination and racism. Mr. President, In the present theme, on the prevention of violence and its atrocities, our country, as a firm defender and lover of peace, is of the idea that only through genuine dialogue and international cooperation between nations, as well as the prominent participation of all peoples without any discrimination and with equality of opportunities and life conditions, can vile practices of violence be prevented and reverted, practices that sever the most basic rights and liberties of minorities throughout the world. We do not support the focus of the theme on the prevention of violence against minorities from the perspective of the supposed responsibility to protect, the use of which has served to intervene militarily in sovereign nations, diminishing the sovereignty and independence of nations with massive violations to human rights which has created thousands of victims, and whose ultimate goal is to destabilize and topple legitimate governments trough the use of violence to impose the expansionist, imperialist, and colonialist interests of those who are behind these initiatives. With this practice, the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations have been flagrantly violated, and it has nothing to do with the true protection of minorities. It is highly worrying to expect an incorporation in the sphere of the mechanisms of the Council on Human Rights—such as this Forum on Minority Issues—discussions about the theme of the “responsibility to protect,” whose natural political space for discussion should continue to be the General Assembly, the principal organ where all the Member States of the UN are represented.