Permanent Mission of Venezuela
We appreciate the holding of this 13th session of the Forum on Minority Issues of the Human Rights
Council. We reiterate our support for this important Council mechanism.
We are gravely concerned by the intensification of hate speech, xenophobic rhetoric and incitement to
hatred towards minorities around the world, and by the rise of extremist movements and political parties
with neo-Nazi and extreme right-wing ideologies, which jeopardise the gains made in protecting the
human rights of these vulnerable groups.
We regret that Ms. Agustina del Campo, a professor at the University of Palermo, referred to my country
as an example in her presentation as a result of her handling of misinformation. In Venezuela, the 20192025 Plan for the Homeland includes among its objectives the consolidation of the vision of the
heterogeneity and diversity of the Venezuelan state, under the respect and participatory and protagonist
inclusion of all persons belonging to minorities, in accordance with our constitutional [?]
In turn, the Venezuelan constitution establishes that everyone has the right to freely express their
thoughts, ideas and opinions through any form of expression and to make use of any means of
communication and dissemination, including the internet and social media, and that censorship can be
established without any limitations other than those established in the constitution and the law, such as
the constitutional prohibition of war propaganda, discriminatory messages and those that promote
religious intolerance.
In this regard, the Venezuelan people have the Constitutional Law against Hatred, for Peaceful
Coexistence and Tolerance, which aims to generate the necessary conditions to promote and guarantee
the recognition of diversity, tolerance and reciprocal respect, as well as to prevent and eradicate all forms
of hatred, contempt, harassment, discrimination and violence. This law expressly prohibits the
dissemination of messages through social media and electronic media that incite national, racial, ethnic,
religious, political, social, ideological and any other kind of hatred that constitutes incitement to
discrimination, intolerance or violence, especially against vulnerable groups.
We must continue to make progress in the promotion and protection of human rights, with special
emphasis on the protection of people belonging to vulnerable groups. Thank you very much.