50 rights activists urge UN reps to avoid special session for Venezuelan President Maduro

A coalition of 50 Venezuelan and international human rights activists, including Lilian Tintori, the wife of jailed political prisoner Leopoldo Lopez, sent an appeal today (see text below) to all UN ambassadors in Geneva, urging them to stay away from tomorrow’s special UN Human Rights Council meeting featuring a speech by Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. “This is a regime that throws the opposition leader in jail, brutalizes dissidents and student protesters, and which, paradoxically, denies entry to the Council’s own human rights investigators,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the non-governmental human rights organization UN Watch, which spearheaded the initiative. “The UN should not have elected Venezuela to the Human Rights Council two weeks ago, nor should it be rewarding Maduro with a global podium where no dissenting voices will be allowed,” Neuer added. More…