Former UN Special Rapporteur Alfred de Zayas criticized the human rights commissioner's past reports on Venezuela, calling them "unprofessional" and politicized, denouncing an "ocean of lies"
By Ben Norton • March 20, 2019
A former United Nations human rights expert and top legal scholar has harshly criticized the international body's reporting on Venezuela, calling it "unprofessional," politicized, and unfairly slanted in favor of the country's right-wing opposition.
"We are swimming in an ocean of lies," explained Alfred de Zayas. "When I went to Venezuela, I expected to find a humanitarian crisis."
"I was predetermined to find a humanitarian crisis," he continued. "I walked the streets, I spoke to people of all kinds, and that was not the case.
"That means I had been manipulated. I had been lied to. And I resent that."
De Zayas previously served as UN independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order. A renowned legal scholar, he spent decades working as a senior lawyer for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and is today a professor of international law at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations.
He made these remarks during a panel on Venezuela at a UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva on March 19, where he spoke alongside The Grayzone's Max Blumenthal and Anya Parampil.
Venezuelan government willing to negotiate
Alfred de Zayas was the first UN expert to visit Venezuela in 21 years. He traveled to the South American nation for an investigation from November 26 to December 5, 2017, during his time as a special rapporteur.
After his trip, de Zayas produced a detailed report on Venezuela (PDF), which details how economic warfare and sanctions led by the United States government have devastated Venezuela and drastically hurt its civilian population. De Zayas presented this report to the UN Human Rights Council in September 2018, but it was ignored.
Please go to The Gray Zone to read the entire article.
More from the Gray Zone:
Max Blumenthal debunks corporate media lies about Venezuela at United Nations
Related:
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