West Uses Human Rights for Political Ends, Says Maduro James Tweedie, The Morning Star, London, 14 November 2015 Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused Western countries of using human rights as a "political weapon." Mr Maduro's comments at the United Nations human rights council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Thursday followed criticism of his government from US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW). He was also responding to an address by UN high commissioner for human rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein that was laden with barbed comments directed at Venezuela. The Jordanian prince accused Caracas of "intimidation, threats and attacks against journalists, human rights defenders and lawyers." He also "expressed concern" at the state of emergency imposed is some western districts of Venezuela in response to violence by Colombian paramilitary and criminal gangs. Mr Maduro said it was not the first time Venezuela had "suffered audacious accusations and imperialist attacks by civil servants, taken from the agenda of global harassment. "And it would not be the first time that we strike down these lies with the truth," he added. Mr Maduro condemned the "manipulation of human rights by the West, which uses them to try to isolate our country and . to protect those who are seeking to destroy the system of human rights and democracy." On Wednesday, HRW went as far as attacking the UN general assembly for re-electing Venezuela to the 47-member body last month and accused the country's president of planning to use his speech for "shameless self-promotion." But on Thursday, Mr Maduro thanked the nations for their "universal vote of confidence," stressing: "Venezuela asks for the maximum respect from the UN council. "Venezuela is defending itself with the only weapon it has - national consciousness," he added. On Wednesday, Ecuador's ruling party condemned the latest "political intervention" by HRW in support of violent right-wing protests that are intended to bringing down the elected socialist government. Claiming the riots were "peaceful," the NGO accused President Rafael Correa's government of using "excessive force" against them. The ruling Pais Alliance argued that HRW's corporate funding contributed to its political bias. "Its board members and advisers have links with the financial, military and political sectors, the latter criticised by significant figures including Nobel laureates," the alliance pointed out. From: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-8f79-West-uses-human-rights-for-politic al-ends,-says-Maduro#.Vka78HYrK00 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
