A/HRC/44/54 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 42/25, in which the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare for its forty-fourth session a comprehensive written report on the situation of human rights in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, with a special focus on the independence of the justice system and access to justice, including for violations of economic and social rights and the situation of human rights in the Arco Minero del Orinoco region. 2. A report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, submitted to the forty-fourth session of the Human Rights Council pursuant to resolution 42/4, includes outcomes of the investigation into allegations of possible violations of the human rights to life, liberty, and physical and moral integrity in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the period 1 June 2019 to 31 May 2020 (A/HRC/44/20). 3. The present report was prepared on the basis of information gathered and analysed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), including interviews with victims and witnesses and other sources. For the chapters on the independence of the justice system and access to justice, OHCHR examined legislation, judicial documents, official Government documents and reports of civil society organizations. OHCHR also interviewed active and former prosecutors and judges, lawyers, scholars, human rights defenders, victims and their relatives. For the chapter on the situation of human rights in the Arco Minero del Orinoco region, OHCHR conducted interviews with miners, indigenous peoples, health and environmental experts, journalists, civil society and other local actors. Whenever possible, OHCHR refers to official information and data. 4. The findings contained in the present report have been documented and corroborated in line with OHCHR methodology. OHCHR exercised due diligence in assessing the credibility and reliability of all sources and cross-checked the information gathered to verify its validity. OHCHR sought informed consent from the sources it interviewed, ensuring confidentiality when requested, and took all appropriate measures to protect their identity. 5. OHCHR assessed the information it collected in the light of international human rights law, as applicable to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and pertinent domestic legislation. II. Independence of the justice system 6. OHCHR remains concerned about the lack of independence of the justice system in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as expressed in previous reports of OHCHR, 1 by United Nations treaty bodies and special procedures,2 during the universal periodic review of the country,3 and by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights4 and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.5 1 2 3 4 5 2 A/HRC/41/18, para. 76. See also OHCHR, “Human rights violations in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela: a downward spiral with no end in sight” (June 2018). See, for example, CCPR/C/VEN/CO/4; Osio Zamora v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (CCPR/C/121/D/2203/2012), para. 9.3; Cedeño v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (CCPR/C/106/D/1940/2010), para. 7.2; CAT/C/VEN/CO/3-4; A/HRC/WGAD/2019/13; A/HRC/WGAD/2019/39; A/HRC/WGAD/2019/75; communications AL VEN 4/2017, dated 28 July 2017; UA VEN 6/2018, dated 13 September 2018; AL VEN 4/2018, dated 13 September 2018; UA VEN 1/2020, dated 28 January 2020. A/HRC/34/6. Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Chocron Chocron v. Venezuela, Judgment, 1 July 2011. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Human Rights Situation in Venezuela: Democratic Institutions, the Rule of Law and Human Rights in Venezuela – Country Report, 31 December 2017.