A/HRC/44/20 liberty. Challenges remain in access to food, health care, and water and sanitation, as well as in relation to undue judicial delays that could lead to arbitrary detention. According to the information received, conditions of detention at the Directorate General of Military Counter-intelligence do not comply with international human rights norms and standards. 85. The severe economic and social crisis and the political stalemate are affecting millions of Venezuelans and require urgent action by all parties concerned. OHCHR reiterates its call for an inclusive political and social dialogue based on a comprehensive human rights agenda. It stands ready to provide support to ensure that the human rights of all Venezuelans are at the centre of a negotiated and peaceful solution. The establishment of an OHCHR country office would facilitate such support by enhancing engagement with State authorities and institutions, victims of human rights violations, civil society and the United Nations system. VII. Recommendations 86. The High Commissioner considers that most of the recommendations contained in her previous report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/41/18) remain valid. The following recommendations are complementary and seek to guide the Government on the adoption of concrete measures to address the human rights concerns identified in the present report. The High Commissioner recommends that the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela: (a) Ensure that exceptional measures authorized under the “state of alarm” are strictly necessary and proportionate, limited in time, and subject to independent oversight and review; (b) Respect, protect and fulfil the rights to freedoms of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, as well as the rights to access to information and to participate in political affairs; (c) Publish the national annual budget and expenditure reports, guarantee access to key data to assess the realization of rights and re-establish the oversight role of the National Assembly on use of public funds; (d) Refrain from discrediting human rights defenders and media professionals, and take effective measures to protect them, including by adopting a specialized protocol to investigate human rights violations and criminal offences against them; (e) Revise security policies to implement international norms and standards on the use of force and human rights, in particular by restoring the civilian nature of police forces, conducting vetting, restricting the functions of “special forces” and strengthening internal and external oversight mechanisms; (f) Ensure systematic, prompt, effective and thorough, as well as independent, impartial and transparent, investigations into all killings by security forces and armed civilian groups (armed colectivos), and ensure independence of all investigative bodies, accountability of perpetrators and redress for victims; (g) Put an end to incommunicado detention, including by intelligence services, guarantee that any individual subject to pretrial detention is held in official pretrial detention centres subject to judicial oversight, and transfer all persons detained in premises of intelligence services to official detention centres; (h) Ensure the rights to food, water and sanitation, health, security and dignity of all persons deprived of liberty, including by meeting gender-specific needs; (i) Address the underlying causes of overcrowding and undue judicial delays through comprehensive reform of the administration of justice; (j) Adopt specific measures in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the rights to health and security of detainees, including by granting alternative 15