A/HRC/45/33 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 42/25, the Human Rights Council decided to establish an independent international fact-finding mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to investigate extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment since 2014 with a view to ensuring full accountability for perpetrators and justice for victims. 2. In the same resolution, the Council requested the fact-finding mission to present a report on its findings to the Council during its forty-fifth session. The mission produced the present report and an extended report, issued as a conference room paper, which contains more detail on incidents, analysis and conclusions. 3. Also in the same resolution, the Council urged the authorities to cooperate fully with the fact-finding mission, to grant it immediate, full and unfettered access to and throughout the country, including to victims and places of detention, and to provide it with all the information necessary to fulfil its mandate. 4. The mission sent correspondence to an official of the Government on six occasions between January and August 2020 and did not receive any response. The mission regrets that it was not able to meet with the Venezuelan authorities, either within or outside of the country, to discuss the mandate and to obtain relevant information. 5. Lack of access to the country and travel restrictions related to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic presented challenges for the mission’s work, and in some respects led to a more restricted focus than would otherwise have been the case. Nonetheless, the mission was able to gather the information necessary to establish facts and draw conclusions in accordance with its mandate. The investigation has identified patterns and documented specific incidents establishing reasonable grounds to believe that violations of international human rights law have been committed, along with crimes under national and international criminal law. II. Methodology and legal framework 6. The mission used the following data collection methods to establish findings: (a) Interviews with victims, families, lawyers and witnesses with direct knowledge of incidents; (b) Interviews with former officials of the Government, police, intelligence and military, and others with direct knowledge of specific cases or institutions; (c) Interviews with current and former members of the judiciary; (d) Interviews with currently serving members of security forces; (e) content); Certified digital information (videos, satellite imagery, photos or social media (f) Publicly available statements by Government representatives; (g) Review of Venezuelan laws, policies and directives. 7. The mission also referred to secondary information assessed as credible and reliable to corroborate and contextualize information gathered from direct sources, and to discern the extent of patterns of conduct on a wider scale than those revealed by cases investigated in depth. 8. The mission investigated 223 individual cases, 1 out of which 48 are included as detailed case studies in the full report. The mission selected cases for investigation on the basis of substantive and security considerations, including availability and safety of witnesses, and availability of legal case files and digital evidence. This selection in no way 1 2 A case refers to a particular incident, event or occurrence, which could involve one or more victims.