A/HRC/45/CRP.11 B. Killings by Security Forces 1006. The violent death rates noted include those committed by State security forces, both police and military. The right to life is a non-derogable right, which cannot be limited at any time.1758 According to the Constitution “[t]he right to life is inviolable” and the death penalty is prohibited.1759 Taking life unlawfully is criminalized under article 405 of the Criminal Code. Extrajudicial execution is not a specific crime provided for in Venezuelan law, though there is a qualified type of “murder” committed by a public official. 1760 1007. The organic laws of the various police forces, including the PNB 1761 (and its bylaw1762) and the CICPC1763 permit the use of lethal force if necessary to protect the life of a police officer or a third party. However, as discussed further in this section, the Mission’s investigations indicate that a large number of killings were not in accordance with legal provisions on the use of force. 1008. Resistance to authority is criminalized by the Criminal Code, which provides that “Anyone who exercises threat upon a public official [...] to do or refrain from doing anything within his duties shall be sentenced to one to three years’ imprisonment”. 1764 However, resistance to authority does not necessarily imply an imminent and grave threat that can be repelled with lethal force. 1009. Overall, there is a lack of official, publicly available information from Government sources regarding killings by State security forces. The Mission requested this information from the Government on 14 May 2020,1765 but did not receive a response at the time of writing. 1010. Since 2014, the Ministry of the Interior has shared information on deaths by security forces, which are categorized as “resisting authority”, with other sources, as reflected in the table below. Also in the table is data collected by NGOs, in particular the OVV (which documents all deaths by security forces) and COFAVIC (which documents those deaths that it says can be categorized as “extrajudicial executions”). Even the lowest estimates here suggest that killings by State agents in Venezuela are among the highest rates in Latin America.1766 None of the sources disaggregate by sex or age of the victim. 1758 1759 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 ICCPR, art. 6.1. The right to life is also protected by the American Convention on Human Rights (art. 4). 1999 Constitution, art. 43. Criminal Code, art. 407 (2). Decree No. 5.895, con Rango, Valor y Fuerza de Ley Orgánica del Servicio de Policía y del Cuerpo de Policía Nacional, published in the Official Gazette No. 5880 (reforms published in Official Gazette No. 5940), arts. 68-72, available at: https://derechovenezolano.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/leyorgc3a1nica-del-servicio-de-policc3ada-y-del-cuerpo-de-policc3ada-nacional.pdf. Decree No. 2765 of 21 March 2017, arts. 60-90, available at: https://pandectasdigital.blogspot.com/2017/03/reglamento-general-de-la-ley-organica.html. Decree No. 9.045 con Rango, Valor y Fuerza de “Ley Orgánica del Servicio de la Policía de Investigación, el Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales y Criminalísticas y el Instituto Nacional de Medicina Forense” (15 June 2012), arts. 84 and 85, available at: https://pandectasdigital.blogspot.com/2017/03/ley-organica-del-servicio-de-la-policia.html. Criminal Code, art. 215. REF: MissionV/CG/001. The Monitor de Uso de Fuerza letal en América Latina carried out a comparative study of Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador and Venezuela. For the report of 2017, the Organization determined that the numbers of deaths of civilians by security forces in Venezuela were the highest in the comparison. According to these figures, Brazil reported 4,670 deaths, Colombia reported 169 deaths, El Salvador reported 407 deaths, and Mexico reported 371 deaths. See http://www.monitorfuerzaletal.com/app/9SfbJ2os932UW8Af5wn8qspLl3S6fRN1SRItTN3x.pdf. 197