UN rights chief concerned about US' Venezuela sanctions

The UN human rights chief voiced concern Thursday about the tightening of a blockade against Venezuela announced by U.S. President Donald Trump.

"I am deeply worried about the potentially severe impact on the human rights of the people of Venezuela of the new set of unilateral sanctions imposed by the U.S. this week," Michelle Bachelet said in a statement.

The "extremely broad" measures do not help easy the effects on vulnerable Venezuelans, she said.

"I fear that they will have far-reaching implications on the rights to health and to food in particular, in a country where there are already serious shortages of essential goods," she added.

Venezuela's economy has contracted 47.6% between 2013 and 2018, according to official figures.

The roots of the economic crisis in Venezuela predate the imposition of economic sanctions, she said, but economic measures imposed in August 2017 and January 2019 have "exacerbated" the effects of the crisis.

Noting that the latest sanctions technically do not apply to "transactions related to the provision of articles such as food, clothing and medicine intended to be used to relieve human suffering," Bachelet said wide-ranging unilateral sanctions can end up denying people's fundamental human rights, including economic rights as well as the rights to food and health, and could place obstacles to the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

"Even carefully targeted sanctions must be subject to stringent human rights safeguards," she added.

She urged all those with influence in Venezuela and the international community to "constructively" work together for a political solution to the South American country by putting the interests and human rights of the "long-suffering people of Venezuela above all else."

Trump issued an executive order Monday freezing all assets belonging to the Venezuelan government in a significant escalation of tensions with Caracas.

The U.S. administration has been focusing on economic and diplomatic pressure against President Nicolas Maduro, including imposing sanctions on him, his top officials and several governmental departments as it seeks to increase pressure on Caracas.

Venezuela's economy has been in precipitous decline following a global downturn in the price of crude oil, the country's main export, while political unrest since Jan. 10 also affects country's financial stability.

Nearly 5,000 people leave Venezuela every day because of "instability and uncertainty" amid a crisis focused on the presidency and economy, and three million Venezuelans have already left the country since 2015, according to the UN's refugee agency.