Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes.

INTENSIFYING REPRESSION IN VENEZUELA LEAVES POPULATIONS AT RISK OF ATROCITY CRIMES

Following growing concern over electoral fraud during presidential elections held on 28 July, the Venezuelan government responded to subsequent country-wide protests by rapidly intensifying widespread repression and targeted persecution against actual or alleged opponents, including ordinary citizens, opposition members, journalists and human rights defenders. The UN Human Rights Council-mandated Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela (FFM) – which previously found that state agents have committed possible crimes against humanity in attempts to crush political dissent – warned on 31 July of a “new wave of persecution,” including through “the accelerated reactivation of the repressive machinery that was never dismantled and is now being used to undermine the public freedoms of citizens.”

Since 29 July Venezuelan human rights organization Foro Penal has verified 1,152 arbitrary detentions. President Nicolás Maduro warned of “thousands more to come.” Non-governmental organization Provea reported that official numbers of arbitrary detentions indicate an “exponential growth compared to the records of other protest cycles in 2014, 2017 or 2019.” The mass arrests, enforced disappearances and other serious violations have been accompanied by intensifying inflammatory rhetoric on behalf of high-level officials. On 3 August President Maduro announced that protesters will be referred to maximum security prisons “where there will be no forgiveness.” Authorities have also encouraged Venezuelans to use digital channels to provide citizen data as a tool of persecution, while promoting videos of security forces conducting clandestine arrests in marginalized communities to instill fear and social control. Venezuelan human rights organizations have verified 24 killings in the post-electoral period.

The Attorney General has publicly threatened human rights activists that are engaging with the UN. On 3 August Director of the Observatorio Venezolano de Violencias LGBTIQ+, Yendri Velásquez, was detained while traveling to participate in Venezuela’s ongoing Treaty Body review in Geneva. He was released a few hours later. Foro Penal lawyer Kennedy Tejeda has been kept in incommunicado detention and university professor Edni López remains disappeared since being apprehended by state agents at Caracas International Airport on 4 August.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan authorities continue to refuse to publish detailed vote accounts by polling stations, despite demands for full transparency by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as many cross-regional governments.

It is vital for the international community to identify coordinated mitigation strategies to ensure a political solution to the unfolding crisis and prevent a recurrence of crimes against humanity on behalf of Venezuelan state agents. In addition to ongoing diplomatic efforts by Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and other stakeholders, UN Secretary-General Guterres should play a key role in advancing mediation efforts through his good offices and bilateral channels. UN member states should request confidential briefings by the FFM and Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on how to best address imminent atrocity risks and widening protection gaps for Venezuelans across the country.

FAMINE DECLARED IN NORTH DARFUR AMIDST ONGOING VIOLENCE AND ATROCITIES

On Thursday, 1 August, the Famine Review Committee (FRC) of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification concluded that there is famine in the Zamzam displacement camp in Sudan’s North Darfur region. The Committee warned that similar conditions are likely prevailing in other displacement sites in the El Fasher area, notably in Abu Shouk and Al Salam camps. The famine determination – the first by the FRC in more than 7 years – follows months of severe food insecurity, malnutrition and escalating conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has severely disrupted agricultural activities, food supply chains and access to life-saving aid.

UN Children’s Fund Executive Director Catherine Russell stressed that the famine “is inflicting unimaginable suffering on children and families who are already reeling from the impact of a horrific war.” The RSF’s territorial expansion efforts, particularly across Darfur, have entrapped many civilians, leaving them at heightened risk and compounding an already dire humanitarian situation. On 3 August at least 30 people were killed in what local monitors are calling the “largest ground attack” on El Fasher to date. Resistance committees reported that 23 people were killed and 60 injured by artillery shelling by the RSF. Seven members of a single family were killed in an air raid on the El Salam Abuja displacement camp in the north-eastern part of the city. On 1 August Doctors Without Borders said the RSF blocked trucks carrying supplies, including food and medicine for those in Zamzam camp, from reaching its facilities in El Fasher.

For months humanitarian agencies and UN officials sounded the alarm that conflict, the denial of humanitarian access and looting of aid were driving Sudan to the brink of famine. While addressing the UN Security Council on 6 August, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Director of Operations and Advocacy, Edem Wosornu, said the famine announcement “should stop all of us cold because when famine happens, it means we are too late. It means we did not do enough. It means we, the international community, have failed. This is an entirely man-made crisis and a shameful stain on our collective conscience.” Sixteen months of armed conflict have triggered the world’s largest hunger crisis, with 25.6 million people – over half the population – facing acute hunger. The FRC has warned that other parts of Sudan risk famine if concerted action is not taken.

To reverse the famine and address famine and famine-like conditions, all parties to the conflict must prevent further escalation, including by committing to sustained humanitarian dialogue to ensure continuous crossline and cross-border humanitarian access. While the international community faces challenges in delivering aid due to access constraints, it is essential to build partnerships with and provide adequate support to so-called “Emergency Rooms,” which are community-based mutual aid groups comprised of local resistance committees and youth volunteers. The international community should continue efforts toward reaching a permanent cessation of hostilities, as well as urgently fund the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan.

AT LEAST 300 PEOPLE KILLED IN BANGLADESH FOLLOWING WEEKS OF PROTESTS

On Sunday, 4 August, at least 94 people were killed and hundreds of others injured in clashes across Bangladesh between anti-government protesters and security forces alongside supporters of the government. According to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, some of those injured in the protests were denied medical care while “many people were subjected to violent attacks by groups reportedly affiliated with the government, and no effort was made to protect them.” Witnesses in the capital city, Dhaka, also spoke of incessant nighttime raids by security forces.

The country-wide protests initially broke out peacefully on 15 July after the Supreme Court decided to reestablish a quota system for government jobs. Student protesters alleged that the quota system favors those with connections to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s increasingly authoritarian Awami League party. The protests were met with a violent response, including the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition. Activists reported extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. Authorities at one point imposed a shoot-on-sight curfew, as well as cut off mobile internet access. More than 300 people have been killed in the last three weeks, including at least 32 children, while 11,000 have been arrested. At least 61,000 people are implicated in legal cases by the government since the protests began.

While protests temporarily paused after the Court agreed to reinstate previous orders to allow most government positions to be based on merit, student protesters called on others to join a “Long March to Dhaka” on 5 August, demanding the resignation of longtime Prime Minister Hasina and an apology for the violence. Instead, Prime Minister Hasina called for protesters to be dealt with “iron hands.” The deadly crackdown has resulted in some of the country’s worst bloodshed since the 1971 war of independence.

As thousands marched into Dhaka, on 5 August Prime Minister Hasina resigned and fled the country as her residence, ancestral home and government buildings were attacked. President Mohammed Shahabuddin subsequently dissolved the parliament and on 6 August appointed Muhammad Yunus to oversee an interim government for an uncertain period. High Commissioner Türk stated, “the transition must be conducted in a transparent and accountable way, and be inclusive and open to the meaningful participation of all Bangladeshis. There must be no further violence or reprisals… This is a time for national healing.”

Risks of recurrence remain high without crucial reforms and redress. The authorities should prioritize implementing a transparent and independent justice mechanism and immediately release all political prisoners, including those being held in incommunicado detention. Those responsible for recent grave human rights violations must be held to account. The path forward should be inclusive of the needs of all Bangladeshis and efforts to deescalate further violence and protect the most vulnerable should be urgently taken by political, civil and military leaders.