MEXICO REGRETS VENEZUELA’S DECISION TO WITHDRAW FROM THE AMERICAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

The Mexican government deeply regrets the decision of the Venezuelan government to renounce the 1969 American Convention on Human Rights.

The convention, known as the Pact of San Jose, is the most comprehensive human rights instrument in the OAS member countries. Under the convention, the countries of the region have built a vast regulatory and institutional system to protect human rights, which are universal and interdependent. The Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights have rendered great service to the cause of human rights and to the consolidation of democracy in the Americas.

The Pact of San José and the other American human rights instruments are not yet universally accepted. To ensure the effective enjoyment of human rights in the Americas, it is essential that all OAS member states ratify all of the Interamerican human rights treaties.

While all States have the sovereign right to join or renounce international treaties, the Mexican government hopes the Venezuelan government will reconsider its decision over the coming year before its renunciation of the American Convention on Human Rights takes effect.

At this time, the Inter-American Human Rights system is being strengthened as a result of the decisions made at the last OAS General Assembly in Cochabamba, Bolivia.