Venezuela’s Future Must Be Venezuelan’s Own
UN Condemns US Venezuela Action as Illegal, Dangerous
Geneva: The United Nations today delivered a searing critique of the United States’ recent military operation in Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, warning that the intervention violates international law, undermines global security and cannot be justified by appeals to human rights.
The statement came amid growing international fallout from the highly unusual military action carried out over the weekend, when U.S. forces launched a coordinated operation inside Venezuela that resulted in the seizure of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and their transfer to the United States to face long-standing criminal charges. The operation marked a dramatic escalation in tensions between Washington and Caracas after years of diplomatic standoffs, sanctions and disputes over governance, corruption and alleged narcotics trafficking.
Those tensions spilt into the United Nations on January 5, when the Security Council convened an emergency meeting to address the situation. During the session, several Council members voiced strong concern over the legality of the U.S. action and its implications for the UN Charter’s prohibition on the use of force. Representatives from multiple countries warned that bypassing established international norms risks eroding the foundations of the global order and sets a troubling precedent for future conflicts. Venezuela’s envoy urged the Council to demand the release of its president, while the United States defended the operation as a narrowly targeted law-enforcement measure. The debate exposed deep divisions within the Council and underscored the geopolitical strain surrounding the intervention.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva today, Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the U.S. military action runs directly counter to a fundamental principle of international law enshrined in the UN Charter, which prohibits states from using or threatening force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another country.
“Using human rights arguments as a justification for this kind of military intervention is unacceptable,” Shamdasani said, stressing that the operation violated Venezuelan sovereignty and the legal framework collectively agreed upon by UN member states.
Far from advancing human rights, she warned, the intervention weakens the very system designed to protect them. “This is far from being a victory for human rights,” she said. “This military intervention, which is in contravention of Venezuelan sovereignty and the UN Charter, damages the architecture of international security, making every country less safe.”
Shamdasani urged governments to avoid selective interpretations of international norms and called on the international community to respond with a single, unequivocal message. “Let us not pretend that this is an action taken in defence of human rights of anyone,” she said, adding that states should make clear that the operation was carried out in violation of international law established by UN members themselves.
She also stressed that Venezuela’s future cannot be shaped through external force. According to Shamdasani, it must be determined by the Venezuelan people alone, with full respect for their human rights, including the right to self-determination and sovereignty over their lives and natural resources.
Alongside the legal and political concerns, UN humanitarian officials highlighted the scale of unmet needs inside the country. Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said a UN humanitarian plan established late last year identified nearly eight million people—around a quarter of Venezuela’s population—as requiring humanitarian assistance.
Of those, roughly 900,000 people fall into the most severe categories of multisectoral need, lacking access to food, nutrition, education and health services. “They need basically all the things that the state of Venezuela has not been able to provide to its citizens for a number of years,” Laerke said.
Despite the magnitude of need, Venezuela remains one of the least-funded humanitarian operations. Even so, Laerke said the UN and its partners managed to reach about two million people with aid in 2025, despite persistent funding shortfalls and operational constraints.
Taken together, the warnings from the UN’s human rights and humanitarian arms underscore a broader concern: that military action framed in the language of human rights risks weakening international law while deepening vulnerabilities in a country already struggling to meet the basic needs of millions of its people.
– global bihari bureau
