Background

The preliminary examination of the Situation in Venezuela II focuses on alleged crimes against humanity committed in Venezuela as a result of US sanctions, which have allegedly resulted in increases in both adult and child mortality, and negatively impacted human rights such as right to food, access to medical care and education.

On February 9, 2006, the OTP closed a previous preliminary examination into allegations of atrocity crimes committed in April 2002 due to a lack of temporal jurisdiction. A separate (at this stage) preliminary examination (Venezuela I) is ongoing into alleged crimes against humanity committed in Venezuela since April 2017.

 

ICC Status

Venezuela ratified the Rome Statute on June 7, 2000. The ICC has jurisdiction over Rome Statute crimes committed since July 1, 2002.

On February 13, 2020, the OTP received a referral from the Government of Venezuela regarding alleged crimes against humanity in Venezuela as a result of US sanctions. The OTP noted that the February 2020 referral is the second referral it has received regarding the situation in Venezuela. While the two referrals overlap both geographically and temporally, the Prosecutor did not make a determination as to whether scope of the two situations has sufficient overlap in order to merge the two into a single situation.

In its December 14, 2020 report, the OTP stated that it intends to conclude its subject matter jurisdiction assessment of the situation in Venezuela II in the first half of 2021.

As of September 2021, the preliminary examination of Venezuela II is in the subject-matter jurisdiction assessment phase. 

For more information on the preliminary examination in Venezuela II, please visit the ICC page. 

 

Updated 9/20/2021