Venezuelan lawmakers declare UN human rights official Turk persona non grata


  • World
  • Wednesday, 02 Jul 2025

FILE PHOTO: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk holds a press conference in Guatemala City, Guatemala July 19, 2024. REUTERS/Cristina Chiquin/File Photo

CARACAS (Reuters) -Venezuela's government-allied National Assembly on Tuesday unanimously declared United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk persona non grata, after Turk publicly decried what he said were arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances and other human rights violations in the South American country.

The government of President Nicolas Maduro has rejected Turk's comments, made before the Human Rights Council in Geneva last week, and said Turk failed to defend the rights of Venezuelans deported to an El Salvador prison by the United States and to call for the return of Venezuelan minors separated from migrant parents in the U.S.

Turk's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Reuters)

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