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.
It has also previously 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.
The declaration of persona non grata has no immediate practical effect, but Turk’s office has previously been expelled from Venezuela and it is possible the government may remove it again.
Venezuela’s Attorney General Tarek Saab, who has always denied that the government holds political prisoners from the country’s opposition, has also critiqued Turk’s response to Israel’s actions in Gaza and called for his resignation.
(Reporting by Reuters)
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