CAT/C/CR/29/2
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4.
The Committee also had before it additional material supplied by the State party, and a
report specially prepared by the Office of the Ombudsman. The information contained in this
document and its annexes has been very useful in evaluating compliance with the obligations the
Convention places on the State party.
5.
The Committee thanks the State party for sending a large and well-qualified delegation of
representatives of the Government and the Office of the Ombudsman; its frank and constructive
dialogue with them facilitated consideration of the report.
B. Positive aspects
6.
The Committee welcomes with satisfaction the entry into force on 30 December 1999 of
the new Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, which contains areas of progress
in human rights. In particular, the Committee considers as positive the following aspects of the
Constitution:
(a)
It gives constitutional status to human rights treaties, covenants and conventions,
declares that they take precedence in domestic law, prescribes that they should be immediately
and directly applicable and provides that the absence of any law regulating these rights does not
impair their exercise;
(b)
It recognizes the right of individuals to submit petitions or complaints to the
international bodies established for the purpose in order to seek protection for their human rights.
This recognition is in accordance with the declaration by the State party in 1994 under article 22
of the Convention;
(c)
It requires the State to investigate and impose penalties on human rights offences,
declares that action to punish them is not subject to a statute of limitations and excludes any
measure implying impunity, such as an amnesty or a general pardon;
(d)
It requires offences concerning human rights violations and crimes against
humanity to be heard in the ordinary courts;
(e)
It imposes on the State the obligation of compensating in full victims of
human rights violations and recognizes the right to rehabilitation of victims of torture and cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment, inflicted or tolerated by agents of the State;
(f)
It regulates custody safeguards appropriately, e.g. a prior court order is required
for any arrest or detention, except in flagrante delicto; a period of 48 hours is established at the
constitutional level for bringing a detainee before a judicial authority, as the Code of Criminal
Procedure already provides; the liberty of the person charged is taken as the general rule and
pre-trial custody as the exception;
(g)
It admits a series of safeguards for the detainee, such as access to a lawyer
immediately on being detained and a ban on obtaining confessions by torture;