The UN Human Rights Council yesterday voted through a resolution urging the government of Venezuela to “accept humanitarian assistance” to alleviate the country’s “scarcity” of food and medicines.
The decision marked the first time in the history of the UN’s top rights body that it has adopted a resolution on Venezuela, council spokesman Rolando Gomez told AFP.
The text, tabled by a range of Latin American countries along with Canada, passed with 23 of the council’s 47 members voting in favour, 17 abstaining and seven, including China, Cuba and Venezuela voting against.
The resolution asks Caracas to “accept humanitarian assistance in order to address the scarcity of food, medicine and medical supplies, the rise of malnutrition, especially among children, and the outbreak of diseases that had been previously eradicated or kept under control in South America.”
