Central ASI Venezuela has been trying to establish a dialogue with the United Nations Resident Coordinator (UNRC) in the country since 2016, when the government of Venezuela presented its first National Voluntary Report at the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). But it was not until the appointment of Gianluca Rampolla del Tindaro as the new Resident Coordinator in August 2021 that its aims were materialised at a meeting where ASI had the opportunity to present its work in the development field, such as its annual reports on the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals in the country, produced in 2019, 2020 and 2021, and to present its interest in being an integral part of the workers’ sector in the Common Country Analysis as a spokesperson for the working class.
That first meeting enabled Central ASI to submit a draft decent work programme for the country to the Resident Coordinator’s Office in June 2022, before the signing of the 2023/2026 Cooperation Framework. Although the document was not finally reflected in the Framework, it allowed Central ASI to raise its profile as a professional and serious development actor in the country.
This led to Central ASI being visited, that same year, by two officials from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Hellen Debaux and Martin Carbonnelle, who were informed of all the work and contributions made by the trade union organisation.
Since that visit, Central ASI has been in regular contact with these officials, particularly with regard to following up on cases involving the persecution and harassment of trade unionists, especially that of Gabriel Blanco, an officer at the Caracas branch of Central ASI, who is still in detention. Also, through the intermediary of Ms Debaux and Mr Carbonnelle, a workshop on Security Protocols was held for trade union leaders.
It is important to highlight, in this regard, that during the visits of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, conducted first by Michelle Bachelet, from 9 to 21 June 2019, and more recently by Volker Turk, from 26 to 28 January 2023, Central ASI was invited to contribute to the discussion on the social and labour situation in Venezuela in terms of human rights and the social dialogue process. ASI’s contributions were reflected in the final reports and statements.
Two significant events have been held by the OHCHR in Venezuela at which ASI took an active part and presented proposals that have had a direct and positive impact on the work towards achieving the SDGs.
The first was the Fact-Finding Mission, which brought together more than 3,000 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and some trade union organisations and raised key issues such as the criminalisation of protest, the law on the auditing of NGOs and indigenous peoples’ rights. The second was the ILO Commission of Inquiry, which presented its report in 2019 and gave rise to the Social Dialogue Forum (2022-2023) with the technical assistance of the ILO, to address compliance with Conventions 26, 87 and 144. Central ASI Venezuela took an active part in each of these initiatives.
A point that should not go unmentioned is the Mexico Political Dialogue promoted by Norway and other countries, where it has specifically fallen to the UN Resident Coordinator to engage with banks and other institutions to recover Venezuelan assets frozen by US sanctions. The idea would be to use these assets to set up a $3.2 billion trust fund, administered by the United Nations, to support the electricity, health, infrastructure and humanitarian sectors.
Central ASI has come a long way since 2016 in its bid to be considered as a valid, serious and relevant interlocutor for the implementation of the SDGs in the country. There is still resistance, however, to recognising that trade unions are key social actors that must have a permanent voice in UN processes, to propose and defend key strategies for workers within the framework of cooperation for sustainable development.