GENEVA - UN human rights experts* today welcomed the draft amnesty law before the Venezuelan National Assembly, stressing that it must apply to all victims of unlawful prosecution and be embedded in a comprehensive transitional justice process consistent with international standards.
The Draft Bill on Amnesty, Reconciliation and National Reunification was made public on 6 February 2026 and is currently up for debate in the National Assembly. The law proposes granting amnesty to individuals detained, prosecuted and/or convicted for political offences and related crimes.
"The Amnesty Bill could be crucial for victims and their families, and for Venezuelan society as a whole," the experts said, warning that effective redress requires the law to explicitly recognise all those who were arbitrarily detained or prosecuted for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, opinion, assembly, association and information, including human rights defenders. "Those who were forced to exile due to persecution, should not be required to return until there is clear determination on the applicability of the amnesty to their cases".
They stressed that to ensure compliance with international standards, the scope of the law must be restricted to victims of human rights violations and expressly exclude those accused of serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity, including state, paramilitary and non-state actors.
"Victims and civil society must be granted effective oversight of the amnesty process to ensure compliance with international standards and prevent any instrumentalisation or misapplication of the law," the experts said.
The stated purpose of the amnesty law is to promote peace, democratic coexistence and national reconciliation.
"The law must be embedded in a comprehensive transitional justice process that includes truth-seeking, accountability and reparation for the serious human rights violations endured for decades," the experts said. "The process must also involve institutional and legal reforms aimed at dismantling the apparatus that enabled those violations, including the legal framework used to persecute dissent, and effectively preventing their recurrence."
The UN experts called for the immediate and unconditional release of all individuals arbitrarily detained in Venezuela, including human rights defenders, and for the disclosure of the fate and whereabouts of all those still registered as disappeared.
The experts have been in contact with the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
