Organisation of Relatives of Victims of Human Rights Violations
''We share the pain and we understand each other, we complement each other, we are always united and you can't get that anywhere else. With them I feel strengthened.''
Since 2013, the Organisation of Relatives of Victims of Human Rights Violations (Orfavideh) has been accompanying and monitoring legal cases of extrajudicial executions and human rights violations such as enforced disappearance and torture in Venezuela.
The organisation member's are mothers and other relatives of victims who receive human rights training workshops as tools to enable them to demand the right to truth and justice.
HRDs have been working under restrictive policies for many years: the Maduro administration has continued the work begun by Chávez in restricting civil space and delegitimising HRDs, repeatedly accusing them of undermining the Venezuelan democracy with the alleged collaboration of the United States. HRDs are discredited and criminalised by state-controlled media (television, radio, print media) on a weekly basis.
The authorities have systematically undermined freedom of expression, which has not only affected HRDs and other critical voices, but has also created a more restrictive media environment. Indeed, HRDs who publicly speak out about human rights violations, including at the Inter-American Court for Human Rights, have also been subjected to restrictions in the private sphere, with surveillance of their email and communication being commonplace.
