Venezuela is one of the few countries on this page against which an individual can complain to the Committee against Torture. It accepted that procedure in 1994. The Committee has since found torture and ill-treatment inflicted on people arrested during protests. A United States immigration judge has granted withholding of removal to Venezuela under the Convention against Torture.
Why this page exists
Venezuela is one of the countries people in the register hold protection against. It has no arrangement with the United States to receive people removed from elsewhere and does not appear in the States Engaging in Refoulement project.
What Venezuela has accepted
The depositary record shows signature on 15 February 1985 and ratification on 29 July 1991. On 26 April 1994 Venezuela declared that it “recognizes the competence of the Committee against Torture as provided for under articles 21 and 22 of the Convention.”
Article 22 is the one that matters to a person. It means an individual subject to Venezuelan jurisdiction may take a complaint to the Committee. Of the seven countries in this section, only Venezuela and Russia have opened that route.
What the Committee against Torture found
The Committee adopted concluding observations on the combined third and fourth periodic reports on 19 November 2014. Under the heading on torture and ill-treatment of persons arrested during protests, at paragraph 10, it recorded:
“The Committee is alarmed by consistent reports of acts of torture and ill-treatment inflicted on persons arrested during the demonstrations that took place from February to July 2014.”
That is the most recent examination. More than a decade has passed without another.
What the register records
Rea-Hernandez v. Bondi, Western District of Washington, 6 February 2026. A Venezuelan man granted withholding of removal to Venezuela under the Convention against Torture was detained eleven months while Immigration and Customs Enforcement approached twenty-four countries for acceptance. Five replied. All five refused.
The court ordered his release, holding there was no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future, and enjoined his removal to any third country without meaningful notice and an opportunity to be heard. The entry is in the register of court decisions.
Sources
Treaty status and the text of the 1994 declaration: United Nations Treaty Collection, depositary record for the Convention against Torture, chapter IV-9, read 14 September 2026.
Committee against Torture, concluding observations on the combined third and fourth periodic reports of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, CAT/C/VEN/CO/3-4, adopted 19 November 2014: docs.un.org.