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UN: Venezuela Doing Little to Stop Criminal Groups' Abuses

Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA - The Venezuelan government has done little to clamp down on the
   violent, brutal behavior of criminal groups who control mining in a
   region largely inhabited by indigenous communities, according to a U.N.
   report submitted Wednesday.

   The U.N. Human Rights Office noted that internal migration to the Arco
   Minero del Orinoco region has increased dramatically in the last few
   years because of the country's economic crisis, and miners' need to
   feed themselves and their families makes them particularly vulnerable
   to exploitation.

   U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif said the
   groups who control the mines impose their own rules on workers through
   violence and extortion, which includes child labor, human trafficking,
   sexual exploitation, and exposure to hazardous conditions and diseases,
   including mercury contamination.

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