The Bolivarian Venezuelan Constitution’s Declaration of Human Rights: The Case of Barrio Adentro

• In Event: 590 - Regular Session. Transforming Institutional Practices of Human Rights

Abstract

The UN declaration of human rights articulates a right to health inseparable from rights to other basic needs -- food, housing, education, gainful employment, old age pension, and leisure. The premise is that the promotion and protection of health requires living conditions that assure human dignity. At the turn of the 21st century, several governments in Latin America assumed the responsibility to guarantee a life of dignity for all their citizens. One such country, Venezuela, stood up to the challenge by appropriating, via the electoral system, the power of the state to turn it into an instrument of the power of the people. This Poder Popular, or popular power, had been suppressed in Venezuela despite decades of Western-style liberal democracy, which granted a right to vote yet in practice suppressed the actual political, economic, cultural and social participation of the majority of Venezuelans in their society. Since 1999, the Venezuelan people have found new and powerful ways of expression through a revolutionary Constitution enshrining a range of people-centered public policies.

This presentation will familiarize participants with these policies by describing the historical development of the struggle of the Venezuelan people for a life of dignity. It will highlight the role of the “Missions”, the Bolivarian Government’s instruments to guarantee universal rights to food, housing, health, education, gainful employment, information, and leisure, among other factors contributing to human welfare. It will also elaborate on current challenges to, and opportunities for, achieving the goal of social justice embedded in the Bolivarian vision.

Authors

• Mirna Lascano, National Coalition of Independent Scholars

• Sandra Angeleri, Universidad Central de Venezuela

• Claudia N. Chaufan, University of California-San Francisco