Venezuela

We strengthen the capacity of public health-care providers so that people affected by violence can get timely, good quality treatment for their physical and mental health at the appropriate level of care, and so that the prevailing environment throughout the treatment process – from prehospital to primary health care – promotes the protection and well-being of health workers in particular and health-care services in general.

Together with local associations, we work with public utility companies, local authorities and the private sector, involving affected people at each stage and taking sustainable, climate-smart action to build up the resilience of systems that provide basic services, such as water and electricity.

We carry out economic security projects to improve the quality of life of vulnerable communities whose livelihoods have been affected by violence, strengthening their resilience and helping them to rebuild sustainable livelihoods.

Our forensic work focuses on supporting the authorities and forensic personnel through training that enables them to ensure the proper and dignified management of the dead. We also help families of those who have died or gone missing obtain information about their loved ones and contribute to improving conditions in forensic facilities.

The ICRC visits people deprived of their liberty in places of detention, subject to prior authorization from the authorities, to assess detention conditions and provide recommendations aimed at ensuring that detainees are treated humanely and with dignity, regardless of the reasons for their arrest or detention. The organization maintains dialogue with the authorities and supports their efforts to improve detention conditions in areas such as judicial guarantees, health care, nutrition, water and sanitation, in accordance with national and international standards.

People can experience immense suffering when they lose contact with a family member and do not know where they are or what has happened to them. To help alleviate this suffering, the Restoring Family Links (RFL) programme helps people separated from their families as a result of armed violence, natural disasters or migration to obtain timely, appropriate and situation-specific information about the whereabouts of their loved ones and to restore contact with them. In close cooperation with the Venezuelan Red Cross, connectivity services and family tracing are provided, with particular attention to children and adolescents who have been separated from their families.

We maintain ongoing dialogue with Venezuela's armed forces and police to promote the protection of and respect for people's dignity, with particular emphasis on those in situations of heightened vulnerability. We also promote and disseminate international humanitarian law (IHL), supporting the authorities in integrating it through legislation, doctrine, and training.
In line with international standards and principles governing the use of force in law enforcement, the ICRC designs, plans and delivers training programmes for military and police personnel responsible for law enforcement on the graduated and differentiated use of force. The organization conducts courses and workshops for officers of the armed forces and various police and investigative bodies.

The ICRC works in a range of contexts to mitigate the direct and indirect consequences of armed violence, which affect not only victims physically but also communities' access to essential services such as education and health care. Drawing on many years of experience in situations of violence, the ICRC has developed a methodology focused on personal and community protection and self-care. This approach is tailored to the specific dynamics and needs of the affected communities, enabling people to better understand how to act and protect themselves during incidents of armed violence that put their safety at risk.

In the Caribbean, we work with National Red Cross Societies - particularly those in Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago - to promote international humanitarian law and other humanitarian issues through training, the protection of family links, and other activities.