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The United Nations said on Tuesday that US air strikes on Venezuela and the weekend seizure of the country’s leader clearly undermined a core principle of international law.
Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, told reporters in Geneva that states must not threaten or use force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another country. She said the current situation showed a clear violation and urged the international community to speak with one voice to affirm that the action contravened international law agreed by UN member states.
US commandos, supported by warplanes, naval forces and air strikes, forcibly detained Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in the early hours of Saturday. On Monday, Maduro appeared in a New York court to deny US charges of drug trafficking and other offences, insisting that Washington kidnapped him and that he remains Venezuela’s lawful president.
Maduro assumed office in 2013 after succeeding Hugo Chávez. The United States and the European Union accuse him of retaining power through electoral manipulation, most recently in 2024, jailing opponents and presiding over widespread corruption.
Shamdasani said the UN human rights office had documented years of worsening conditions in Venezuela. However, she rejected US claims that human rights concerns justified the operation, stressing that states cannot achieve accountability through unilateral military action that violates international law. She warned that such intervention would likely worsen the situation.
She also noted that Venezuelan authorities declared a state of emergency on Saturday, allowing property seizures, limiting freedom of movement and suspending the right to protest. She said the intervention weakened international security structures and left all countries less safe.
UN staff have monitored the situation from Panama since Venezuela expelled international personnel in early 2024. The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said that nearly eight million Venezuelans—about a quarter of the population—required humanitarian assistance even before the US operation. The UN refugee agency UNHCR reported no signs of mass displacement so far but said it continued to monitor developments closely and stood ready to support emergency relief and protect displaced people if needed.
