By Humberto Viera
May 4, 2024, 11:21 AM EDT
The government of Venezuela expressed its rejection of the inclusion of a Venezuelan athlete in the refugee team that will participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The Venezuelan authorities consider that the athlete Francisco Edilio Centeno Nieves, whose identity was not mentioned in the statement, does not meet the international criteria to be classified as a refugee.
In an official statement, the Venezuelan government criticizes the method used by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to select the Olympic refugee team.
The statement indicates that the UNHCR “inappropriately” included the Venezuelan athlete in the sports shooting discipline, despite the fact that “he does not meet the international criteria to be classified as a refugee.”
The Venezuelan authorities have also emphasized the need to respect the principles of international law and international refugee law.
In particular, they demand that the principles of “impartiality, objectivity, non-selectivity and non-politicization” be applied in the treatment of issues inherent to the UNHCR mandate.
For its part, the Venezuelan Olympic Committee (COV) has reported that last September it sent a letter to the IOC in which it expressed its opinion on the “situation of a group of Venezuelan athletes who had been granted a scholarship” for their preparation.
According to the COV, these competitors “do not have any type of prohibition on entry or exit from the country, nor refusal to process any Venezuelan document, nor are they considered ‘politically persecuted’.”
The 36 athletes on the refugee team have been selected through an IOC scholarship program.
The program is aimed at people with refugee status verified by UNHCR, in order to prepare members of this group who are forced to flee their country due to crises and conflicts.
For the composition of the team, the IOC has also taken into account other criteria, such as the sporting performance of each competitor, gender equality and a balanced representation of the countries of origin.
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