Written by Marc Jütten.
Respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights is a core value of the European Union (EU), and one that is promoted through its policies. The European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize honours the work of people who stand up for these freedoms and rights. This year’s Sakharov Prize is to be awarded to María Corina Machado, leader of Venezuela’s democratic forces, and President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia. They represent all Venezuelans both inside and outside the country who are fighting to restore freedom and democracy. The Sakharov Prize award ceremony will take place during the European Parliament’s December plenary session.
Significance of the Sakharov Prize
The European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is the highest tribute paid by the EU to human rights work. Every year since 1988, Parliament has awarded the Sakharov Prize to individuals or organisations for their outstanding achievements in defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. Past prize winners have included Nelson Mandela, Alexei Navalny and Malala Yousafzai. The prize is named after Andrei Sakharov, the eminent Soviet Russian nuclear physicist, dissident, human rights activist and 1975 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Award procedure and the 2024 Sakharov Prize finalists and laureates
A political group, or at least 40 Members of the Parliament, can nominate a candidate for the Sakharov Prize each year. From the list of nominees, three finalists are shortlisted in a joint vote by the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Development and the Subcommittee on Human Rights. The three finalists for the 2024 Sakharov Prize were (in alphabetical order): Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu, academic and anti-corruption activist in Azerbaijan; María Corina Machado, as leader of the democratic forces in Venezuela and President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia, representing all Venezuelans inside and outside the country fighting to restore freedom and democracy; and Women Wage Peace and Women of the Sun, from Israel and Palestine respectively.
On 24 October 2024, Parliament’s Conference of Presidents decided to honour María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia with the 2024 Sakharov Prize. When announcing the decision, Parliament’s President, Roberta Metsola, commended Machado and Urrutia for continuing to fight for a fair, free and peaceful transition of power in Venezuela and for upholding justice, democracy and the rule of law fearlessly. The President stressed that the European Parliament stands with the people of Venezuela and with the laureates in their struggle for the democratic future of their country.
The fight to restore freedom and democracy in Venezuela
In 2018, Nicolás Maduro was re-elected in a presidential election that was contested by the international community (including the EU) as it failed to meet international standards and the outcome lacked legitimacy and credibility. In October 2023, the Maduro regime and the Unitary Platform, the alliance of Venezuelan opposition parties, met in Barbados and agreed to hold free and fair elections in 2024. María Corina Machado, who served as an elected member of the National Assembly of Venezuela from 2011 to 2014, stood out as one of the strongest and most critical voices of the regime. In the primary organised by the Unitary Platform on 22 October 2023, she was elected with 92.35 % of the vote to be the opposition’s candidate in the presidential election. Since then, Machado has been the image and symbol of the united Venezuelan opposition. However, breaching the Barbados agreement, the regime disqualified Machado from standing for election on arbitrary and politically motivated grounds. As a result, on 22 March 2024, Machado announced that Corina Yoris would be the presidential candidate. Ultimately, as the Maduro regime also prevented Yoris from registering, Edmundo González Urrutia, a former diplomat, became the democratic opposition’s presidential candidate.
Nicolás Maduro’s government did not allow an EU observation mission (EOM) into the country to oversee the 2024 presidential elections. However, reports from international election observation missions clearly state that the presidential election on 28 July did not meet international standards of electoral integrity at any of its stages, and cannot be considered democratic. It came as no surprise that the National Electoral Council of Venezuela (CNE) and the country’s highest court – both stacked with government loyalists – announced the victory of Maduro without publishing evidence. Maduro’s claimed victory has not been recognised by the Organization of American States, the United States, the EU or by key states in Latin America, such as Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. However, Russia and China (together with Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Honduras) were among the first to congratulate Maduro. The fact is that more than 80 per cent of voting tallies published by the opposition credibly demonstrate that Edmundo González Urrutia won the election with 67.08 % of the votes cast; this outcome was confirmed by the interim report of the United Nations (UN) Panel of Experts on the election. Following the election, María Corina Machado was forced to go into hiding for fear of reprisals from the regime. Edmundo González Urrutia had to flee the country and seek asylum in Spain on 8 September after an arrest warrant was issued against him.
Human rights situation in Venezuela
In October 2024, the UN’s independent international fact-finding mission on Venezuela released a report documenting a deeply worrying rise in human rights violations. The investigation documents multiple and increasing violations and crimes committed by the Venezuelan government, security forces and pro-government armed civilian groups before, during and after the July presidential vote. These violations include arbitrary detentions, torture, enforced disappearances and sexual violence – all of which are taking place as part of a coordinated plan to silence critics and perceived opponents. Among the victims are children, as well as people with disabilities.
Following the elections, the Maduro regime further increased its repression and intimidation to hold onto power by force and violence. At least 25 people were killed, hundreds were injured, and over 2 400 Venezuelans were arrested for exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression. According to the UN Refugee Agency, 7.7 million Venezuelans have become refugees or displaced migrants since 2014. The vast majority of them – more than 6.5 million – are hosted in Latin American and Caribbean countries. This is one of the world’s biggest international displacement crises.
EU position on Venezuela
On 13 November 2017, the EU imposed targeted sanctions against Venezuela.They include an embargo on arms and on equipment for internal repression, a travel ban for the regime’s leaders, and an asset freeze on individuals and entities responsible for human rights violations and for undermining democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela. The sanctions were last extended until 10 January 2025. In 2019, the EU established an International Contact Group on Venezuela with the objective of working to facilitate conditions for a peaceful and democratic solution to the Venezuelan crisis. The EU deployed an EU electoral observation mission to observe Venezuela’s regional and local elections inNovember 2021.
Following the 2024 presidential election, EU leaders called on the Venezuelan authorities to respect the democratic will of the Venezuelan people, end the violence, repression and harassment against the opposition and civil society, and release all political prisoners.
European Parliament position
Parliament has adopted several resolutions on the situation in Venezuela in recent years. On 19 September 2024, Parliament recognised Edmundo González Urrutia as the legitimate and democratically elected President of Venezuela and María Corina Machado as the leader of the democratic forces in Venezuela.
This is not the first time Parliament has awarded its Sakharov Prize to the democratic opposition in Venezuela. In 2017, the prize was given to the political opponents of the Venezuelan government, including the National Assembly and all political prisoners, to reward their ‘continuing bravery in the pursuit of freedom and prosperity in Venezuela’.
Read this ‘at a glance’ note on ‘Laureates of the 2024 Sakharov Prize: María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, fighting for democracy in Venezuela‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.