Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
May I begin by expressing appreciation, albeit in his absence, to the Secretary General for his inspired leadership on all these matters that I will be addressing today, and I look forward to his testimony.
As you mentioned, I am one of three members of an international panel of independent experts set up by the OAS to look into whether crimes against humanity have been committed in Venezuela.
What I propose to do is summarize the major findings of our panel, the action taken since then by the international community—we reported in mid-May—and its importance in the overall pursuit of justice and combatting of impunity.
As I said in May at the OAS on the occasion of the release of our report—I have it right here, and I gather that in eight minutes I have about one minute for each of the 100 pages. This 800-page report, replete with massive documentary evidence and legal authority, will hopefully make an enduring contribution to the pursuit of international justice and the combatting of impunity, which is so important to this panel.
Let me begin by summarizing our findings.
We concluded, in a word, that there is a reasonable basis to believe that seven major crimes against humanity have been committed since February 12, 2014, and that they warrant investigation by the office of the ICC.
Do you want to hear right now from the Secretary General, perhaps?