{"id":27111,"date":"2026-01-09T12:00:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T11:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/?p=27111"},"modified":"2026-01-13T12:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T11:17:13","slug":"statement-of-the-german-society-of-international-law-dgir-on-the-u-s-military-intervention-in-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/statement-of-the-german-society-of-international-law-dgir-on-the-u-s-military-intervention-in-venezuela\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement by the Executive Board and the Council of the German Society of International Law (DGIR) on the U.S. Military Intervention in Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>The following text is published in the category of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/services\/open-letters-and-statements\/\">Open Letters and Statements<\/a>\u201c.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[German version below]<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: right;\">8 January 2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Executive Board and the Council of the German Society of International Law declare:<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;The sovereign equality of states, the prohibition of the use of force, the principle of non-intervention and the right of peoples to self-determination are enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations as central pillars of the international order. They contribute significantly to peace, security and stability in the world.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The armed attack by the United States of America on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the violent abduction of the incumbent President Maduro in order to subject him to criminal prosecution before an American court constitute a clear violation of these legal principles and fundamentally call into question the international order based on the sovereign equality of states. Accusations, such as election fraud or serious human rights violations, do not alter the principle of immunity of foreign heads of state before the courts of other states. The United States of America is therefore obliged to end this situation, which is contrary to international law.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even more serious than these far-reaching violations of the law is the brutal openness with which the government of the United States of America renounces any obligation under international law and refuses to engage in any discourse on international law in its foreign policy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Executive Board and the Council of the German Society of International Law strongly warn against the consequences of this step into international lawlessness, which gives rise to fears of an \u00a0arbitrariness on the part of powerful states and a global escalation of violence.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They call on the German government and the member states of the EU to take a firm stand against this move towards lawlessness. All states are legally obliged to cooperate to end through lawful means the violations of peremptory international law. They shall not recognize as lawful the consequences of such violations nor render aid or assistance in maintaining unlawful situations. These obligations, which are enshrined in customary international law, are also part of German federal law. Compliance with them by state authorities is a constitutional duty. The same applies to other states. It is therefore the responsibility of the German government to clearly identify and criticize serious violations of international law.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[German version]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Erkl\u00e4rung von Vorstand und Rat der Deutschen Gesellschaft f\u00fcr Internationales Recht (DGIR) zum milit\u00e4rischen Eingreifen der USA in Venezuela<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">8. Januar 2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vorstand und Rat der Deutschen Gesellschaft f\u00fcr Internationales Recht erkl\u00e4ren:<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Die souver\u00e4ne Gleichheit der Staaten, das Gewaltverbot, das Verbot der Einmischung in die inneren Angelegenheiten und das Selbstbestimmungsrecht der V\u00f6lker sind als zentrale Grundpfeiler der internationalen Ordnung in der Charta der Vereinten Nationen verankert. Sie tragen wesentlich zu Frieden, Sicherheit und Stabilit\u00e4t in der Welt bei.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Der bewaffnete Angriff der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika auf die Bolivarische Republik Venezuela und die gewaltsame Entf\u00fchrung des amtierenden Staatspr\u00e4sidenten Maduro, um ihn vor einem amerikanischen Gericht strafrechtlich zu verfolgen, verletzen diese Rechtsprinzipien offenkundig und stellen die auf der souver\u00e4nen Gleichheit der Staaten beruhende internationale Ordnung grundlegend in Frage. Am Grundsatz der Immunit\u00e4t fremder Staatsoberh\u00e4upter vor den Gerichten anderer Staaten \u00e4ndern auch Vorw\u00fcrfe wie die F\u00e4lschung von Wahlen oder schwere Menschenrechtsverletzungen nichts. Deshalb sind die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika verpflichtet, den v\u00f6lkerrechtswidrigen Zustand zu beenden.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Noch gravierender als diese weitreichenden Rechtsverletzungen aber ist die brutale Offenheit, mit der die Regierung der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika sich von jeglicher v\u00f6lkerrechtlichen Bindung lossagt und jeglichen v\u00f6lkerrechtlichen Diskurs in ihrer Au\u00dfenpolitik verweigert.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vorstand und Rat der Deutschen Gesellschaft f\u00fcr Internationales Recht warnen nachdr\u00fccklich vor den Folgen dieses Schritts in die internationale Rechtlosigkeit, der die fortschreitende Willk\u00fcr m\u00e4chtiger Staaten und eine weltweite Eskalation der Gewalt bef\u00fcrchten l\u00e4sst.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sie fordern die Bundesregierung und die Mitgliedstaaten der EU auf, sich dem Schritt in die Rechtlosigkeit entschieden entgegenzustellen. Alle Staaten sind rechtlich verpflichtet zusammenzuarbeiten, um Verletzungen des zwingenden V\u00f6lkerrechts mit rechtm\u00e4\u00dfigen Mitteln zu beenden. Es ist ihnen untersagt, die Folgen einer solchen Rechtsverletzung anzuerkennen oder Unterst\u00fctzung bei der Aufrechterhaltung einer rechtswidrigen Situation zu leisten. Diese v\u00f6lkergewohnheitsrechtlich verankerten Verpflichtungen sind zugleich Teil des deutschen Bundesrechts. Ihre Beachtung durch die Staatsorgane ist eine verfassungsrechtliche Pflicht. Vergleichbares gilt auch f\u00fcr andere Staaten. Daher ist es Aufgabe der Bundesregierung, die gravierenden v\u00f6lkerrechtlichen Rechtsverst\u00f6\u00dfe klar zu benennen und zu kritisieren.\u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following text is published in the category of \u201cOpen Letters and Statements\u201c. [German version below] 8 January 2026 The Executive Board and the Council of the German Society of International Law declare: &#8220;The sovereign equality of states, the prohibition of the use of force, the principle of non-intervention and the right of peoples to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6639],"tags":[],"authors":[],"article-categories":[7618],"doi":[],"class_list":["post-27111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","article-categories-open-letters-and-statements"],"acf":{"subline":""},"meta_box":{"doi":"10.17176\/20260109-171641-0"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27111"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27121,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27111\/revisions\/27121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27111"},{"taxonomy":"authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/authors?post=27111"},{"taxonomy":"article-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-categories?post=27111"},{"taxonomy":"doi","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doi?post=27111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}