Non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch requested the founding members of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) to persuade Venezuela to revert its decision to withdraw from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

The petition was made by José Miguel Vivanco, director of Human Rights Watch's Americas division, in four separate letters issued to the presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Vivanco stated that withdrawal is "particularly problematic in a country like Venezuela, where there is a lack of judicial independence and the Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld government policies that undermine basic rights."