UPDATE 2-Venezuelan lawmakers declare UN human rights official Turk persona non grata

(Updates July 1 story to add UN response in paragraphs 5-6) CARACAS/GENEVA, July 1 (Reuters) -

The Venezuela government-allied National Assembly unanimously declared United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk persona non grata on Tuesday after Turk publicly decried what he said were arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances and other human rights violations in the South American country. The government of President Nicolas Maduro has rejected Turk's comments, made before the Human Rights Council in Geneva last week. It has previously said that Turk failed to defend the rights of Venezuelans deported to an El Salvador prison by the United States and to call for the return of Venezuelan minors separated from migrant parents in the United States.

The declaration of persona non grata has no immediate practical effect, but Turk's office has previously been expelled from Venezuela and it is possible the government may remove it again. Turk's recent report to the Human Rights Council "is based on careful documentation following the Office's established methodology, consultation, and international legal standards," UN spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told Reuters on Wednesday, adding that the UN regretted the Assembly's motion.

The UN is willing to engage in good faith with the government, Shamdasani added, and remains "firmly committed to continue working to defend and protect the human rights of all Venezuelans, whether in Venezuela or abroad." Venezuela Attorney General Tarek Saab, who has always denied that the government holds political prisoners from the country's opposition, has also critiqued Turk's response to Israel's actions in Gaza and called for his resignation.

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