Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al Nashif on Nicaragua

“Since the last update to the Human Rights Council in March this year, the human rights situation in Nicaragua remains of grave concern. The Government continues to expand undue restrictions on civic and democratic spaces, while deepening its control over the judiciary and using it to implement a systematic campaign of repression,” Al-Nashif said.

“The Government’s actions have resulted in a perverse negation of the rule of law, with all the institutions of the justice system being used to persecute its actual or perceived opponents,” she stated.

Thirty people - five women and 25 men- have been arrested since March 2024 in the context of a crackdown on civic space. Overall, at least 23 women and 108 men, are still detained in connection with the human rights crisis, according to civil society reports.

“Unlawful and arbitrary arrests are often followed by trials that do not meet basic guarantees of due process and fair trial,” Al-Nashif said.

The UN Human Rights Office has documented 11 virtual trials held without appropriate procedural guarantees since the last update to the Council in March 2024.

“In this environment of sustained repression, detained political opponents, indigenous and religious leaders, academics, and intellectuals, are held in inhumane prison conditions, adding to the suffering of victims and their families,” Al-Nashif highlighted.

“Reports received by our Office include cases of detainees placed in prolonged isolation, without access to healthcare, medication, and hygiene items or to family visits,” she said.

The lack of access to adequate healthcare affects detainees differently, with individuals with chronic health conditions, being at particular risk and women detainees systematically being denied sexual and reproductive healthcare services.

In some cases, the authorities have even refused to acknowledge the fact of detention, as in the case of National Assembly deputy and indigenous leader. Brooklyn Rivera.

Practices of incommunicado detention and enforced disappearance constitute serious human rights violations, putting the detainees’ right to life and physical and mental integrity at serious risk. Such treatment could, in some circumstances, also amount to torture.

Nicaraguan authorities have also continued to persecute members and leaders of religious sects, attacking their institutions in contravention of the right to freedom of religion.

Several Catholic celebrations were cancelled during Holy week due to fear of reprisals‎, the Human Rights Office was ifnormed. Since March 2024, eight associations attached to Evangelical Churches have either ceased their activities under pressure or were stripped of their legal status. This brings the total number of dissolved evangelical associations to 311 since 2019.

The deteriorating human rights situation in Nicaragua can still be reversed, and respect for the rule of law restored, the Deputy High Commissioner said.

“I call on the authorities to immediately release all those arbitrarily detained; to allow communication and visits by lawyers and relatives to all persons in detention; and to restore the rights of all those arbitrarily deprived of their nationality,” Al-Nashif said.

“Protecting civic and democratic space and rebuilding rule of law institutions are first steps in the reversal of the serious erosion of the civil and political rights that Nicaragua has suffered since 2018, towards fostering genuine reconciliation and sustainable peace,” Al-Nashif highlighted.

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact:

In Geneva

Ravina Shamdasani - + 41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org or

Liz Throssell + 41 22 917 9296 / elizabeth.throssell@un.org or

Marta Hurtado - + 41 22 917 9466 / marta.hurtadogomez@un.org

Tag and share

Twitter @UNHumanRights

Facebook unitednationshumanrights

Instagram @unitednationshumanrights