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(Washington, DC) The intensification of the campaign of violence and repression against opposition and civil society in Nicaragua by Ortega governments requires growing United Nations involvement to address the situation, Human Rights Watch said in a report. report released today.
The 37-page report, Critics Under Attack: Harassment and Detention of Opponents, Rights Defenders, and Journalists Ahead ofElections in Nicaragua, revealed that with the approach of the presidential elections scheduled for November 7, 2021, high-profile arrests and Other human rights violations against critics appear to be part of a larger strategy to eliminate political competition, quell dissent and pave the way for the re-election of President Daniel Ortegas for a fourth consecutive term. Between June 2 and 20, Nicaraguan authorities detained and opened apparently politically motivated criminal investigations against five main opposition presidential candidates and at least nine prominent government critics.
The severity and escalation of the Ortega government’s brutal crackdown on critics and opposition members in recent weeks requires increased international pressure, said Jos Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. It is essential that the Secretary-General of the United Nations build on existing United Nations action in bringing this situation to the attention of the Security Council.
The Nicaraguan crisis has worrying regional dimensions. More than 108,000 Nicaraguans have been forced to flee their country since the 2018 crackdown, two-thirds of whom have sought refuge in neighboring Costa Rica, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the vulnerabilities and needs of Nicaraguan refugees and asylum seekers.
Between January and June 2021, Human Rights Watch interviewed 53 people in Nicaragua by telephone, including 46 activists, lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders, and political opponents who were harassed and / or subjected to arbitrary detention. We also reviewed photos and videos taken during the arrests, as well as media reports and publications from local and international human rights organizations. On May 14, Human Rights Watch requested information from Nicaraguan authorities on the status of investigations into these types of cases, but had not received a response at the time of writing.
Ortega closely controls the security forces. Police officers and sometimes members of the military frequently stand outside the homes of government critics, preventing them from leaving their homes in circumstances that amount to arbitrary arrest, Human Rights Watch found. Many victims said they were unable to visit friends and family, attend meetings, get to work, or participate in demonstrations or political activities. Some were unable to take their children to school or to doctor’s appointments. Three women were sexually harassed and assaulted during their arrest.
Some have been arbitrarily detained on multiple occasions, for periods ranging from days to months. Several detainees described abusive treatment in detention which, in at least two cases documented by Human Rights Watch, likely amounted to torture.
Nicaraguan rights groups report that 124 people perceived to be critical were still arbitrarily detained as of June 2021. Many had been in prison for more than a year.
Valeska Sandoval, a 22-year-old human rights activist and university student, was forced into a police vehicle without explanation on April 24, 2021. At El Chipote prison, she said, two police officers m ‘took her to a warehouse and tied my hands to the ceiling, forcing me to stand with my hands stretched out above my head. An officer asked her what she said in the United States, where she had unsuccessfully sought asylum before being returned to Nicaragua. She told Human Rights Watch that riot officers slapped her in the face, punched her in the stomach, and took her to a water tank. They forced my head underwater for 20 minutes, she said. Upon her release, the officers warned her: The next time we see you, we will kill you.
A UN spokesperson said on June 9 that Secretary-General Antnio Guterres was very concerned about the recent arrests and detentions, as well as the invalidation of candidacies from opposition leaders in Nicaragua. In the spirit of his Call to Action on Human Rights, the Secretary-General should invoke Article 99 of the United Nations Charter to raise this issue in the UN Security Council and present it as a growing crisis involving serious human rights violations that could undermine stability in the region, Human Rights Watch said. Members of the UN Security Council should also seek information from both the Secretary-General and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The Security Council last held a meeting on the worrying human rights situation in Nicaragua in September 2018, at the request of the United States. At that time, Human Rights Watch urged UN member countries to pressure Nicaragua to end its brutal crackdown on protesters, dismantle pro-government armed gangs, and hold perpetrators accountable.
OHCHR has repeatedly condemned the abuses committed in Nicaragua. In March, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution urging the government to repeal or amend laws that may unduly restrict the rights to freedom of expression and association, privacy and participate in the conduct of public affairs; and adopt institutional reforms to ensure free, fair, transparent, representative and credible elections in accordance with international standards, which include the presence of independent national and international election observers.
President Ortega has been in power since 2007. In 2009, the Supreme Court of Justice issued a resolution allowing Ortega to circumvent a constitutional ban on re-election and run for a second term. Then, a constitutional amendment approved by his party, which still controlled and controls the National Assembly, abolished the term limit in 2014, allowing him to stand for re-election in 2016. His administration exercises full control over all branches of government, including the judiciary and elections. Advice.
Ortega has long relied on repression to stay in power. National police and pro-government armed groups brutally cracked down on protesters in 2018, arbitrarily arresting and prosecuting hundreds of people, killing more than 300 and injuring 2,000. Serious human rights violations, including torture and murder, have gone unpunished.
The recent wave of arrests and harassment has been made possible by repressive new laws that violate due process under international human rights law and are used to deter critical speech, giving a legal veneer to arbitrary detentions and keep critics in jail to prevent their political participation, Human Rights Watch said.
President Ortega also used his majority in the National Assembly to approve electoral changes that prevent opposition candidates from participating in the elections. In addition, the National Assembly appointed seven new sympathetic members of its party to the Supreme Electoral Council. On May 18, the Council banned the party that had functioned as an electoral vehicle for one of the two main opposition coalitions from participating in the November elections.
There is virtually no chance that Nicaraguans will be able to exercise their fundamental rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association, and to vote and stand for election, if they are perceived to be opposed to it. ruling party, Vivanco said. Senior UN officials and UN member countries who care about human rights have the opportunity to prevent a regional crisis by pressuring Ortega to end his crackdown now. They should get hold of it.
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