Nicaragua

Status: stalled policy or process

Nicaragua has no policies for the protection of human rights defenders (HRDs). Despite a ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights recommending the country to create a protection mechanism for HRDs, the Nicaraguan government has not taken any step towards its development. In the meantime, the situation of HRDs in the country is worrying. There is a systemic repression against HRDs in Nicaragua.

Since 2007, Nicaragua has been governed by the administration of Daniel Ortega. His presidency has been marked by an aggressive democratic deterioration and severe limitations on the enjoyment of fundamental rights and freedoms. Ortega’s regime has consolidated his power by repressing the political opposition, reversing the principle of separation of powers and suppressing media freedom and the exercise of civic and human rights. Media outlets, NGOs, universities and the Catholic Church have been closed down and their activities harshly restricted.

In 2018, massive anti-government peaceful protests broke out all over Nicaragua. The protests were brutally repressed by the police and pro-government groups and media outlets shut down. 300 people were killed and over 2000 injured. Many of the people detained during the protests were subjected to torture and other serious abuses. Abuses have persisted with complete impunity.

Serious human rights violations have increased in 2023. Cases of arbitrary stripping of the Nicaraguan nationality have become a rising practice of the authorities to retaliate political opposition. A constitutional reform has since legalised the arbitrary deprivation of nationality to “traitors of the homeland”. More than 220 catholic priests and nuns have been sent into exile or prevented from entering the country in 2023 alone. Persons deprived of their liberty for political reasons are subject to torture and other inhume and degrading treatment.

HRDs face multiple threats in Nicaragua. Perceived as critics to the government, HRDs are systemic targets for arbitrary detention, prosecutions, and, in some cases, deprivation of nationality. Besides, HRDs are subject to intimidation, death threats, assault, surveillance and smear campaigns. Many HRDs have sought exile. There are also reports of Indigenous HRDs who have been prosecuted for alleged mine murders and who were subject to physical and sexual torture. In September 2023, Brooklyn Rivera, leader of the indigenous political party YATAMA and its representative in the National Assembly of Nicaragua, and his deputy, Nancy Elizabeth Henríquez, were arbitrarily detained after their party was declared illegal by the Nicaraguan Electoral Tribunal. The IACHR granted provisional measures in favour of both leaders since it considers that their rights are at extreme risk. Nonetheless, Brooklyn Rivera has been disappeared ever since.

The government of Nicaragua has also cracked down on civil society by abusing legislation on money laundering for restricting the activity of NGOs and CSOs, including the foreign agents law passed in 2020. Other laws and resolutions have been passed and have been exploited to cancel the legal registration of NGOs, including numerous human rights NGOs, which have been forced to close down their activity in the country. Since 2018, the authorities have cancelled the legal status of more than 3,500 CSOs. With Nicaragua having one of the highest levels of poverty in Latin America, the restrictions on the work of NGOs has a significant impact on the delivery of aid to Nicaraguans.

Regarding public policies for the protection of HRDs in Nicaragua, the Nicaraguan government has not taken any steps towards the development of such protection policies. In fact, in 2017, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights obliged the Nicaraguan government to create a protection mechanism for HRDs in the case of Acosta et al. v. Nicaragua, which concerned the murder of Francisco García Valle, husband of HRD María Luisa Acosta. However, the Nicaraguan government has not taken any measure to implement this decision.

The situation of HRDs in Nicaragua is monitored by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. Current mandate holder, Mary Lawlor, exposed the retaliation by the government against medical students who provided medical assistance to protesters in her latest report on child and youth HRDs. She has also highlighted the high number of attacks against women HRDs in Nicaragua in 2022. No Special Rapporteur on HRDs has ever visited Nicaragua. In fact, the Nicaraguan authorities have banned international monitoring bodies from visiting the country.

At the regional level, Nicaragua withdrew from the Organisation of America States in 2021, taking effect in 2023. Therefore, since then, the situation of HRDs in Nicaragua is no longer monitored by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and more specifically through the Rapporteurship on Human Rights Defenders and Justice Operators.

Nicaragua is equally monitored through the Universal Periodic Review. The country was last reviewed in 2019. Several member states recommended that, among others, Nicaragua ensures the access of HRDs to international and regional human rights mechanisms, investigates attacks against HRDs, guarantees freedom of expression, assembly and association and releases all unlawfully detained HRDs. Nicaragua’s response was ambiguous as it supported and “noted” recommendations with very similar content. For instance, while it supported a recommendation to “guarantee freedoms of expression, assembly, association and movement, particularly for human rights defenders and journalists (125.167)” it only noted a recommendation to “guarantee the exercise of freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly, avoiding acts of repression against journalists or human rights defenders (125.119)”. Despite the governmental repression, some CSOs still operate in Nicaragua and from outside of Nicaragua. Some of them contribute with shadow reports to the UPR review of Nicaragua. In 2022, the UN Human Rights Council established a Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua to investigate all alleged human rights violations and abuses committed in the country since April 2018. The Group presents their reports and recommendations to the Human Rights Council periodically.

CIVICUS rated Nicaragua as “closed”, which means that there is a complete closure of civic space. Freedom House Index rates Nicaragua as “not free”.

[Updated on 18/08/2024]