As part of a systematic attempt to silence critical voices, the government of Nicaragua is perpetrating widespread violations and abuses that may amount to crimes against humanity.

BACKGROUND:

For nearly seven years, Nicaragua has experienced an unprecedented human rights crisis amid a rapid descent into authoritarianism. Under President Daniel Ortega, the government has engaged in a broad campaign of repressing dissenting or independent voices, including human rights defenders, women’s rights groups, journalists, community, peasant movement and religious leaders, students and academics, business owners and political opponents. As part of this campaign, various government structures have committed widespread human rights violations and abuses that may amount to crimes against humanity, including murder, imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, deportation and politically motivated persecution.

The crisis first escalated in April 2018 when tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest severe pension cuts and the police – at times in coordination with pro-government armed elements – cracked down on the demonstrations. State agents were accused of using disproportionate force against protesters, which triggered an escalation in the demonstrations. Between April and September 2018 at least 320 people were killed and 2,000 injured in the ensuing violence and crackdown. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts mandated by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights documented widespread and systematic violations and abuses of human rights perpetrated on behalf of state authorities and pro-government actors between April and May 2018. In response to their respective reports, the government expelled the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Group of Independent Experts from the country in 2018. Since then, no independent human rights monitoring body has been able to access the country.

A subsequently established UN Human Rights Council (HRC)-mandated Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN) has since found that the government, as well as pro-government groups, have committed crimes against humanity as part of a systematic campaign to eliminate any opposition. Dozens of government critics remain arbitrarily detained under what the GHREN has determined is a state policy. President Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, have dismantled checks and balances and instrumentalized the country’s executive, judicial, legislative and electoral branches.

Since December 2018 more than 5,000 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been forcibly shutdown. According to the Nicaraguan Platform of NGO networks, since 2018 more than 50 media outlets have been forced to close and over 200 media workers have left the country as journalists have increasingly faced prosecution on criminal charges of alleged hate crimes and terrorism. A large number of universities have also had their legal status canceled. The GHREN has warned that university students, professors, academic administrators and other personnel have been particularly targeted in violations and abuses, including murder, imprisonment, torture, deportation and persecution for political reasons, and that the pattern of attacks against them may constitute the crime against humanity of persecution on political grounds. Religious leaders, including the Catholic Church, which was invited to mediate a national dialogue following state-led violence in 2018, have also become one of the primary targets of persecution. Violence has also been perpetrated against Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples, including killings, harassment, the invasion of their lands and the deliberate burning of homes.

Repression also extends beyond the country’s border, including through the deprivation of nationality, forced deportations and the prohibition of family reunifications.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS:

On 10 September the GHREN warned that the situation has dramatically worsened over the past year as patterns of repression have expanded toward all segments of society, “leaving entire sectors of the population in a state of defenselessness.” The GHREN previously warned that “as the Government has neared its goal of total destruction of critical voices in Nicaragua…there has been an exponential increase of patterns of violations focusing on incapacitating any kind of opposition in the long term.” In June OHCHR warned that the government has also deepened its control over the judiciary to implement its systematic campaign of repression. The mass shutdown of over 1,800 non-profit organizations in August constituted the largest attack against civic and religious groups in a single day.

The government also severely intensified political repression ahead of regional elections in the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua during early March, including through the cancellation of the legal status of the main Indigenous Afro-descendant party and the arbitrary prison sentencing of one of its members. The vote marked the first time since elections were instituted in the region that no Indigenous party appeared on the ballot. According to the GHREN, “leaders and activists of Indigenous Peoples and communities of African descent are systematically persecuted by the State for defending their rights.”

On 22 November the National Assembly approved constitutional reforms which consolidate President Ortega’s absolute power, including de-facto control over the country’s legislature, judiciary and electoral institutions. The provisions further empower the government to arbitrarily revoke citizenship and facilitate state-led media censorship – both already widely used as tools to repress dissent.

ANALYSIS:

State-led repression, targeted persecution and patterns of serious human rights violations and abuses have become more sophisticated over time. Ongoing crimes against humanity have been facilitated in part by the deliberate dismantling of democratic institutions and safeguards since President Ortega took office in 2007. Pervasive impunity for violations committed before and since 2018 further enables such crimes. Domestic avenues to ensure redress for victims of state-led violence remain elusive.

Arbitrary criminal prosecutions are used as an instrument of political persecution, which has expanded over time and now targets a broad and diverse range of dissenting voices. Patterns of violence against opponents – including psychological torture – often vary by gender, with specific methods of torture targeting and inflicted upon women.

Nicaragua’s isolation from regional and international institutions helps facilitate the commission of atrocity crimes. Ongoing investigations and public reporting by the GHREN remain crucial to ensure international scrutiny and exert pressure on UN member states to respond to continuing atrocity crimes.

While UN member states have taken important steps to address ongoing atrocity crimes, including through the establishment of the GHREN, the international community has so far failed to apply a coordinated, holistic and robust strategy. The Nicaraguan government has also been unresponsive to targeted sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU), the United States, Canada and others.

RISK ASSESSMENT:

• • Tactics utilized by the Ortega administration to maintain absolute power.
  • Expulsion or refusal to allow the presence of NGOs, international organizations, media or other relevant actors.
  • Lack of cooperation by Nicaraguan authorities with international and regional human rights mechanisms.
  • Instrumentalization of the judicial system to facilitate the persecution of actual or alleged opponents.
  • Lack of domestic protection mechanisms, leaving Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples particularly vulnerable to ongoing violence.

NECESSARY ACTION:

The government of Nicaragua must immediately halt the systematic persecution of actual or alleged opponents, allow independent media and civil society organizations to operate safely and freely, and immediately release all arbitrarily detained individuals. The government should commit to full and meaningful cooperation with regional and international human rights monitoring mechanisms. All human rights violations and abuses should be independently investigated and those responsible held accountable, including at the highest level of government.

UN member states should utilize the evidence collected by the GHREN to pursue accountability for victims, including through universal jurisdiction, and strengthen and expand a robust individual sanctions regime against perpetrators at the highest level. Governments and regional institutions should also make use of the GHREN’s findings in all security, financial and trade relations and policies to increase pressure on the government to halt pervasive persecution. Latin American governments, together with the EU and other allies and in close consultation with Nicaraguan civil society, should intensify efforts to ensure a coordinated, consistent and holistic response to the crisis which prioritizes human rights protection and democratic reform.

At the upcoming 58th session of the HRC, UN member states should renew the mandate of the GHREN for another period of two years.