In 2022, the regime of Daniel Ortega intensified state violence against feminist defenders of human rights by massively canceling the associations that provided support to women victims of violence, in addition to persecuting, exile and imprisoning women defenders and community leaders from different parts of the country.
Only in the week prior to the municipal elections, where the ruling party led by Ortega won all the mayoralties in the country, the Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (IM-Defensoras) documented eight arrests of women activists and territorial leaders.
“Of the eight women detained, two have already been released. Additionally, we documented 12 events of harassment of four human rights defenders and territorial activists. The Police have been identified as the main responsible for the attacks, followed by unidentified civilians, people who work for the State and sympathizers of the FSLN”, denounces the initiative.
In total, in the last six months, IM-Defensoras documented 558 attacks against feminist defenders, these include harassment, threats, and de facto banishment. The latest complaint of this type registered the case of the lawyer and defender of the rights of indigenous peoples, Anexa Alfred Cunningham, who was not allowed to return to the country.
The leader of Miskito origin, who has minor children under her care, was returning from participating in a session of the UN Group of Experts on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Geneva (Switzerland), when she was prevented from addressing the flight back.
IM-Defensoras warned last October that the regime is using migratory repression as a mechanism against women defenders. Of a total of 140 Nicaraguans who suffered this type of violence, between 2021 and 2022, 60 were defenders, activists or relatives of these.
Mass shutdown of NGOs
In addition to banishment and persecution, lfeminist defenders have faced the closure of spaces with the massive elimination of associations and foundations that provided tools and different types of help to women victims of violence.
A calculation of CONFIDENTIAL estimates that among the 2,981 Non-Profit Organizations (OSFL) that canceled their legal status and operation registration, there are at least 122 working on women’s rights issues. Five of these date back to 1990, including: the Matagalpa Women’s Collective and the Xochiquetzal Foundation.
This week, the Ministry of the Interior – controlled by the Ortega regime, eliminated another group of NGOs which included six women’s associations, including the Association of Professional Women for Integral Development, the Fatima-San Marcos Organization of Disabled Women, and the Kukra River Women’s Association.
IM-Defensoras made its own classification by type of NGO and estimates that the number of organizations for women’s rights exceeded 176 until September past.
“Among the organizations canceled are some with a long and important history of work in the defense of women’s rights, such as the Itzá Women’s Collective, a feminist organization, a member of the Women’s Network against violence and of the Network of Shelters of Nicaragua, with 33 years of work in defense of sexual rights and reproductive rights and providing accompaniment to survivors of sexist violence”, they denounced.
They also added that this group had a shelter for women who need protection from the risk of femicide in Somoto, Madriz. This had been operating since 2009 and was operating at the time of the illegal cancellation of its legal status.
Sexist violence left more than 50 women murdered
The completed and frustrated femicides in Nicaragua continue to rise. According to monthly reports from Catholics for the Right to Decide, as of last November 2, some 53 women, girls, and adolescents were murdered. Meanwhile, another 110 women survived. This data is current up to August 2022.
The frustrated femicides have increased by 44% since 2018. According to the data collected by this observatory, in that year at least 76 survivors were identified, in 2020 115 were reported, the following year 140 and in 2022 there have been at least 110.
The report would be even higher because the observatory only has information on cases that have the greatest impact in the news or are known through networks and women’s groups, which provide support to survivors of gender violence.
