The Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (IM-Defenders) described as an “express procedure” the cancellation of legal personality to 50 non-profit organizations in Nicaragua, including 8 feminist entities, which work for women’s rights.
The National Assembly, controlled by Ortega, approved the banning of civil society organizations with the favorable vote of 75 deputies, all of them from the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) caucus.
With the eight feminist entities canceled this Wednesday, there are 34 organizations that worked to defend the rights of women who have been outlawed by the Ortega regime.
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In a releasethe Mesoamerican organization pointed out that “the cancellation of these organizations has been supported by arbitrary procedures by the responsible institutions, which have put up all kinds of obstacles or have directly refused to receive the administrative documentation required by law, despite presenting it in due time and form.
He stressed that “among those canceled in recent days there are even organizations that had registered under the arbitrary and widely denounced Foreign Agents Law.”
The eight organizations that work to defend women’s rights are: Chinandega Women’s Movement Association (MMCH), La Corriente Regional Feminist Program Association, Bocana de Paiwas Women’s House Association, Association for Comprehensive Community Development (ADIC ), the Solar Project Foundation for Nicaraguan Women, the Central American Fund for Women Foundation (FCAM), the Association for the Promotion of Women of Waslala (APROMUWA) and the Nakawe Foundation.
IM-Defensoras denounced that after the outlawing of the entities, apart from dismantling the offices and requisitioning their assets, the Ortega regime criminalizes, harasses and attacks its members.
She reiterated that the cancellation of the legal status of feminist organizations has a “serious impact” on the rights of Nicaraguan women, “leaving them in a situation of greater vulnerability, exposure to violence and the violation of their fundamental rights.”
The agency recalled that Nicaragua is a country where “at least 71 women were victims of femicide in 2021; where, according to official data, during that same year, more than 8,000 women reported having suffered some type of domestic violence and close to 5,000 reported having been victims of sexual violence; where thousands of women work in maquilas, of transnational capital and under conditions of exploitation and extreme precariousness; and where the interruption of pregnancy has been completely penalized since 2006, after Daniel Ortega’s pact with the Catholic hierarchy.
“We condemn this new arbitrary act of the neoliberal, corrupt, misogynistic and totalitarian government of Daniel Ortega against feminist organizations and against the rights of Nicaraguan women,” the statement read.
IM-Defensoras called on the international community and feminist solidarity to support these organizations and raise their voices to denounce this new arbitrariness against feminist and women’s rights organizations in Nicaragua.
