The update report of the Center for Inter-American Legal Assistance in Human Rights (Calidh) on the situation of women in the context of the sociopolitical crisis in Nicaragua reveals that the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo subjected political prisoners to torture, in In particular, he has noticed a “pattern of revenge and censorship” of the members of the Renewing Democratic Union (Unamos). It documents the progressive and accelerated restriction of women’s rights in the country as of 2018.
The agency highlights that the Nicaraguan dictatorship has not taken the necessary actions to comply with the precautionary protection measures for 60 opponents. Instead, Calidh points out that the Ortega administration keeps 44 of the 60 beneficiaries of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in prison.
“Although Nicaragua has told various human rights bodies, for example, the Human Rights Committee, that it has advanced in the protection of women’s rights, the imprisonment of these activists shows that in that country there continue to be serious barriers to women exercise freely as leaders”, criticizes Calidh in her report.
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Many of the beneficiaries of the precautionary measures suffer torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. In addition, they live under prison conditions “incompatible” with human dignity, since they do not receive timely medical attention for hypertension, gynecological problems, asthma attacks and depressive states.
“The vulnerable situation of women, plus the underlying impunity, causes women to be harassed, threatened with imprisonment and sexual violence,” says Calidh, while documenting the case of an activist who was threatened with being raped along with her youngest daughter if she refused to give information about people who had protested in 2018. She is now in exile.
46.2% of the cases of abuse against women were committed by irregular armed groups, and 9% by civilians who identify themselves as “defenders of the commander,” says the agency, citing the report Political Violence against Women in Nicaragua by the organization Mujeres from the south.
The political prisoners they are subjected to torture, the jailers tell them that they will not see their children again, the stress of being in prison has caused them a lot of weight loss and skin diseases; gastric problems, hypertension; They do not have access to medicine, pandemic protection material, or reading material.
Calidh’s report was presented to the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and requested that it demand the State of Nicaragua the immediate release and that, while that happens, all women political prisoners receive the necessary medical attention to maintain a good health condition.
