The United Nations High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, presented a new report to the Human Rights Council on Monday that reveals the “serious violations of civil and political rights” that are being experienced in Nicaragua.
According to the update presented by Bachelet, in the Central American country at least 43 people continue to be detained after the 2021 presidential elections, and of these, at least 34 have received “harsh prison sentences”, “without respecting due process”.
The High Commissioner also denounced that, of the same group of detainees, at least 29 people continue to be held in the Evaristo Vásquez Police Complex, “in violation of the guarantees of due process and allegedly in inhuman conditions.”
The report also reveals that the arbitrary arrests and harassment by state authorities of human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers do not stop.
Nicaraguans continue to flee
The repressive measures exercised by the government of Daniel Ortega, documented by the agency, continue to drive Nicaraguans to flee the country, explained the High Commissioner.
According to Bachelet, the number of Nicaraguan citizens requesting asylum in other countries during 2021 has been the highest since 2018. The agency estimates that 144,000 Nicaraguans left the country.
Bachelet asked the Ortega-Murillo Administration to allow Nicaraguans to “freely and fully exercise their civil and political rights, regardless of their political affiliation.”
The United States government, for its part, celebrated the publication of the report in light of the “deplorable human rights situation in Nicaragua” and encouraged the organization to continue “urging” Ortega to release “all political prisoners.”
The UN call is made when Nicaragua is scheduled to hold municipal elections for November 2022, to which the High Commissioner stressed that “it is urgent that the Government take measures to reestablish a credible, fair and transparent electoral process, as recommended in our reports”.
They ask for the creation of an investigative body
Immediately after the report was presented, Human Rights Watch (HRW) described the repression in Nicaragua as “Brutal” and affirmed that the document provides the UN Human Rights Council with “the necessary foundations to adopt a firmer position regarding the human rights crisis in Nicaragua”.
Through a releaseJuan Pappier, investigator of the institution, also stated that it is necessary to establish without delay “an international investigation mechanism aimed at gathering and preserving evidence of human rights violations committed in the country.”
HRW said that the members of the Council must attend to the High Commissioner’s demand that “new measures be adopted to strengthen accountability”, something that will only be achieved with the creation of said investigative body so that it “contributes to putting an end to to the repression in Nicaragua” and that guarantees that those responsible for human rights violations answer for their actions.
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