STATEMENT: We condemn the death of Eddy Montes, a Nicaraguan political prisoner

STATEMENT: We condemn the death of Eddy Montes, a Nicaraguan political prisoner

Washington, D.C. May 17, 2019. Mr. Eddy Antonio Montes Praslin, a political prisoner of the Nicaraguan Government who was in the custody of the Jorge Navarro prison authorities (better known as “La Modelo”), died yesterday of a gunshot wound inflicted by a prison guard.

The Nicaraguan Minister of the Interior, Luis Cañas, said that Montes Praslin, 57, died at 16:05 hours “while he was being attended by emergency medical personnel who performed a resuscitation procedure.”

According to the official version, the prison guard fired a shot in self-defense after Montes Praslin “rushed the penitentiary staff at the security zone,” struggling with one of the guards “with clear intentions of taking his police weapon and menacing the life of the officials.”

However, the version of other political prisoners documented by local media is that it was an operation in which officials opened fire on several inmates who were in Gallery 16 of “La Modelo.” Unofficial sources have stated that between 17 and 33 prisoners were injured as a result of the attack. We recall that Nicaragua has been immersed for a year now in a context of serious violations of human rights and impunity.

Mr. Montes had been in prison since October 2018 and was charged with crimes he allegedly committed in the context of the April protests. In a disproportionate response, the Seventh Judge of the Hearing, Abelardo Alvir Ramos, ordered pretrial detention without bringing him before judicial authorities within the time required by law. There were also other violations of due process, such as the fact that his case was taken away from the judge that should have had jurisdiction, his presumption of innocence was violated, and the privacy of the process was not respected. The trial, held in the Seventh Criminal District Court of Managua by Judge Melvin Leopoldo Vargas García, was scheduled to begin on May 13 but was rescheduled.

Race and Equality expresses its strong condemnation of the serious human rights violations committed by prison guards yesterday at the Jorge Navarro prison against the right to life, the most fundamental of human rights. This tragic incident demonstrates how the life and personal integrity of political prisoners are at a high risk.

We recall that in relation to persons deprived of liberty, the State has the position of guarantor, in such a way that it is obliged to respect and guarantee the rights of persons deprived of liberty when they are subject to the effective control of the State. This has been emphasized by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), for two decades now.  In its Special Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Challapalca Prison, the IACHR asserted that the State, by depriving a person of their liberty, is placed in a position of guarantor of his or her life and physical integrity.

Therefore, we demand that the facts denounced here, as well as the other acts committed against the political prisoners who were also wounded yesterday are investigated in an independent and exhaustive manner and that those responsible for the death of Mr. Eddy Montes and wounding of other political prisoners are punished.

We urge the State to take all preventive measures so that events such as those reported here do not recur and we demand the immediate release of all persons deprived of liberty in the context of the April protests.

 

Main photo: EFE

UPR: States issue recommendations to Nicaragua to ensure respect for the human rights of its citizens

Geneva, May 15, 2019. The call for the State of Nicaragua to respect the human rights of its citizens, including freedom of expression and the right of peaceful demonstration and association, was one of the most recurring recommendations from the more than 90 States that reviewed Nicaragua today during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), held within the Human Rights Council of the United Nations in Geneva.

The recommendations given to the Nicaraguan State, 259 in total, come after a year of crisis during which serious human rights violations were committed by the authorities and parastatal groups against the population holding demonstrations. As a result, at least 325 people were killed, more than 2,000 were injured, and 62,000 people were forced to flee the country.

Other States issued recommendations to Nicaragua to release the more than 300 political prisoners in the country, to investigate the violent acts that occurred in the context of repression that started in April 2018, and to allow scrutiny by international human rights organizations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), both expelled from the country by authorities.

The State of Nicaragua, represented by Vice Chancellor Valdrack Jaentschke, presented a summary of its country report on the progress of the measures adopted by the State over the past five years to improve the human rights situation. He also repeated the official version of the government, according to which there were no spontaneous demonstrations in Nicaragua, but rather a failed coup d’état.

Jaentschke, taking distance from a widely documented reality, insisted on defending Daniel Ortega’s Administration and denied that the authorities of Nicaragua restrict freedom of expression, repress protests, imprison unjustly protesters, or help parastatal groups suppress demonstrations.

Participation of the States

A total of 94 States made recommendations to Nicaragua to improve the human rights situation in that country, including several Ibero-American delegations such as Honduras, Mexico, El Salvador, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Haiti, Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, and Spain.

“My country recommends (Nicaragua) to decriminalize the right to hold peaceful protests and to free persons arbitrarily detained in the context of civil protests; to restore respect for freedom of expression and the press and free journalists who are imprisoned; to guarantee that all the people who were forced to leave Nicaragua since the beginning of the crisis can return, remain in the country in safety, and be free from reprisals; to eradicate the practice of sexual violence against women deprived of their liberty; and to resume the cooperation of Nicaragua with the Office of the High Commissioner, the IACHR and its mechanisms, and to assure them of all the guarantees necessary for the fulfillment of their mandates,” the representative of Costa Rica said.

The delegation of Spain also expressed concern over the human rights crisis in Nicaragua, along with other European countries such as Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, and Malta.

The US delegation recommended that Nicaragua punish the officials, agents, and parapolice officers that have been responsible for human rights abuses, conduct investigations into the acts of violence, and allow social and religious organizations to work without restrictions or threats with legal punishment or against their lives.

Other recommendations that were made to Nicaragua were focused on respecting the guarantees of women’s sexual and reproductive rights, such as allowing access to voluntary abortion and expanding measures to reduce levels of teenage pregnancy. In addition, States recommended implementing measures to reinforce and promote equality for Afro-descendant and indigenous people, and that an LGBTI census is conducted to expand protection measures for these communities.

Process

The UPR is one of the main tools of the Human Rights Council in which countries examine each other. These recommendations are fundamental for Nicaragua to overcome the current situation of serious human rights violations and to comply with the international obligations acquired through the ratification of the human rights conventions to which Nicaragua is a party.

The recommendations given today by delegations from around the world will be reviewed by the State of Nicaragua, which will decide in September what recommendations it will commit to fulfill or of which it will only take note.

This is the third time that Nicaragua has been subjected to scrutiny under the UPR, but human rights defenders working in the country recently reported that a significant part of the 164 recommendations acquired by Nicaragua in the 2014 UPR were not fully implemented.

Recently, the Human Rights Council of the United Nations approved a resolution that allows that body to establish a system for monitoring and presenting periodic reports on the current human rights crisis in Nicaragua.

Pronouncement

The delegation of Nicaragua affirmed during the UPR review that there has been progress in access to justice, particularly for the victims of the events of April, and that the media conduct their work without prior censorship or limitations.

The Nicaraguan Vice Chancellor even claimed that no journalist has ever been arrested for exercising the right to inform, suggesting that those in prison have committed illegal acts. However, Miguel Mora, Lucía Pineda, and Marlon Powell were all arrested for their work as journalists.

In addition, he discredited the OACNUDH and the IACHR, insisting that the barricades or roadblocks in the country were centers of criminal operations. He tried to justify the disproportionate use of force used by the police, accused of having executed crimes against humanity, arguing that these forces reestablished public order and acted against what he described as “pockets of violence and terror.”

Regarding freedom of association, he said that the reason why nine organizations had their legal status cancelled was because those NGO’s were used to forge the alleged attempted coup d’etat.

Race and Equality considers it unacceptable that one year after the April protests, the Government’s narrative continues to ignore and cast aside the large body of evidence against the government that exists, without accepting its responsibility in the repression of protests.

We believe that it is unacceptable to continue denying the lives of citizens who protested and were met with death, as a result of State repression. In addition, we consider it inexcusable that instead of taking advantage of the technical assistance that could be supplied by the protection bodies of the regional and universal human rights system, the regime has chosen instead to discredit these important mechanisms.

We hope that the State of Nicaragua accepts the recommendations made and takes the necessary steps to respect freedom and to restore of democracy with the urgency that the situation requires.

Human rights defender Vilma Núñez asks the IACHR to demand respect for the right of association in Nicaragua

Jamaica, May 9, 2019. Yesterday, the President of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH, for its initials in Spanish), Vilma Núñez, asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to address the State of Nicaragua in conjunction with the relevant bodies of the United Nations regarding the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association in the country. That right that has been widely violated by the authorities during the crisis that has enveloped Nicaragua since April 2018.

Núñez’s request was made during the regional hearing entitled “Human rights, development and freedom of association” during the 172nd session of the IACHR. The hearing occurred five months after the CENIDH’s legal status was invalidated.

“Thirty years of work by CENIDH were practically eliminated on December 12, 2018, when the National Assembly, controlled by the Ortega-Murillo presidential couple, annulled our legal status,” Núñez said. “On the night of December 13, the Ministry of the Interior gave the order to break into our offices in Managua, and 60 policemen forcefully entered through the roof. They tied our guard’s hands and feet together, beat him, and forced him to remain under a desk for four hours. They destroyed and stole everything,” she added.

Nuñez explained that the Chontales office of CENIDH was also ransacked by the police. On December 14, the organization’s bank accounts were frozen.

Eight other NGOs in the same situation

In addition to having canceled the legal status of CENIDH, the National Assembly invalidated the legal status of eight other Nicaraguan organizations: the Let’s Do Democracy Association, the Center for Health Information and Advisory Services (CISAS, for its initials in Spanish), the Institute for Strategic Studies and Public Policies (IEEPP, for its initials in Spanish), the Segovias Leadership Institute, the River Foundation, the Institute for Development and Democracy (IPADE, for its initials in Spanish), the Popol Na Foundation for Municipal Promotion and Development, and the Communication Investigation Center (CINCO, for its initials in Spanish).

“Repression has an impact on the development of our country in all aspects, since development requires a basic dialogue between the government and civil society, a smooth cooperation between governors and the governed. CENIDH, as well as the other organizations legally invalidated, represented a legitimate expression of citizen participation for the defense and promotion of human rights,” Núñez emphasized.

The human rights defender also denounced that the National Assembly that outlawed nine NGOs has granted legal status to parastatal associations, including the one named “Defenders of the nation.” “This is the legalization of paramilitarism in our country,” stated Núñez.

Petition

Núñez asked the IACHR to accurately assess the status of violations of the right of association in Nicaragua and to include this information in its report on the country.

In addition, she requested that the IACHR demand that the State of Nicaragua, in conjunction with the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, respect the right to freedom of association, the right to collectively defend rights, and consequently, immediately restore  the legal status of CENIDH and the other eight NGOs and return all of their assets.

Reactions

Other human rights defenders from Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia also participated in the hearing to denounce violations of the right to freedom of association in their respective countries.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Clément Nyaletsossi, urged defenders to send his office information that can be used as an input on his next report and called on States to eliminate any restrictions on this human right.

“Today we see how, in Venezuela and Nicaragua, the living conditions of citizens are deteriorating because civil society cannot offer their services. Civil society must stimulate and mobilize communities to fight against inequities,” he said.

During the hearing, the Special Rapporteur for freedom of expression of the IACHR, Edison Lanza, revealed that his office is working on a thematic report on social protest in the Americas. “The idea is to develop clear standards regarding the interaction and connection between freedom of peaceful assembly and association with the development of democracy, and economic, social, and cultural rights in the countries,” he explained.

Human rights defenders denounce the context of serious violence faced by Indigenous and Afro-descendant people of the Nicaraguan Caribbean

Jamaica, May 8, 2019. The indigenous and Afro-descendant communities of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua are facing a serious situation of violence as a result of the invasions of ancestral territories by settlers, human rights defenders denounced today before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), during its 172nd period of sessions.

Lottie Cunningham of the Center for Justice and Human Rights of Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast (CEJUDHCAN, for its initials in Spanish), explained that the conflict between indigenous people and settlers has had “devastating consequences,” because it has impacted rights to integrity, health, food, access to water, a healthy environment, cultural identity, and a decent life. Furthermore, this situation has resulted in the forced displacement of indigenous communities, seriously affecting their traditional ways of life.

The hearing entitled “Situation of the Indigenous and Afro-descendant people of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua” was also attended by Ana Bolaños of the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality); Nora Newball of the Creole Government of Bluefields and the Alliance of Indigenous and Afro-descendant People of Nicaragua (APIAN, for its initials in Spanish); and Esteban Madrigal of the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL). The State of Nicaragua, which was invited to participate in the event, did not attend.

Context of the conflict

The Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua is a multi-ethnic, pluricultural and multilingual region where nearly 508,000 people with origins from the Mískitu, Sumu/Mayangnas, Rama and Afro-descendant (Creoles and Garífunas) communities live.

This territory “has been ravaged for years by poverty and by a systematic violation of the right to ancestral territories,” said Ana Bolaños, attorney at Race and Equality. As a result of a ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2005, the State of Nicaragua approved Law 445, which established a process of demarcation and titling of these communities’ lands.

Under this law, between 2007 and 2016, 23 territories benefiting 304 indigenous and Afro-descendant communities were demarcated, but the title-clearing process has not been carried out, which is the State guarantee to the indigenous people of “the effective use and enjoyment of their titled territories when faced with their occupation by third parties or settlers.”

In the absence of this process, the settlers, mostly ex-soldiers operating under the Nicaraguan State’s tolerance, extract the natural assets of the communities for marketing purposes.

Despite the fact that the IACHR granted precautionary measures in favor of 12 communities on the Northern Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua and that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the State to adopt measures to guarantee the life, integrity, territory and cultural identity of seven of these communities, “as of today, there has yet to be an effective response from the State,” according to activists.

Increase in violence

Cunningham warned that violent actions by settlers have increased lately. For example, in February, two women from the community of Santa Clara were kidnapped by 25 armed settlers and forced to work cleaning beans under threat of death.

CEJUDHCAN has documented that between 2011 and 2018, a total of 34 community members have been killed, 44 injured, 25 kidnapped, and four disappeared in the context of the conflict.

Additionally, Cunningham said that the violence has generated a food crisis for members of the communities who cannot access their plots or perform other activities such as hunting and fishing. “In that sense, it has affected maternal health, access to education, and hindered access to the basic means necessary to sustain a dignified life,” the activist added.

According to a study conducted by CEJIL and CEJUDHCAN in 2018, about 23% of children on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua suffer from chronic malnutrition and approximately 11% suffer from severe chronic malnutrition.

However, the acts of violence continue with impunity. Out of 65 complaints filed by CEJUDHCAN with the corresponding authorities, 49 were rejected.

Political participation neutralized

Nora Newball, representative of APIAN, an alliance created in 2015 to demand and monitor human rights violations against indigenous and Afro-descendant people, explained to the IACHR Commissioners that the State of Nicaragua has neutralized the civic and political leadership of its people and has installed parallel communal governments.

“In the recent regional elections (of 2019), the participation of the indigenous and ethnic population has decreased due to the high levels of invasion of settlers. 95.5% of councilors belong to national parties and only 4.5% belong to the indigenous party,” Newball said.

The human rights defender and political leader also highlighted that the State has seriously damaged forests and natural resources, with the deforestation caused by the Alba-Forestal company and the imposition of the Interoceanic Grand Canal. The private sector has also affected their communities through the expansion of the African palm, the advancement of the agricultural frontier, extensive cattle raising, and an increase of mining activity and fishing.

Request

Members of the civil society asked the IACHR and the international community to take all the necessary actions to stop the invasion of the territories in the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua and to ensure respect for the human rights of indigenous and Afro-descendant people.

In particular, they requested the IACHR to demand that the State of Nicaragua immediately cease the repression against indigenous and Afro-descendant people and the human rights defenders who participated in the hearing; to include this situation in Chapter IV(B) of its annual report; and to request the Follow-up Mechanism of Nicaragua (MESENI, for its initials in Spanish) to monitor the situation of indigenous and Afro-descendant people.

In addition, they asked the IACHR to urge the State of Nicaragua to establish a dialogue with the traditional authorities to implement the title-clearing process of the territories and to comply with the protection measures ordered for indigenous and Afro-descendant people, as well as to demand that the State of Nicaragua guarantee the right of indigenous people to choose their authorities according to their traditions and customs.

IACHR interested in visiting the Caribbean

After listening to the interventions of human rights defenders, the Rapporteur on the Rights of Afro-descendants and against Racial Discrimination, Commissioner Margarette May Macaulay, expressed her intention to visit the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua to “talk to the people, to make this situation more visible and more palpable.” She stressed that her visit would depend on the consent of the State, but remarked: “I hope to and I have the plan to do it if I can.”

The First Vice-President of the IACHR, Joel Hernández, assured that the Commissioners took note of the petitions raised by civil society and stressed that their role is key “in a context of a serious human rights situation, where an absence of the State and where the access to justice has dissipated.”

Other rapporteurs of the IACHR who were present at the hearing, including the Rapporteur for Nicaragua, Antonia Urrejola, and the Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights, Soledad García Muñoz, showed a high level of interest in learning details about the situation of the indigenous and Afro-descendant people of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua.

We continue demanding freedom, justice, and democracy for Nicaragua

Washington, DC, April 18, 2019 – Today marks one year since a genuine popular uprising began in Nicaragua led by young people, which has ended up changing the country’s direction in pursuit of three concrete demands: freedom for those who have been arbitrarily arrested and the reestablishment of constitutional freedoms, rights, and guarantees; justice for the victims of the repression [and] guarantees of reparations and non-repetition; and democracy for the country.

What has happened in Nicaragua

Twelve months ago, a group of mostly university students together with older people organized protests in the cities of León and Managua due to some reforms that were made to the Social Security Law without holding consultations.  The repression on April 18, 2018 against older people, youth, and journalists by government-aligned mobs and groups caused so much outrage on the part of the population that the protests expanded to several cities throughout the country.  However, the repression also escalated and began being committed with support from the police and parastatal entities utilizing weapons of war.  The first three deaths were reported on April 19.

Thus, during the first six months of the crisis, the violent State repression resulted in at least 325 people dead and another 2,000 injured, according to figures provided by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), an organ that installed the most extensive in-country mission in its history: from July through December, the Special Monitoring Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI) and the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) recorded the incidents of violence and accompanied the victims until the government decided to shutter the former’s mission and not extend the latter’s mandate, as well as pressure it to immediately leave the country.

Through August, the IACHR missions worked jointly with a mission from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which was itself thrown out of the country after presenting a report in which it confirmed that the State had abused its authority and caused extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, torture, and sexual violence.  The GIEI labeled those same incidents as crimes against humanity.

Fearing deadly violence, possible torture, or arrest, thousands of people fled the country: it is estimated that between 40,000 and 60,000 Nicaraguans went into exile in Costa Rica alone.

In the second six months of the crisis, the repression was selective.  The authorities arrested more than 700 people and hundreds of them were tried for crimes such as terrorism, assassination, robbery, [and] disrupting public order, simply for having participated in the protests.  That was followed by a ban against demonstrations of any kind by citizens in the opposition; the shuttering and confiscation of independent media and forced exile of tens of journalists in the face of imminent arrest; persecution and harassment of Nicaraguan human rights defenders and deportation of nationalized defenders; and arbitrary cancelation of the legal status of non-governmental organizations dedicated to protecting human [and] environmental rights or performing research.

In February of this year, a new attempt at establishing a dialogue has opened the way to a possible peaceful resolution to the crisis; however, while the government has committed to freeing all political prisoners, canceling the judicial proceedings against them, and respecting the citizen rights and guarantees that were revoked a year ago, these commitments have not been respected and the police continue to prohibit peaceful protests and maintain an intimidatory presence on the streets.

What do the Nicaraguan defenders have to say about this?

“It has been a year of pain, outrage, and impotence, a year in which the harshest and most depraved repression in our history has been unleashed,” note the defenders from the Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos [Nicaraguan Human Rights Center] (CENIDH).

Notwithstanding, they affirm that the crisis “has revealed the unflagging capacity of the Nicaraguan people to persist in its demand for justice,” as well as its high capacity for organization, “despite all of the victims, assaults, and latent threat of being assaulted by the National Police, paramilitaries, and shock troops.”

The Centro por la Justicia y Derechos Humanos de la Costa Atlántica de Nicaragua [Center for Justice and Human Rights of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua] (CEJUDHCAN) also highlights that human rights violations continue in the country, and despite the fact that the agreements in the current negotiations have not been upheld by the government, the Center continues to believe that dialogue is necessary and urgent because the crisis in the country is unsustainable.

CEJUDHCAN believes that another issue that has not been included in the negotiations is justice for the indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants with regard to the violations of the indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination, lack of guarantees for indigenous people’s communal property, [and] vulnerability of defenders [and] indigenous community and territorial leaders, among others.

The Asociación Diversidad Sexual Nicaragüense [Nicaraguan Sexual Diversity Association] (ADISNIC) believes three issues of the utmost importance that should be prioritized in the current negotiations are “the return of international human rights bodies; restoration of legal status to civil society organizations who had it canceled; and a cessation of the persecution of defenders and activists.”

In order to comply with these agreements, the human rights organizations agree that it is necessary to be accompanied by international human rights organs such as the IACHR and OHCHR in order for the agreements established by the parties to materialize and inter-sectoral commissions to be created that include civil society, the government, and social movements that act as internal auditors regarding compliance of said agreements.

Nevertheless, CENIDH believes that “as long as there is no political will to guarantee and respect human rights, all of the demands of the Nicaraguan people will remain unsatisfied.”

The organizations recommend that the international community should support Nicaragua in the following ways: continue expounding upon, denouncing, and calling for a cessation of the repression within the framework of regional and international human rights legislation; act as an indispensable bridge in the search for a peaceful solution that guarantees compliance with the accords; continue the conversations in diverse international fora so as to generate greater commitments from other international actors; constantly follow and monitor the state of indigenous peoples’ human rights in Nicaragua; [and carry out] actions to support and monitor the situation of Nicaraguans who have been displaced to other countries, especially countries in the Central American region.

Other ways in which they can show support if the negotiations do not produce the expected results are to promote the application of the Inter-American Democratic Charter in the face of the lack of human rights guarantees and impacts on Nicaraguan democracy; activate extraordinary political and financial pressure mechanisms to confront the human rights crisis (including on the Caribbean Northern Coast of Nicaragua) that has yet to be declared by the national government; and [perform] actions to support and finance civil society organizations in the face of the closure of spaces and imposition of administrative and financial obstacles, so as to guarantee their work in defense of human rights.

Our stance

On this day, Race & Equality adds its voice to the cries for freedom, justice, and democracy for the Nicaraguan people.  We join the urgent call that broad sectors of the national and international communities have repeatedly issued to the State of Nicaragua to commit itself to the efforts undertaken by many sectors of society to reestablish peace and the rule of law that have been weakened since Daniel Ortega returned to power in 2007.

It is our desire that the solution to this conflict that has inflicted so much pain and financial loss on the Nicaraguan people be pursued through dialogue, by guaranteeing critical spaces for political participation, freedom of expression and association, and the full and effective enjoyment of the human rights enshrined in the Nicaraguan Constitution and international human rights instruments.

We call on the State of Nicaragua to have the guarantees of reparations and non-repetition serve as the emblem of the political will that is necessary to ensure that the crimes against humanity which have forever marked the history of the Nicaraguan people within the framework of this conflict do not go unpunished.  To that end, we believe the participation of the international community in the role of mediator is of the utmost importance in the negotiation spaces that have effectively been established in the country, especially in order to guarantee that the voices of the victims, exiled Nicaraguans, and historically invisible sectors are heard and taken into account as a part of the justice process that leads to the reestablishment of peace and democracy.

We urge the government of Nicaragua to establish the necessary conditions to put into practice the agreements that have already been reached by the negotiation roundtable regarding the enforceability of the rights inherent to all Nicaraguans.  To that end, we call for the release of the more than 700 political prisoners who have been arbitrarily detained and unjustly tried.  Likewise, we call for the cessation of the criminalization and harassment of political prisoners, so that their reincorporation into the life of society transpires with due guarantees of their fundamental rights, rather than under conditions of fear and persecution that threaten their integrity and life projects.

We urge the State to guarantee the legitimate right to freedom of expression, opinion, and social protest, participation mechanisms that guarantee societal equilibrium and therefore, q milieu that is favorable for democratic life.  Likewise, we demand that the social organizations, human rights defenders, independent media, and all other opinion leaders cease being victims of persecution, criminalization, and designation as “instigators of social unrest,” and are [instead] permitted to freely and fully participate in the discussion and dialogue as befits a pluralist and inclusive nation.  To that end, we urgently request that the right to freedom of association be guaranteed by restoring the legal status of independent civil society organizations that today are victims of the arbitrary decisions of the government of Daniel Ortega.

We issue a special call to the international community to continue monitoring the state of human rights in the Central American country, particularly at this time of supposed openness to dialogue and negotiation, so that truth, justice, reparations, and guarantees of non-repetition recognize the differentiated impacts the crisis has had on the lives of women, the indigenous population, Afro-descendants, and the LGBTI community, social groups that have historically and structurally been ‘invisibilized’ and marginalized and have become the target of multiple assaults within the context of the sociopolitical conflict that has yet to be resolved.

As an institution that works for the defense and recognition of human rights, Race & Equality dedicates itself to continue working to ensure that the voice of Nicaraguans is heard and effectively taken into account, and so that the crimes committed against those who gave their lives to defend freedom in Nicaragua do not go unpunished.

Remarks in Geneva: Need for International Guarantors to Ensure Respect for Human Rights in Nicaragua

Two Nicaraguan human rights defenders, a journalist, and the relative of a political prisoner discussed on April 4th in Geneva, the current state of the deterioration of human rights in their country and asked for more pressure to be exerted on the Nicaraguan government to permit international guarantors to guarantee the agreements that emerge from the negotiations between the government and civil society.

More than 40 diplomatic missions interested in knowing first-hand about the status of the crisis that began in April 2018 gathered at the event – “Rights, Reprisals, and Repression in Nicaragua” – hosted by the missions of the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Georgia in the Palace of Nations at the UN.

As a result of violent State repression, 325 people have died and more than 2,000 have been injured, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).  To date, at least 647 people continue imprisoned for having participated in civic protests.  In addition, media outlets have been shuttered, organizations declared illegal, and more than 50,000 people have had to flee the country to avoid becoming victims of the violence.

The event was moderated by Roger Carstens, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; speakers included Paulo Abrão, Executive Secretary of the IACHR; Vilma Núñez, President of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH, for its initials in Spanish); Aníbal Toruño, Director of Radio Darío; and Winny Sobalvarro of the Committee in Favor of the Release of Political Prisoners in Nicaragua.

Carstens maintained that it is essential that “all prisoners who were detained for peacefully participating in opposition protests must be released; we want accountability for any crime committed against those prisoners and against all Nicaraguans during the last year,” and he went on to note that “the respect for human rights must be reinstated” in Nicaragua.

Abrão declared that without the presence of international guarantors, the relatives of the victims will not have any assurances that there will be compliance with the agreements assumed by the government: “They will have no assurance that exiles will be able to return to their country without fear and without reprisals, that the process of freeing political prisoners will follow correct protocols, that human rights organizations that were shuttered in the country will have their legal status reinstituted, and that freedom of the press will be restored along with the return of the assets of independent media and radio and television stations that were closed.”

Nor, according to Abrão, will it be possible to guarantee that “the electoral system will be able to produce new elections in the future that can be considered legitimate and that the country’s justice system will be in a position to fulfill and respond to the victims’ demand for the correct sanctions on those responsible for these grave human rights violations.”

Vilma Núñez, for her part, maintained that it has been vital for the human rights defenders and the citizenry in general to have the support of the international community, both in terms of the work of the international human rights protection mechanisms, as well as various countries’ commitment to democracy and human rights.

The Permanent Representative of Argentina to the UN Human Rights Council, Carlos Foradori, recalled that last March the delegations of Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, and Argentina presented Resolution L8, “Protection and Promotion of Human Rights in Nicaragua,” which was approved by the Council; its objectives are to include the state of human rights in that country on the international agenda and encourage the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to periodically present information on Nicaragua to the Council.

“Our countries continue to monitor the sponsors so as to ensure a dialogue process in Nicaragua.  We believe that an inclusive and meaningful dialogue is the best way to make progress in guaranteeing a peaceful solution to the situation,” added Foradori.

Nicaraguan delegation describes the situation of its country to the UN Human Rights Council before the next UPR

Geneva, April 3, 2019. In anticipation of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Nicaragua by the Human Rights Council in May, a group of human rights defenders and members of the Nicaraguan civil society described the current situation of their country to the international community in Geneva. The country has had a deep human rights crisis for almost a year.

This UPR Pre-Session was attended by representatives of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh, for its initials in Spanish), Ipas Central America, the Women’s Autonomous Movement (MAM, for its initials in Spanish), the Del Rio Foundation, the Nicaraguan Platform of NGO Networks, the Center for Justice and Human Rights of Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast (CEJUDHCAN, for its initials in Spanish), and the Marist International Solidarity Foundation (FMSI, for its initials in Spanish). All of the human right defenders exposed the violations of human rights committed in Nicaragua with the objective of educating the States that will evaluate Nicaragua in the near future.

Every five years, the UPR offers each State the opportunity to declare what steps they have taken to improve the human rights situation in their countries and to comply with its obligations in this area. However, no representatives of the State of Nicaragua attended the pre-session held today.

The event was attended by 43 diplomatic missions in Geneva, including the missions from Chile, Colombia, Belgium, Canada and Argentina. These missions asked questions focused on the situation of the more than 700 political prisoners, as well as questions regarding judicial independence and the progress of the negotiations that are currently being held between the government and civil society.

Presentation

“There has been a profound deterioration in the state of human rights in Nicaragua characterized by the repression begun in April 2018 and its effects: deaths, persons injured and disappeared, and hundreds of persons now facing trial without the guarantees of due process,” said Vilma Núñez, president of the Cenidh, during her presentation.

Núñez added that “the current government – authoritarian, repressive, and a human rights violator – has plunged the country into a profound crisis marked by social discontent and a decline in the economy that has generated unemployment, the migration of thousands of Nicaraguans, and the impoverishment of broad sectors of the population”.

Since April 2018, Nicaragua has been submerged in a serious human rights crisis that has continued to intensify. During the last two months, the government has been silencing dissenting voices. Violence is more selectively manifested towards human rights defenders, women, journalists, independent media, LGBTI persons, and civil society organizations.

Juanita Jiménez, of the MAM, emphasized that Nicaragua “has weakened the fundamental guarantees for exercising freedom of expression and protest, characterized during the 2014-2019 period by assaults, repression and intimidation, arbitrary detentions, police oversight, the tapping of independent journalists’ phones, and in the case of women, they have been victims of repeated acts of institutional violence, with attacks recorded against female journalists laced with violence and misogyny.”

Regarding the indigenous peoples and ethnic communities of the Autonomous Regions of Nicaragua, Lottie Cuningham of CEJUDHCAN pointed out that “they continue living under unacceptable conditions of inequality in a reality marked by violence, invasion of their territories, disrespect for the elections of their traditional authorities, installation of megaprojects without their prior consent, corruption, and impunity.”

Recommendations

Each of the human rights defenders who attended the pre-session of the UPR presented their recommendations to the State of Nicaragua, which could be taken up by the States that will evaluate the country in May. The recommendations included the following:

– Guarantee the rapid, exhaustive, independent, and transparent investigation of all denunciations of rape, torture, and other abuses allegedly committed by the authorities and by those acting as agents of the authorities, demand rightful responsibility, and provide reparations and compensation to the victims.

– Respect the right to social protest and refrain from continuing to criminalize protest. Persons incarcerated for having questioned the regime through their ideas and actions must be immediately released.

– Draft, together with human rights defenders, a Protocol for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Nicaragua in order to overcome the current conditions of insecurity, harassment, stigmatization, and criminalization.

– Promote, together with an international support team, an in-depth investigation of all denunciations made against hospitals and other entities that did not provide appropriate medical attention during the protests in April 2018 and subsequent months.

– Demand that the State permit international bodies to enter and remain in the country and have unlimited access to relevant information so that they may analyze, verify, and indicate the responsibilities and define the corrective measures and sanctions for those responsible for violating the population’s right to health.

– Guarantee a system for recording information so as to provide an understanding of the real state of the violence, sexual violence, and maternal mortality in the country in order to develop appropriate strategies and actions for timely prevention and attention.

– Develop a State policy for attending to other victims of femicide, including sons, daughters, and other relatives, and create a Special Fund for compensating the families of femicide victims.

– Restore the territorial rights of indigenous communities, protecting them from the invasions of “settlers/colonists” or non-indigenous persons and third parties by establishing a dialogue with the traditional authorities to reach agreement on the procedure for freeing 23 titled indigenous lands of encumbrances.

– Consult indigenous peoples prior to initiating planned legislative or administrative measures that can directly affect them, such as megaprojects, extractive activities, or infrastructure works.

State did not comply with recommendations

The recommendations that were made to the State of Nicaragua in the previous UPR, in 2014, “were not implemented,” said Mayte Ochoa, of Ipas Central America, who maintained that the government “in some cases took on commitments it did not fulfill and in others, refused to undertake the required reforms and adapt legislation to international standards.”

PRONOUNCEMENT: Negotiations in Nicaragua must prioritize respect for all human rights

Washington, D.C. March 22, 2019. The Nicaraguan government and the Civic Alliance for Democracy and Justice resumed negotiations yesterday and agreed to discuss the following issues to ensure a fair and democratic solution to the ongoing human rights crisis that the country has been facing since April of last year: the release of political prisoners; the strengthening of constitutional rights and guarantees; the implementation of electoral reforms; the assurance of truth, justice, reparation, and non-repetition; and the development of mechanisms to implement the agreements.

According to a joint statement published yesterday, the Nicaraguan authorities committed themselves to “release within a period of no more than ninety days all persons arrested and detained in the context of the events that occurred as of April 18, 2018, in accordance with the country’s legal procedures.”

The Pro-Liberation Committee of Nicaraguan Political Prisoners registers at least 802 people who are deprived of liberty in different prisons throughout the country, in police stations, or under house arrest. All of them were detained and many are being prosecuted for having participated in the demonstrations that demanded the end of governmental repression, justice for the victims of human rights violations that occurred in this context of repression, and reforms to democratize public institutions.

Although the Nicaraguan government had insisted that political prisoners were “common criminals” who committed crimes as part of a supposed coup d’état, the Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada accepted yesterday that authorities will release “all the persons that the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) has identified as political prisoners,” according to a letter sent to Luis Almagro, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States.

During eleven months of crisis, Nicaraguan prisons have been denounced as torture centers and places where prisoners are subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment, discrimination, sexual violence, insufficient or inexistent medical attention and constant harassment.

In addition to this, in the last eleven months the repression of anti-government protests has resulted in at least 325 people dead, more than 2,000 injured, and around 50,000 people who had to leave the country as refugees, according to information from the IACHR and the United Nations.

Race and Equality considers that the negotiations that the Nicaraguan Government and the Civic Alliance have resumed can represent a significant advance in the search for a peaceful solution to the crisis that the country is experiencing. However, for this to occur, the agreements must be implemented with respect for human rights, especially the rights to truth, justice, and reparations for the victims of the serious violations of human rights incurred by the State of Nicaragua.

The agreements reached in this negotiation should not allow for impunity for crimes committed by police forces and parastatal groups or ordered by the highest authorities, as documented by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI, for its initials in Spanish).

We consider it necessary to restore legal status to the nine organizations of civil society that have been denied their right to exercise rights and incur obligations since December. These organizations, as well as the companies linked to the journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, must also have the goods and assets that were illegally occupied by the authorities restored.

Likewise, we consider it urgent that all persons in Nicaragua are able to express themselves and demonstrate freely. Journalists and independent media must be able to exercise their right to inform and broadcast without fear of reprisals from power.

Finally, Race and Equality considers that the release of political prisoners should be done without delay and simultaneously with the annulment of all judicial processes against them so that these imprisoned citizens, student leaders, peasants, journalists, human rights defenders, men and women can immediately recover their total freedom and continue with their work.

Race and Equality Recognizing the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Message from Carlos Quesada – Executive Director Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights

Today, March 21st, we again commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. In observing what is happening in the world and in our continent, I can only think about how discrimination, racism, xenophobia, and intolerance are gaining ground. They are highly present in the media, in politics, in our societies and in our daily lives. Fighting for the elimination of all forms of discrimination, xenophobia, homophobia, and intolerance is one of the fundamental pillars to promote social cohesion, the right to live, and diversity.

I want to call attention to the fact that in our continent, only three countries have ratified the Inter-American Convention Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Related Intolerance: Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Antigua and Barbuda. It is imperative that the rest of the States in the region truly assume the commitment to combat, punish, and eliminate this scourge that eats away at our societies. We urge States to sign and ratify this important Inter-American instrument, especially as a part of the Action Plans they should develop during the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015 – 2024).

We cannot allow Afro-descendants in the Americas to continue being the most marginalized populations and the most affected by the structural racism that is reflected in few state investments, high rates of illiteracy, under-representation in decision-making bodies, and under-representation within the system of administration of justice. Young Afro-descendants continue to be victims of racial profiling and police brutality. Afro-descendant women continue to have little access to health and education, which perpetuates high levels of poverty.

States are preparing to begin a new census round (2020) where we hope not only to have quanitifiable data on how many Afro-descendants there are, but also on the socioeconomic conditions of these populations. States must use this data to make a better use of their resources and invest in the most impoverished areas, which coincide with the areas in which Afro-descendants live.

In this second decade of the 21st century, it has become clear that Afro-descendants, thanks to their resilience, expect more than good intentions: they expect real structural changes. More Afro-descendant academics, politicians, professionals, and businesspeople have demonstrated not only the contributions they have made to their countries, but also that they are part of, have built, and will continue to build the identities of the countries where they live, from Canada to Argentina. This is true whether they are called black, African-Americans, Afro-latinos, palenqueros, raizales, o pretos!

From Race and Equality, we will continue to make visible, combat, and denounce the scourge of racial discrimination and other related forms of intolerance together with our partners in the hemisphere, who with their experience and struggle have made progress at both the national and international level.

150 political prisoners were released in Nicaragua, but 600 remain incarcerated

Washington, DC, March 15, 2019. The government of Nicaragua released 150 political prisoners from prison and officially put them under house arrest in the last three weeks. The release occurred as a part of the negotiations held by a governmental delegation and members of the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy to seek a way out of the human rights crisis that started in Nicaragua in April 2018.

The release took place in two different moments. Today, the Ministry of Interior (Migob, for its initials in Spanish) published a list of 50 people (8 women and 42 men) who, as of today, had their detention conditions changed. Included in the list are the student leaders Yaritza Rostrán and Levis Artola and students from Matagalpa, Nelly Roque and Solange Centeno.

“The prison in its entirety is appalling, but there are many women who are real warriors,” Rostrán told reporters, according to La Prensa newspaper.

Families of political prisoners and their defenders have reported on several occasions that they suffer cruel and inhuman treatment, discrimination, sexual violence, lack of medical attention, threats, and harassment by prison authorities.

Another 100 prisoners of conscience (12 women and 88 men) were released on February 27th, the same day that negotiations started again after the National Dialogue was suspended in June 2018 as a result of the continued repression of protesters by police and parastatal agents.

Negotiations

The release of the last group of prisoners that took place today occured after the Civic Alliance retired a week ago from the negotiating table due to the refusal of the Nicaraguan government to give “credible gestures” to achieve true changes. However, on Wednesday, March 13th, authorities announced that they would release an “appreciable amount” of people, which prompted negotiations to resume on Thursday.

“The release of political prisoners is a deciding factor for the smooth running of the negotiation process with the government,” the president of the American Chamber of Commerce of Nicaragua (Amcham) and delegate of the Civic Alliance, Mario Arana, told the digital media Confidencial yesterday.

According to figures from the Pro-Liberation Committee of Nicaraguan Political Prisoners, at least 777 people are deprived of their liberty for having exercised their right to protest. This means there are still more than 600 people imprisoned for exercising that human right.

According to the government, the 150 people recently released from prison were not political prisoners because they committed “crimes against common security and crimes against public tranquility” during anti-government demonstrations.

This decision to send home 50 Nicaraguans who were imprisoned for exercising their right to protest civically coincides with the refusal of police to allow the march called by Blue and White National Unity on March 17th to take place. The march was called to demand the unconditional release of all the political prisoners. The decision also coincides with an increase in police presence in the capital to intimidate the people and persuade them not to go out to protest.

Since April, when a human rights crisis began in Nicaragua as a result of state repression of civic demonstrations throughout the country, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) reports that at least 325 people died and another 2,000 were injured.

Race and Equality demands the immediate release of all political prisoners in Nicaragua.

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