Race and Equality denounces the situation of political prisoners in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela in the framework of the IX Summit of the Americas

Washington DC, June 2, 2022.- In the framework of the Summit of the Americas, the Latin American Human Rights Consortium – which is led by the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) – will hold the event “Jailed for what?: People imprisoned for political reasons in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela”, whose objective is to generate a space for reflection and dialogue on the circumstances and conditions experienced by persons deprived of liberty in the exercise of their fundamental rights in those three countries.

The event, which will be hybrid, will take place on Wednesday, June 8, in the Orpheum A room of the Hotel Indigo, in Los Angeles (California), starting at 4:00 pm local time (5:00 pm Central America time and 7:00 pm Caracas and Havana time). It will also be broadcast on the Race and Equality Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Panelists include Uzra Zeya, Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights of the United States; Brian A. Nichols, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs; the Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty and for the Prevention and Combat of Torture, Edgar Stuardo Ralón; and the Executive Director of Race and Equality, Carlos Quesada.

There will also be the participation of Victoria Cárdenas, Nicaraguan businesswoman and wife of the presidential candidate and political prisoner of the Ortega and Murillo regime, Juan Sebastián Chamorro; Anamely Ramos, Cuban artist and human rights defender; Munira Muñoz, lawyer and coordinator of the organization Foro Penal USA/Venezuela. The event will be moderated by David Álvarez Veloso, Coordinator of the Human Rights Consortium.

The situation of political prisoners in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela

The number of political prisoners in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela continues to increase. These three countries are characterized by authoritarian governments that use laws to criminalize activities that promote and defend human rights, journalism, and political opposition.

Cuba

In Cuba, whose single-party system maintains tight control over society in all its spheres, there were 150 political prisoners until July 2021, but after the historic protests of July 11 and 12, the figure increased to more than 1,400. Among those detained there are at least 50 minors, of whom, as of March 2022, 20 have been prosecuted and sentenced to between 7 and 13 years in prison.

Nicaragua

In Nicaragua, the state and para-state repression of the peaceful demonstrations that began in April 2018 resulted in 355 fatalities, more than 2,000 people injured, and 1,614 arbitrary detentions.

The crisis has lasted for more than four years and, currently, more than 170 people are imprisoned for political reasons, without access to specialized medical attention in conditions that do not comply with the United Nations Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules) and the Internal Law on Human Rights, that can be described as cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment, physical and psychological torture. This situation is especially critical for the 14 women political prisoners, 19 elderly people and people with chronic illnesses.

Venezuela

Since 2014, Venezuela has not been the exception to the deepening of the human rights crisis, after citizens came out to protest the economic situation and insecurity in the country. That year, the number of people detained for political reasons reached 3,708, while in 2017 there were 5,511 arrests for the same reasons. Currently, according to the Foro Penal organization, there are 239 people deprived of liberty for political reasons in this country.

Since 2014, at least 10 political prisoners have lost their lives and the Foro Penal organization has reported that prison conditions in the country are precarious and has registered cases of prisoners for political reasons who are held together with common prisoners.

When is a person a political prisoner?

In the field of international law, there is no definition or characterization of political prisoners. However, the existence of this problem in the region has made it possible to identify criteria to determine when a person has been deprived of liberty for political reasons, regardless of the country where they are registered.

These are some:

The person’s activities are linked to the exercise of freedom of expression, association or assembly, the political opposition, the defense of human rights and peaceful demonstrations.

The State carries out actions in order to consolidate or retain power, which result in human rights violations.

There is a use and articulation of State structures and institutions for the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of the person and their criminalization.
The context is characterized by single-party and authoritarian states, where democratic institutions do not exist…although there are cases recorded in contexts of countries with certain recognized democratic institutions.

Event information: Jailed for what? People imprisoned for political reasons in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

4:00 PM Los Angeles | 5:00 PM Central America | 7:00 PM Caracas – Havana

Hotel Indigo – Los Angeles, Downtown | Orpheum Hall A

RSVP and virtual registration: https://bit.ly/3sVeJAw

Simultaneous interpretation SPANISH | ENGLISH | PORTUGUESE

World Press Freedom Day: Journalism in resistance inside and outside Nicaragua

Washington DC, May 3, 2022.- This May 3rd, World Press Freedom Day is commemorated; However, in Nicaragua, Confidencial, 100% Noticias and La Prensa are confiscated; Radio Darío lives under permanent siege by the police and journalists, commentators, media workers and collaborators of organizations that promote Freedom of the Press are arbitrarily in jail; the murder of the journalist Ángel Gahona continues in impunity; More than 100 journalists report from exile, and journalists who report from the field do so from underground due to reprisals.

For this reason, with the aim of denouncing the serious deterioration of Freedom of the Press in Nicaragua, the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) spoke with three exiled Nicaraguan journalists about the patterns of repression against the press, their decision to exile, the challenges and opportunities of reporting from inside and outside the country, among other aspects. Below are their comments on the situation.

María Lilly Delgado: There is a new version of catacomb journalism

María Lilly Delgado is a Nicaraguan journalist with a long career in national and international media who, as a correspondent for the international network Univisión, covered the protests in April 2018. In May 2021, Delgado was summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office as a “witness.” for the alleged money laundering case of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation. Later, when she requested the presence of a lawyer at the appointment, the authorities changed her status to “investigated” and applied immigration restrictions and “prohibited her from going out to public places and meetings.” She is currently exiled in the United States.

For Delgado, in Nicaragua, the press and independent journalists are persecuted for thinking and expressing themselves differently from the official narrative of the regime, for informing of the demand for justice of the relatives of the victims of state repression and the relatives of political prisoners. “The regime wants to annihilate or silence all dissident and critical voices,” she denounced.

“There is a new version of catacomb journalism through social media and the web,” she said, referring to the fact that, in the face of imminent danger, journalists operate anonymously and “practically clandestinely” within the country.

Regarding reporting from exile, Delgado considers that it represents “an enormous challenge” because the women and men of the press must not only reinvent themselves and expand, but they must also explore alliances, do collaborative journalism with the aim of continuing to raise the quality of journalistic content, seek sustainability; and additionally, guarantee the safety of those who report from within.

Despite the difficult times that Nicaraguan journalism is experiencing, the journalist believes that it is time to renew the commitment to the principles of journalistic ethics, such as truth and precision, independence, and humanity. “From wherever we are, let’s try to put our grain of sand in with this huge army of journalists who, from inside and outside of Nicaragua, claim their right to report on the human rights crisis,” he concluded.

José Denis Cruz: The regime does not want a critical press but one that is the loudspeaker of its speech

José Denis Cruz is a Nicaraguan journalist who is exiled in Spain. He worked at La Prensa and El Nuevo Diario, two national newspapers that ceased circulation due to the repressive policy of the authoritarian regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. He decided to go into exile in 2018, after covering social protests, exposing himself to beatings, bullets, and other attacks, and after concluding that “Nicaragua was no longer a safe country for journalists.” He currently works in a Spanish media of fact-checking and verification of false news.

For Cruz, exercising freedom of the press without suffering reprisals is difficult. Nicaraguan media and journalists have suffered siege, censorship, threats, forced exile, criminalization, and in the worst cases, murder. “That has been the cost that journalism has paid for exercising freedom of the press,” he lamented.

“The regime does not want a critical press but one that is the loudspeaker of its discourse, and independent journalism has been brave in challenging it. As journalists, like any society that wants change, we defend the values of freedom, justice, and democracy,” he said.

Regarding reporting from exile, Cruz considers that the media that have emerged from abroad are admirable, they were ahead of the times with new formats such as interviews through the ZOOM platform and virtual editorial meetings. The journalists manage to tell the news from new narratives such as podcasts and explainers. “There is a reinvention of journalism and for the first time we see media that are not linked to power groups”. However, he considers that the challenge of maintaining quality and finding a balance between mental health and media sustainability will always be present.

Finally, José Denis sends the following message to those who continue reporting from Nicaragua: “Be careful. We do not want more martyrs… We value your courage; without you we would not know how the country is doing”. For his colleagues in exile, he sends a message of resistance: “Let’s continue resisting and denouncing, from any space, the human rights violations committed by the regime.”

Carlos Eddy Monterrey: This regime is capable of anything, it is a repressive regime

Carlos Eddy Monterrey is a radio journalist who worked as a commentator for the news program “Tras La Noticia” on Radio La Costeñísima, the only independent media outlet in the city of Bluefields, in the South Caribbean Autonomous Region of Nicaragua. In his radio program, Monterrey addressed the sociopolitical and economic crisis, regional autonomy, the weakening of institutions, among other topics of regional and local interest. As a result of this work, the journalist was verbally assaulted by a former Political Secretary of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and sympathizers of that party, he also suffered constant police harassment, threats, and smear campaigns. He is currently exiled.

For Monterrey, exercising freedom of the press is “the freedom to inform, to have access to information from State agencies and institutions without repression or censorship,” but this does not happen in Nicaragua, “the regime is challenging all international agreements,” he lamented.

The journalist shared that, despite the fact that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) extended precautionary measures to him because his life and personal integrity are at risk and urgent, “this has definitely not been complied with by the Government, by the State.” Likewise, he regretted that people with precautionary measures from the IACHR have been imprisoned.

Regarding the challenges faced by journalists in exile, Monterrey lamented the economic difficulties, as well as the need to maintain a “low profile”, not identify themselves or avoid publishing for fear that the regime will take action against their relatives.

“We already know that this regime is capable of anything, it is a repressive, criminal regime and totally violates all the human, civil and political rights of all Nicaraguan citizens.”

On the other hand, he denounced that the journalists who continue to work from the field face constant harassment and threats from fanatics; but he also highlighted that they have a great capacity to “devise ways”, take security measures, and report through digital platforms. “That is the way in which the Nicaraguan population realizes what is happening.”

Finally, his call is to “continue resisting and informing a people eager for information and eager to know the truth of what is really happening, which is what the Ortega Murillo regime is trying to hide (…) that the truth be disclosed and that we be critical against all the atrocities and barbarities that they commit”.

Pronouncement

On this day, Race and Equality stands in solidarity with Nicaraguan journalists who are inside and outside the country; as well as with media workers, press freedom defenders and their families. The continuity of their work is fundamental for the restoration of democracy in Nicaragua as well as for the victims and their families to have access to justice, truth, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition.

We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, including journalists, media workers and organizations that defend freedom of expression and freedom of the press who have been unjustly convicted.

We urge the Government of Nicaragua to respect press freedom, providing conditions for journalists to carry out their work without facing police harassment, persecution, threats, prosecution, exile, and even death.

We demand the repeal of the Special Cybercrime Law, the Foreign Agents Regulation Law and other laws that have criminalized the exercise of freedom of expression, freedom of the press and the right to inform.

OHCHR Representative on Nicaragua: The creation of the Group of Experts on Human Rights represents a step forward towards accountability

Washington DC, April 20, 2022.- On the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the socio-political and human rights crisis in Nicaragua, the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights interviewed the Regional Representative for Central America of the Regional Office for Central America of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Alberto Brunori , on the role of the United Nations in the situation that the country has been going through since 2018, the refusal of the State of Nicaragua to comply with the recommendations of the Council of United Nations Human Rights (HRC) and other international protection bodies, and the role of the Investigation and Accountability Mechanism established at the 49th session of the HRC.

The Investigation and Accountability Mechanism adopted by the Council is a request from civil society organizations such as the 46/2 Collective, made up of Race and Equality and twenty other human rights organizations that have worked together since 2021, after confirming the progressive deterioration of the situation and the absolute lack of will of the Nicaraguan State to comply with the recommendations of the United Nations . This Mechanism will be made up of three human rights experts who, for a year, will investigate exhaustively and independently, establish the facts and circumstances, collect, preserve, and analyze the evidence, and -whenever possible- identify those responsible for the alleged human rights violations committed in Nicaragua since April 2018.

For Brunori, this Group of Experts on Human Rights has an “unprecedented” mandate and “represents a step forward towards accountability for the serious human rights violations committed in Nicaragua”

Nicaragua has been immersed in a deep human rights crisis for more than 4 years. The Human Rights Council has analyzed it and has issued four resolutions. What has the position of the State of Nicaragua been regarding these recommendations? What actions has the government taken? What is the assessment of the OHCHR in this regard?

I am concerned that, over the last four years, the Government has not shown the intention to implement the recommendations issued, both by the Human Rights Council, as well as by the Office of the High Commissioner and other mechanisms of the Regional System (OAS) and Universal Human Rights (UN). Last year the Office published a bulletin outlining the scant progress in this regard. In September of this year (2022), the Office will present, at the request of the Human Rights Council, an updated and exhaustive report where the implementation of the recommendations issued by the human rights mechanisms of the UN system will be analyzed until 2022.

Recently, in its 49th session, the United Nations Human Rights Council approved a resolution that includes the establishment of an investigation and accountability mechanism for Nicaragua. What is the mandate of this mechanism? What characteristics should the experts who will make it have? What will be the role of the OHCHR in this?

Resolution 49/3 reflects the existing concern in the international community and in Nicaraguan civil society. The creation of the Group of Three Human Rights Experts represents a step forward towards accountability for the serious human rights violations committed in Nicaragua.

Its mandate, as stated in the resolution, will consist of carrying out exhaustive and independent investigations of the human rights violations committed in Nicaragua since April 2018, establishing the facts, gathering evidence, and identifying those responsible, so that this information can also be used in future accountability initiatives. It will also have to formulate recommendations that contribute to improving the human rights situation in the country and present a written report to the Human Rights Council in March 2023, among other tasks.

It should be noted that the mandate has highlighted the possible gender dimensions of abuses and violations, as well as their structural causes.

The three experts will be chosen by the President of the Human Rights Council, so we rely on his criteria to identify the best profiles that can successfully carry out the mandate. I am convinced that they will be professionals with knowledge of the country and the region, with a profound command of international human rights law, and with the necessary experience to face a delicate task that will help victims of violations of their human rights in Nicaragua obtain justice and reparation.

The Office of the High Commissioner, for its part, will continue to fulfill its mandate of regular monitoring of the human rights situation in the country. In this sense, Resolution 49/3 reinforces the role of the Office in the field of monitoring, reporting and regulatory analysis, independently of the mandate of the Group of Experts.

There is currently a Special Follow-up Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI) that was established as of June 2018 to follow up on the recommendations made by the IACHR and the GIEI. What are the main differences between both mechanisms? What are the strengths of the United Nations Mechanism? Do you contemplate working hand in hand?

The MESENI and the Office have been collaborating closely in monitoring the human rights situation in Nicaragua, so that we hold analysis and information meetings, and issue joint statements to express the concerns shared by both the Inter-American System and the Universal System of Human Rights. However, the mandate of investigation, establishment of the facts and circumstances of the violations, and identification of those responsible that the Council gives to the Group of Experts is unprecedented for Nicaragua, and precisely therein lies its strength. The Group of Experts, in addition to informing the international community about what happened in the country, will gather evidence that will help bring the perpetrators of the serious violations committed to justice.

Finally, it should be added that the collaboration framework established by the Human Rights Council in its Resolution 49/3, also provides that the Group may relate to other human rights organizations.

On multiple occasions, High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet has urged the Nicaraguan government to allow the reentry of her Office. In her last report she requests it again. Has the State of Nicaragua responded to any of these communications? What actions will the Office take to achieve a “yes” from the State? What expectations do you have of this visit?

The Government has not responded to the multiple requests from the Office for access to the country, which have also been echoed by numerous Member States and international organizations. For our part, we will continue to reiterate our request, both in our public reports and bilaterally.

Having access to the country would allow us to have an even deeper understanding of the human rights situation in Nicaragua. We could also have the opportunity to visit arbitrarily detained persons and contribute to the urgent improvement of their situation. Likewise, we could establish a frank and direct dialogue with the Government, which is not possible when the exchange is reduced to bilateral communications that are not answered and, when they are public, they contain political considerations without going into the substance of the issues of interest to human rights. A presence in the country would also allow us to reach and encourage the many human rights defenders who are carrying out their work in a situation of extreme precariousness, and under the constant threat of imprisonment or exile.

If you do not receive a positive response from the Nicaraguan government to work in the field, what are the opportunities and challenges that these experts could face when working remotely?

The UN has extensive experience in remote monitoring, both due to conflict and insecurity situations where physical access to a certain territory is not possible, and (more frequently) due to the objection of governments to allowing the entry of human rights officers. Governments need to know that blocking investigators’ access may hamper their work, but ultimately it will not stop progress towards accountability. Through interviews (physical and virtual) with victims and witnesses, and the analysis of documentation, exhaustive investigative work can be carried out. But, in any case, we should not get ahead of ourselves on this point, since it should be the experts themselves who assess the situation at the time.

Given the lack of truth and justice in Nicaragua, what message would you send to the victims of repression and to Nicaraguan citizens? What is your call to the Nicaraguan government?

To the victims and all the people who have suffered human rights violations, including family members who have lost their loved ones, or who have been unjustly imprisoned for months and even years, I can only extend my solidarity. I deeply admire the resilience they have shown and the work they continue to do, both inside Nicaragua and in exile, to improve the situation in the country. This crisis has been going on for far too long, and I hope that you do not lose hope that justice will be achieved, that all those who are arbitrarily detained and in inhuman situations will be released, and that measures be taken to ensure that these violations are not going to be repeated.

Above all, I would say to the Government that, beyond the entire series of recommendations it has received from human rights organizations, listen, and give voice to Nicaraguans. The deep disagreements that may exist about the model of society that they want for Nicaragua and about its role in the world, can never justify the deprivation of life and liberty, torture, or exclusion from social and political life. The Government must know that it can only come out of this crisis by immediately ceasing the persecution against those sectors of society with which it disagrees and incorporating them into the debate and political decision-making spheres.

IACHR Rapporteur for Nicaragua: “We will continue to monitor the situation, accompanying and listening to the victims”

The work of monitoring, documentation, denunciation, and condemnation of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has been essential since the beginning of the serious sociopolitical and human rights crisis in Nicaragua. Recognizing their work, on the fourth anniversary of the civic rebellion of April 2018, the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) interviewed the IACHR Rapporteur for Nicaragua, Esmeralda Arosemena, about the role that this agency has played in the situation that the country is going through since April 2018 and what could be the next steps to achieve truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition for the victims of violence and repression.

In a report published in October 2021, the IACHR warned that in Nicaragua there is a weakening of the rule of law and a profound deterioration in the area of Human Rights that has been brewing for two decades. What progress or setbacks have there been in Nicaragua in terms of Human Rights since the publication of this report (October 2021)? What new patterns have been identified and what is currently of greatest concern?

The report includes several elements that account for what its title indicates, concentration of power and weakening of the rule of law in Nicaragua. In November 2021, elections were held in a context of repression, corruption, electoral fraud, and structural impunity, which made it possible to ensure that the Executive remains in power and, in turn, consolidate an anti- democratic regime in the country.

The IACHR observes that the State continues with a strategy aimed at keeping civic and democratic space co-opted by imposing a perpetual police state, and new measures and laws that arbitrarily restrict the rights of the population. Recently, from the IACHR, we rejected the massive and forced closure of civil society organizations, foundations, universities, cooperation and development agencies, feminist groups, medical unions, among others.

On the other hand, we are very aware of the violation of criminal law, including (those) included in the constitutional norms of the country; and the criminalization of people identified as opponents of the government, an element that responds to the lack of judicial independence and separation of powers of a Public Ministry and a Judicial Power subject to the will of the government in a clear detriment to the rule of law and the democracy. This is in memory of the political prisoners who, between February and March, were tried and sentenced to very high sentences, without judicial guarantees.

Four years have passed since the beginning of the crisis in the country, and the Ortega and Murillo regime continues without responding to the recommendations and precautionary measures granted by the IACHR and fails to comply with sentences and resolutions of the Inter-American Court. How do you assess this position of Nicaragua? What is the position of the IACHR to contribute to the end of the repression and the way out of this crisis? What additional international mechanisms or instruments exist for accountability in Nicaragua?

Among the roles that the IACHR has is to raise awareness about human rights, make violations visible, and make use of its protection mechanisms such as precautionary measures. In this sense, we will continue to monitor the situation, accompany, and listen to the victims, and demand that Nicaragua restore its democracy and repair the serious and unacceptable violations that continue to occur under a regime that decided not to be democratic.

The Commission has assessed the lack of compliance with its recommendations for the inclusion of the State of Nicaragua in section B of Chapter IV of its Annual Report for three consecutive years. We have granted more than 30 precautionary measures to people, leaders, political opponents for being in a situation of risk and irreparable damage to their rights. For its part, the Inter-American Court in 2021 communicated to the OAS the contempt of the State of Nicaragua for the provisional measures issued in favor of the release of political prisoners in the country. This exemplifies that the organs of the Inter-American System are making use of all available conventional tools to contribute to compliance with the recommendations made to the State.

We must remember that the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) for Nicaragua was a body established through an agreement between the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (GS OAS), the IACHR and the Nicaraguan government to investigate the acts of violence that occurred in the period from April 18 to May 30, 2018. The GIEI presented its report that reported the serious violations that occurred and continued. Subsequently, the IACHR installed its Special Follow-up Mechanism also for Nicaragua (MESENI) to continue monitoring and raising awareness. Now the United Nations has resolved to establish a group of experts to investigate human rights violations in Nicaragua.

Recently, in a hearing of the IACHR, it stated that it had tried to establish a dialogue with the State but had not received any response . Do you think there are possibilities of obtaining a positive response from the State in the short term? What results can be expected from this dialogue?

The Inter-American Commission has permanently expressed its willingness to collaborate technically with the State for the restoration of human rights, the rule of law and compliance with the recommendations. From our role, we will continue to insist that the national dialogue with the organizations that fulfill the function of defending and promoting human rights is one of the ways that must be assumed in any democratic system for reparation, for the memory, truth, and justice.

You have previously stated that political prisoners are a priority for the Commission. From your Office of the Rapporteur: Do you see progress that could result in the prompt release of political prisoners? What other efforts are planned to demand the release of these people?

For the Commission, the 171 political prisoners are a priority, and it will continue to work for their release, as well as to guarantee due process and access to a defense. However, as I mentioned before, we regret the lack of will of the State to comply with the recommendations made and release them immediately. Due to the foregoing, the Commission will continue to make use of all its mechanisms so that prisoners are released and receive justice and reparation.

In my capacity as rapporteur for Nicaragua, I will continue to accompany the women and men who are political prisoners today, through their families, friends, and their lawyers.

As Rapporteur for Indigenous Peoples, what is your assessment of the recent cancellation of the human rights organization for indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants CEJUDHCAN? What challenges exist in relation to the state obligation to respect the self-determination of these peoples in Nicaragua?

Without a doubt, the closure of this organization (CEJUDHCAN) has serious consequences for the protection of the traditional rights and territories of the peoples of the North Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. In this regard, members of different communities have denounced the serious effects that the closure of this organization has for the protection of their rights, lands, and traditional territories in a context of systematic attacks by “settlers” (non-indigenous third-party invaders). It is worth remembering that the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, civil, political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights are closely linked to their own lands, territories, natural resources, social, cultural, and political institutions, and their self-determination.

In the report on the right to self-determination of indigenous and tribal peoples of the IACHR, reference is made to the fact that the different constitutive elements of self-determination such as political participation, consultation, and free, prior and informed consent, are part of commitments and States’ obligations under international instruments. This is one of the challenges that the States, including that of Nicaragua, have with respect to indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants.

On March 7, the United Nations High Commissioner affirmed that “the Indigenous Peoples of Nicaragua have continued to suffer violent attacks in the context of territorial disputes, most of them with total impunity.” Given this background: In what way do you think the IACHR could coordinate with the United Nations System to seek an improvement in the situation of lack of protection in which indigenous peoples live?

Since the beginning of the crisis, the IACHR has been working in coordination with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to address serious human rights violations. Last year, given the intensification of the repression in the context of the elections, the IACHR also announced that they were reinforcing this work, as well as the intention to establish articulated strategies to provide timely responses to the situation observed in the country […]

On March 23, the former Nicaraguan ambassador to the OAS, Arturo McFields, denounced crimes against humanity committed by the Ortega regime against Nicaraguan citizens: How important is this complaint to the IACHR? Could it be taken as further evidence of the deterioration of the human rights situation?

The IACHR considers that the statements by Ambassador Arturo McFields confirm the serious human rights violations that are being committed in the country, the institutional deterioration, and the sharpening of the Executive’s strategy to silence dissenting and opposition voices […] It also demonstrates the persistence of a police state that, in coordination with government groups, attacks, monitors, threatens, and harasses any person identified as an opponent, and this, in this case, is reflected in the dismissal of Arturo McFields as Nicaraguan ambassador to the OAS .

What is your message for Nicaraguan citizens, particularly for the victims of state violence? What call do you make to the Government of Nicaragua? What is your message to the international community and other States in the region in the face of the deepening of the crisis?

Four years after the beginning of the human rights crisis, the IACHR reminds the victims, their relatives, and civil society organizations that it maintains its permanent commitment to continue working to achieve justice and reparation, the reconstruction of democracy, and ensure that national reconciliation arrives with memory and historical truth. From our role, we will tirelessly ensure that the protection of life and physical integrity of each person is guaranteed, as well as the freedom of expression of the Nicaraguan people.

Nicaraguan NGOs: “Justice for Nicaragua will come”

There are innumerable human rights violations that the Daniel Ortega regime has committed against opposition figures in Nicaragua since the outbreak of the protests in April 2018, to which he responded with repression, violence, torture, arbitrary arrests, and spurious trials. The repression left 355 fatal victims, 1,614 arbitrary detentions whose cases are still in impunity, in addition to forcing more than 110,000 Nicaraguans into exile.

Four years have passed and although the situation is critical for the Nicaraguan opposition, civil society organizations continue to document cases, either in the country or from exile, in order to bring them before international justice and obtain reparation for the victims, among them more than 181 political prisoners.

The Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), spoke with Alexandra Salazar, Coordinator of the “Legal Defense Unit (UDJ)”, who works in the judicial processes that are carried out on political prisoners in Nicaragua and Wendy Flores, coordinator of the |Colectivo de Derechos Humanos Nicaragua Nunca +|, on the work of accompanying the victims of repression in Nicaragua in their search for justice, the processes that have been carried out to bring the cases before international organizations and the steps that come next so that there is justice and reparation in the country.

Salazar believes that the renewal of the mandate of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the creation of the group of experts for Nicaragua will contribute to promoting investigations that guarantee justice for all the victims of Ortega’s repression since April 2018.

The documentation of all the facts is one of the most important steps to achieve justice. In this regard, Salazar considers that such documentation is a challenge for national and international organizations that no longer have direct access to the processes carried out within the National Police that lead to the prosecution of opponents in Nicaragua. Despite the lack of access, Salazar indicates that they will continue to carry out the documentation that is necessary to be able to assign responsibility or point out violations of due process.

“The repression is so intense and persistent that it has led to silence, a deep fear of reporting for fear of reprisals that can lead to arrests,” Salazar warns, despite this, family members and victims continue to report and contribute. evidence that is expected to be presented in impartial trials of domestic and international jurisdiction.

Against Impunity

In 2019, the Daniel Ortega regime approved the disputed Amnesty Law (Law No. 996), with which they released political prisoners who were still in jail after the 2018 demonstrations and had not been previously released, an action that benefited all those people captured illegally.

However, Flores recalled that the main purpose of the amnesty was also to leave “crimes against humanity and serious human rights violations” committed by the regime against the civilian population in impunity. But if something has allowed these crimes not to disappear from people’s minds, it is that their relatives, supported by organizations that watch over human rights, continue to denounce and document the events.

“The international community has the opportunity, through its different mechanisms and procedures, to determine the responsibility of the State of Nicaragua for the serious human rights violations committed in 2018 to the present, but also to direct actions aimed at ensuring that the intellectual authors and materials of these crimes are duly judged, “explained Flores.

Political prisoners keep increasing

In the Ortega prisons there are 181 political prisoners. Some of them have been deprived of liberty since 2018, while others are about to complete their first year behind bars. Recently, several political prisoners were sentenced under processes questioned by the lack of impartiality of the Nicaraguan Judiciary and a Prosecutor’s Office in charge of falsifying evidence against the detainees, as documented by the independent media.

The number of political prisoners continues to rise and a week before the fourth anniversary of April 2018, the Police continue to besiege the homes of the families of victims of the lethal repression of 2018 and arrest citizens for the sole fact of being identified as opponents.

Flores recalls that since 2018 in Nicaragua there have been more than 800 criminal trials “against protesters, activists, journalists, human rights defenders, political opponents, businessmen and anyone who publicly dissents from the Government.”

Organizations have identified patterns within these processes that vary, depending on the stage of repression that the regime is developing. For example, the first trials had the characteristic that the defendants were accused of terrorism, obstruction of functions, damage to property, murder, among others; while in a second stage “they were accused of common crimes such as robbery, drug trafficking, and in this current repressive stage; we find crimes related to the Cybercrime Law and the Sovereignty Law,” says Flores.

Processes do not meet international standards

Salazar added that none of the processes carried out against members of the opposition, human rights defenders, activists, and journalists have complied with international standards and the detainees are not given information about the reasons for which they are taken, they are stripped of their right to have an effective technical defense, timely access to the files and much less the indispensable representation during the judicial process.

In addition to this, political prisoners are victims of psychological torture, Salazar pointed out, since the Police interrogate them daily and deprive them of adequate food and, according to the complaints of their relatives, even blankets to help them shelter from the cold of the night.

“We have filed appeals against the sentences, and all of them have been ineffective and there is full coordination and none in favor of guaranteeing access to effective and real justice for political prisoners,” says Salazar.

In favor of the release of political prisoners in Nicaragua

In March 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on Nicaragua to establish a group of experts that must “carry out exhaustive and independent investigations into all alleged human rights violations” committed in the country since April 2018.

This, according to Flores, will allow the UN to know the facts and “hold the perpetrators or material authors accountable” for these violations, which is a positive step in bringing justice to the families of the victims.

“The results of this investigation could lead to potential openings of proceedings under universal jurisdiction or, in the future and with a change of government, the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court may be accepted, and these crimes committed be recognized so that they be duly sanctioned”, mentions Flores, while Salazar adds: “we have the voices of the victims themselves”, as witnesses of the crimes.

“This generation does not accept a clean slate”

Although four years have passed since the beginning of the repression and the lives of thousands of Nicaraguans have changed as a result of political persecution, human rights violations and widespread violence, organizations that work for human rights call for not to lose hope that justice will come to Nicaragua.

Salazar mentions that “we are fully certain that sooner or later justice for Nicaragua will come and it has to be real, true and under mechanisms that generate certainty and confidence that the processes are impartial.”

“Unlike the past or our history as Nicaraguans, this generation does not accept “forgiveness and forgetfulness” or the “clean slate” as a recipe, therefore, they must maintain the hope that their voices, their demands, and their constant struggles, will contribute to the different processes of searching for truth, justice, and reparation”, encouraged Flores.

Nicaragua, four years of impunity: Race and Equality launches a campaign that demands truth, justice, reparation, and no repetition for crimes against humanity

Washington DC, April 13, 2022.- On the fourth anniversary of the sociopolitical and human rights crisis in Nicaragua, the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) launches the campaign “Nicaragua, four years of impunity” to denounce the serious violations of human rights that continue to occur in the Central American country, and to join the demands of processes that guarantee truth, justice, integral reparation of victims and non-repetition for crimes against humanity perpetrated in the framework of the violent and systematic repression of the civic rebellion of April 2018.

In addition, Race and Equality urges the international community to send a message to fight against impunity.

Context

Since April 2018, Nicaragua has been going through a deep crisis characterized by state and parastatal repression, the prolonged breakdown of the State of Decree, restrictions on civic space and the persistence of a situation of generalized impunity. This situation is manifested in severe violations of human rights that to this day have resulted in: 355 unpunished lethal victims, more than 2,000 injured protesters, at least 1,614 arbitrary arrests, the exile of more than 110,000 Nicaraguans, the growing criminalization of journalistic exercise, the closure of more than 114 civil society organizations, the upsurge of attacks against indigenous and Afro-descendant people on the Caribbean coast, and the permanence of more than 170 political prisoners under conditions that fail to comply with the Minimum Rules of the United Nations for the Treatment of Reclusive Persons (Nelson Mandela Rules) and the Internal Law on Human Rights, which may qualify for cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment, physical and psychological torture. These conditions are particularly violate 14 women, 13 people of third-age and people with chronic illnesses who are deprived of freedom.

The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo continues to fail to comply with all the recommendations of the international mechanisms of human rights for the restoration of democratic institutions and guaranteeing human rights in the country. Last year (2021), in the pre-electoral context -mainly in the months of May and June, Daniel Ortega, in his effort to secure his fourth consecutive term, imprisoned 47 people. Among these people are found all those who have expressed their willingness to be candidates for the presidency of Nicaragua, as well as student and peasant leaders, journalists, businesspeople, people defending human rights, among others.

These illegitimate votes from last November, which gave Ortega the victory, allowed to glimpse the erosion of democracy and the perpetuation in the power of a government that systematically violates the human rights of the Nicaraguan population, and were questioned by the European Parliament, the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of American States (OAS). The latter assures that “they are not free, fair or transparent and do not have democratic legitimacy”, in accordance with international standards.

In February of this year (2022), the Judicial System of Nicaragua controlled by the regime, renewed the judgments against people arbitrarily detained in the pre-electoral and electoral context, under laws that unduly restrict the civic and democratic space, particularly the Law Special on Cybercrime (Law 1042), Law against money laundering, financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (Law 977) and the Law on Defense of the Rights of the People to Independence, Sovereignty and Self-Determination for Peace (Law 1055). All these judgments were marked by serious violations of the guarantees of the procedural rights, such as the right to defense, the presumption of innocence, the equality of procedural parties, the right to be judged by an independent and impartial court. It is worth noting that, in all cases, the judged persons were sentenced to disproportionate penalties with alleged assumptions that the commission of alleged crimes did not demonstrate. Likewise, the right of defense was not respected by not allowing the submission of claims on the part of the prosecuted.

Last March 7, in the presentation of its annual report on the situation of human rights in Nicaragua, the High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet, denounced the faults in the process and the inhuman conditions that “have progressively deteriorated the state of health of those detained, particularly of older people and chronic patients”. Likewise, it urged the Human Rights Council (CDH) to take all measures to ensure the surrender of accounts. In order to guarantee justice, truth and reparation in the face of extrajudicial proceedings, arbitrary arrests and other serious violations of human rights, the Council approved a resolution that establishes during a year a “Group of Experts on Human Rights” with the mandate of investigation and surrender of accounts for the serious violations of human rights committed since 2018.

However, on the eve of the anniversary of the social protests, the Nicaraguan regime is repeating the repressive patronage against victims’ families, human rights defenders, journalists and other dissidents. On the day of April 12, relatives of Darwin Potosme, the lethal victim of the repression, denounced police harassment, trespassing of their home and threats of imprisonment by National Police agents. The opponent Yolanda González suffered the trespassing of her home in the presence of underage people, interrogations and surveillance by paramilitaries. The critical singer for the government, Josué Monroy of the band “Monroy y Surmenage”, the producer of “La Antesala”, Leonardo Canales; and the people producing musical events by SaXo Producciones, Salvador Espinoza and Xochitl Tapia, were also detained by police officers during a raid in their homes.

Campaign

Given this context, and as a way to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the civic rebellion in April 2018, Race and Equality will launch a campaign on April 18 that makes visible the serious abuses of human rights in Nicaragua, the hard work of organizations of civil society in the search for justice, and the positioning of the international community in this deep crisis.

We interviewed Nicaraguan human rights defenders about the current situation in the country, the conditions of political prisoners in the detention centers, their judgments, condemnations and the role of civil society in the defense of their rights. Additionally, we interviewed the Rapporteur for Nicaragua of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Esmeralda Arosemena, about the advances and challenges of human rights in Nicaragua, the role of the IACHR in the current context, the mechanisms and international instruments that exist for the rendition of accounts, among other aspects; and the Representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Alberto Brunori, on the mechanism or group of three human rights experts that will investigate for one year the human rights violations committed since April 2018.

All the products of this campaign will be published through the accounts of Twitter , Facebook and Instagram , and the website of Race and Equality We invite the international community, national and international press and civil society to unite and share content using the hashtags #SOSNicaragua and #Nicaragua4YearsofImpunity , so that the cry for the cease of repression and demand for truth, justice, reparation and no repetition is heard in Nicaragua and all over the world.

International organizations condemn conviction of independent journalists, members of former Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation and La Prensa in Nicaragua

Latin America, 24 March 2022. We, the undersigned organizations, condemn the judicial farce taking place in Nicaragua where the justice has sentenced independent journalists and former workers for the now-defunct Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation (FVBCH) to between 7 and 13 years in prison.

On Wednesday, March 23, Juan Lorenzo Holmann, general manager of the newspaper La Prensa, was found guilty of the alleged crime of money laundering. Judge Nadia Camila Tardecillas, in the Second Criminal District Court, requested a sentence of nine years and four months in prison plus a monetary fine. Holmann was arrested on August 14 when police raided the media, which at the time was the only independent print media still circulating in the country. His trial ended on Wednesday, March 23rd and his final sentence will be read on March 31st.

On Monday, 21 March, journalist and aspiring presidential candidate, Cristiana Chamorro, was found guilty on charges of money laundering, “abusive management” and “ideological falsehood” by Judge Luden Martín Quiroz in the Ninth Criminal District Court of Managua The sentence is linked to her tenure as president of the FVBCH. Ms. Chamorro is also set to pay a fine of an amount equivalent to the alleged laundering. The trial took place from 3 to 7 March at the Evaristo Vásquez Police Complex—commonly known as “El Chipote”—where detainees have been subjected to degrading, cruel and inhuman treatment, including acts of torture. In addition, most of the political prisoners in detention at the facility are being held incommunicado.

The arbitrary judicial process against Chamorro and other detainees took place in the presence of an intimidating police contingent and failed to provide any guarantees for due process, including the fact that very limited time was given for defense lawyers to submit statements in support of their clients. Among other serious irregularities and despite the fact that the defendants possessed proofs of innocence, the trial came to an end without the presentation of more than 1000 key documents supporting the defendants’ cases. Cristiana Chamorro has been under house arrest since 2 June 2021. The sentence against her has not determined the place where she is to be transferred.

In addition to Chamorro, three other former FVBCH workers were convicted on 21 March. Accountant Marcos Fletes and finance officer Walter Gómez were sentenced to 13 years in prison for money laundering. Fletes is also set to pay a fine of 300 days, and another one equivalent to three times the amount that was allegedly laundered. Even Chamorro’s driver, Pedro Vásquez, was sentenced to 7 years in prison for being an “accomplice in the crime of money laundering”.

The Nicaraguan justice system, in servitude to the authoritarian government, also sentenced Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, Cristiana Chamorro’s 70-year-old brother and a director of the La Prensa newspaper, to nine years in prison on allegations of misappropriation of funds, “ideological falsehood” and “abusive management”.

These spurious legal proceedings came on the heels of similar rulings in previous weeks wherein sports journalist Miguel Mendoza was sentenced to nine years in prison for expressing his opinions on social media, while political commentator Jaime Arellano and 100% Noticias television station founder and former presidential candidate Miguel Mora were both sentenced to 13 years in prison for “disseminating fake news” and conspiring to “undermine national integrity”.

We, the undersigned organizations, categorically denounce these rulings and others that have been issued against political prisoners detained by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo’s regime. We hold the Nicaraguan State responsible for the lives and safety of all prisoners of conscience. We call for their immediate release and an end to the criminalization of their activities, as well as the reversal of all rulings that have been issued against them for merely exercising their right to freedom of expression.

In addition, we call on the international community and regional governments to strongly condemn the systematic violations of human rights taking place in Nicaragua and implement all measures at their disposal to ensure the release of Nicaraguan prisoners of conscience.

Finally, we join in the call for the United Nations Human Rights Council to, in its resolutions regarding Nicaragua, adopt a sound, independent and impartial international mechanism for exhaustively investigating and documenting the serious human rights violations that have taken place in the country since April 2018, in order to provide a foundation for accountability and punishment of all those responsible for the abuses. The rights violations that have been perpetrated include serious infringements on press freedom and the rights to freedom of association and freedom of expression.

Signatories,

AMARC-ALC

Articulo 19

Asociación Brasileña de Periodismo Investigativo – Abraji

Asociación Nacional de la Prensa Bolivia -ANP

Asociación de Periodistas de El Salvador – APES

Comité por la Libre Expresión – C-Libre

Centro de Archivos y Acceso a la Información – CAinfo

Espacio Público

IFEX-ALC

Instituto de Prensa y Libertad de Expresión- IPLEX

International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights

Instituto Demos

Instituto Cubano de Libertad de Expresión y Prensa -ICLEP

Instituto Prensa y Sociedad – IPYS Perú

Instituto Prensa y Sociedad – IPYS Venezuela

Fundamedios

Foro de Periodismo Argentino – FOPEA

Voces del Sur

8M-International Women’s Day: Recognize and protect women’s leadership from an intersectional perspective

Washington DC, March 8, 2022. – The fight of women for their rights has been tireless. Although Latin America is going through critical moments in terms of democracy, human rights and security, women remain firm in the process of denouncing the violence they face and advocating for structural changes. This International Women’s Day, the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) wants to draw attention to the importance of recognizing and protecting women’s leadership, and that this be done at all levels of society from an intersectional perspective.

We recognize that women’s life experiences are directly influenced by their gender, as well as other characteristics such as their race or ethnicity, their gender identity and expression, and the role they play in society. In this way, women human rights defenders, Afro-descendants, indigenous, lesbian, trans and women journalists, to name a few, face particular situations when exercising their leadership or their professions, which often threaten their integrity and put their lives at risk.

Below, we provide an overview of the specific problems faced by different groups of women in the region. At the same time, women from Nicaragua, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Peru, and the Dominican Republic offer their perspectives on how their activism and professional work are marked by the adverse contexts that prevail in their countries.

Defending Rights in a Dictatorship

Women have been active subjects and protagonists in the defense of human rights and in civic resistance since before the social unrest in Nicaragua in April 2018. In the current context, characterized by systematic state and parapolice violence, women defenders, activists, and journalists are targets of persecution, harassment, siege, threats, and deprivation of liberty. These attacks expose them to even greater risks because of their gender.

According to records from the Nicaraguan Initiative of Human Rights Defenders (IND) and the Autonomous Women’s Movement (MAM), since the beginning of the crisis in April 2018, at least 109 women defenders and activists have been arbitrarily detained, and there have been more 4,000 attacks on defenders. On the other hand, at least 12 released women have reported having been victims of some type of rape, among other attacks; and 13 women (5 of them older adults) continue to be deprived of liberty for political reasons and without adequate medical care in detention centers.

The President of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), Vilma Núñez de Escorcia, affirms that, historically, women political prisoners have suffered serious differentiated aggressions within detention centers. She recalls that, as a political prisoner of the Somoza dictatorship, her greatest fear was that “she would be transferred to the Somoza State Security Directorate, where there was a history of sexual violations of political prisoners.” Now, she denounces that the government of Ortega and Murillo, through “perverse police officers” subjects women political prisoners to isolation, incommunicado detention, prolonged interrogations, and other forms of psychological and physical torture. She cites the cases of Suyén Barahona, Tamara Dávila, Dora María Téllez, and Ana Margarita Vijil, who have spent almost 9 months in isolation cells.

Ana Lucía Álvarez, who is a human rights defender and a relative of three political prisoners, explains that women defenders are victims of sexualized attacks such as touching, nudity, sexual torture, network dismantling, among others. Likewise, she denounces that “in one of the trials of a political prisoner, the prosecutor’s narrative was related to whether she had a partner, whether she had had sexual relations with this or that person. These are narratives that do not appear in the trials of men who are political prisoners but do appear in the trials of women who are being prosecuted and criminalized,” she concludes.

Fighting and Surviving Transphobia

In Brazil, where civil society organizations constantly denounce the wave of violence against human rights defenders, in addition to being the country with the most murders of trans people in the world, trans women who hold public office face hate speech and lack of State protection every day. “In the 2020 elections, some 30 trans/transvestite women were elected and in the exercise of their mandates their lives are threatened, which demonstrates and justifies that we are (…) in dispute over the social project,” says Ariela Nascimento, a trans woman and parliamentary adviser to Councilwoman Benny Briolly (Niterói-RJ), who is also a trans woman.

Ludymilla Santiago, a trans leader for more than 13 years who raises her voice for women’s rights from a non-binary and inclusion perspective, points out that the issue of identity is very important for trans women and that the discourse on being a woman goes far beyond current social impositions. “We must evolve and make this diversity more and more represented to break the patriarchal hegemony,” she says.

Confronting Violence and Racism

The armed conflict in Colombia—whose greatest impact has been in areas with Afro-descendant populations—has differentially affected Afro-descendant women in the country. Among the main effects is sexual violence. According to figures from the Single Registry of Victims, 20% of all women victims of sexual violence are Afro-descendants. Luz Marina Becerra, representative of the Coordination of Displaced Afro-Colombian Women in Resistance La COMADRE, emphasizes the gaps of inequality, racism and discrimination that black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquera women have to face, thus making it impossible to effectively enjoy their rights.

The COMADRE has been requesting the State to comply with Resolution No. 2016-244846 for 5 years now, through which its registration in the RUV was ordered and it was recognized as an ethnic subject of collective reparation under the terms of Decree Law 4635 of 2011. However, after 5 years and numerous requests to start with this route through prior consultation, they have been denied by different state agencies, ignoring their fundamental rights.

Practicing Journalism to Resist Censorship and Violence

According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and its Office of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, Cuba is the country in Latin America with the fewest guarantees for the exercise of freedom of expression and, therefore, freedom of the press. The independent press on the Island constantly faces government censorship, harassment, and repression and, in the midst of this reality, women journalists suffer different impacts.

In the “Paper Democracy” report, the organization Article 19 reports “systematic and generalized attacks that are implemented to suffocate journalism.” It details that, during 2019, they documented that a journalist on average could be attacked up to five times in a year, but in 2020 the average increased to six times and, in 2021, it rose to eight times. And in the case of women, this situation is aggravated, since on average a journalist was attacked eight times a year in 2020 and up to 11 in the first half of 2021.

On repeated occasions, the journalist María Matienzo has been the target of interrogations, harassment, and smear campaigns on social networks in which her gender and gender expression are the focus of attack. She considers that practicing journalism in such an adverse context does not make her an activist, but she is clear that this profession forces her to cross the borders of writing and ends up accompanying other women who have suffered violence. “Hopefully saying what you think in the midst of so much adversity is some kind of leadership because sometimes we have no choice but to disagree if we want to live with some dignity,” she says.

Advocating for Equality

In Peru, lesbian women are joining forces to achieve the adoption of policies in favor of their rights to equality and non-discrimination. In the recent CEDAW Committee review of the State, a coalition called #LesbianasCEDAW advocated for this body to make specific recommendations on their rights, based on the main problems they face. One of their demands is to strengthen and implement the comprehensive sex education policy that recognizes lesbian children and adolescents as subjects of rights, in order to prevent and address all forms of violence.

Likewise, they demand that the Congress of the Republic modify article 234 of the Civil Code through the approval of legislative initiative 525/2021-CR, a bill on same-sex marriage, and that the National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (RENIEC) apply article 2050 of the Civil Code, which establishes the recognition of rights acquired abroad; the latter due to the non-recognition of the marriages of lesbian women who marry outside the country and of their children.

“In the Peruvian case, feminist lesbians have contributed to expanding the essential content of the right to equality and non-discrimination to incorporate the prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Likewise, to understand that lesbians and women in general do not want to be equal to men, but rather we think about equality considering differences and access to freedoms, rights, goods, and power,” says María Ysabel Cedano García, a Quechua lesbian feminist socialist.

Accompanying Discriminated Migrant Women

In recent months, the Government of the Dominican Republic has been criticized for the application of a measure that consists of deporting pregnant Haitian women. To date, some media reports the deportation of between 200 and 300 women in this condition. This situation has become a new cause of concern for the Dominican-Haitian Women’s Movement (MUDHA).

In this sense, Jenny Morón, from the Legal Department of said organization, shares that she feels privileged to have the opportunity to raise her voice on behalf of other migrant women who suffer this and other types of violence. “When I speak for women, I speak for my generation, for my offspring, I think I am building a foundation for my daughter and granddaughters to live in a world that is less discriminatory and more equal,” she affirms.

This International Women’s Day, from Race and Equality, we express our utmost admiration and respect for the work carried out by thousands of women for the recognition and guarantee of their rights. We will continue accompanying them. We also call on States to adopt laws and policies that protect their activism and professions in line with international human rights standards and, in addition, respond to their demands; all this taking into account that women are diverse and that their life experiences are marked by their characteristics and the roles they play in society. We ask the human rights systems to be protagonists in the development of national and regional standards for the protection of women, offer technical assistance to States for the adoption and implementation of the same, and recognize the diverse and intersectional identities of women.

Organisations call for Nicaraguan government to immediately free detained journalists

Americas, 10 January 2022.- We, the undersigned organisations, express our condemnation of the Nicaraguan government’s many attempts to threaten and silence the country’s independent press. The aggressive actions against independent media have been escalating for years (particularly from 2018 to 2021) as the authorities fail to act or, in many cases, as a direct consequence of their actions.

In terms of press freedom and freedom of expression and information, 2021 was a disastrous year in Nicaragua. Journalists and media directors were jailed, media outlets were appropriated and dozens of journalists were forced into exile due to lawsuits and the application of laws that curtail freedom of expression. Migration was restricted, passports were confiscated and defamation campaigns intensified against independent commentators. These campaigns, launched by various state agencies, were widely circulated on social media by governing party supporters. All these actions constitute a portion of the many rights violations and assaults that have taken place against independent media outlets and journalists.

The government’s approval and subsequent application of a series of punitive laws—moves widely questioned by international human rights bodies—has allowed for ongoing arbitrary detention of the following individuals: sports journalist Miguel Mendoza; political commentator Jaime Arellano; three directors of the La Prensa daily, Cristiana Chamorro, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro and Juan Lorenzo Holmann; journalist, presidential candidate and owner of 100%Noticias Miguel Mora; and three former workers for the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, Walter Gómez, Marcos Fletes and Pedro Vásquez.

Threats of criminalization have also affected the journalistic sources that media outlets and journalists rely upon for analysis and opinions. In addition, several lawyers who have defended journalists have also been forced into exile. This has led to a growing climate of self-censorship in the country.

Ignoring its obligations to protect and ensure unrestricted circulation of information of interest to the public, the Nicaraguan government has instead paved the way for actions that include attacks, threats, abuse of government powers and stigmatisation of those who report on or denounce human rights violations in the country.

We underscore the courage and commitment shown by the independent press, which despite traversing extremely difficult times continues to provide information to the public. We recognise in the work of journalists the unwavering commitment to the principles, values and legacy of public freedoms martyr Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal. During his lifetime, Chamorro proclaimed and applied teachings that today more than ever provide guidance for conducting quality journalism and resisting the attacks to which the press is being subjected.

The following signatory organisations call on the Nicaraguan government to:

● Immediately release the arbitrarily detained journalists, who have simply exercised their rights to seek, receive and disseminate information, along with their right to express opinions. We also call for the release of all arbitrarily detained political prisoners. This must been done in order to contribute to an atmosphere conducive to the work of all journalists and commentators.

● Reinstate the two media outlets that have been appropriated, Confidencial and 100% Noticias, and bring the takeover of the La Prensa daily’s facilities to an end.

● Respect journalism work, provide guarantees for the safety of journalists and take all possible steps in the government’s power to remove the obstacles that journalists currently face in carrying out their work. Comply with the precautionary measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in support of independent journalists and their families, especially given that in most cases aggressive actions and attacks against the beneficiaries of the IACHR’s measures have been on the rise.

Stop criminalising the actions of independent journalists; repeal and refrain from applying the cyber- crimes law and other regulations that violate public freedoms; and revoke court orders against journalists, commentators and journalistic sources while also refraining from issuing new orders of this nature.

● Halt the abusive confiscation of the passports of journalists and commentators, as well as migration restrictions that hinder free movement out of the country.

We remind the Nicaraguan government that respect for the right to freedom of expression and information is crucial for the functioning of democratic societies. Access to information of interest to the public is a right of all citizens. In addition, uninhibited circulation of information, free from censorship, is essential for exercising other fundamental rights that are protected under various international human rights covenants.

Signatories:

IFEX-ALC
International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights PEN International
Voces del Sur

Nicaragua: Urgent call to the international community given the illegitimate permanence of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in power

From the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) we reject the imposition of the fourth consecutive term of Daniel Ortega and the second term of Rosario Murillo, which will be consummated in an official act announced for January 10th. We call on the international community to unite as one voice to send a message to fight the persistent impunity, protect the rule of law and democratic principles, and prevent the human rights crisis in Nicaragua from continuing to worsen.

Ortega and Murillo, through their absolute control of state institutions, the Police, the Army, and parastatal forces, have violated the fundamental rights of Nicaraguans since their return to power in 2007, and as of 2018, these violations acquired the nature of systematic ones.

The lethal repression of peaceful demonstrations, the destruction of the rule of law, the unwillingness of the State to cooperate with the United Nations and the Inter-American Human Rights System, the repressive escalation in the electoral context, the results of the controversial votes held on November 7, 2021, the stay in prison of more than 160 political prisoners under conditions that, particularly in the case of women, threaten their dignity, lives, personal integrity, and health; and the clear intention of Ortega and Murillo to remain in power merits a strong response from the international community.

OAS, the UN, and European Parliament reject the results of the election

In a resolution approved on November 12, 2021, the Organization of American States (OAS) assured that the votes that gave Ortega the victory “were not free, fair or transparent and do not have democratic legitimacy” and asked the Permanent Council to collectively evaluate Nicaragua, based on the Inter-American Democratic Charter and the OAS Charter.

In response to this, on November 19, 2021, the Government of Nicaragua made public its decision to denounce the OAS Charter, in order to ensure that the effects of said treaty cease for the Nicaraguan State. However, we recall that the State is not totally detached from its previously acquired obligations; on the contrary, the duty of Nicaragua to comply with the obligations derived from the human rights protection organs of the Inter-American System remains until they are fully complied with; as well as previously ratified inter-American human rights treaties, customary norms under general international law, and the obligations of the United Nations Charter.

Subsequently, on December 8, 2021, the OAS Permanent Council adopted a resolution in which it – once again – urged the Government to release all political prisoners and accept a high-level mission of goodwill with the objective of carrying out anticipated elections with international observers.

On the other hand, in an interactive dialogue held on December 14, 2021, the Deputy High Commissioner of the United Nations Office for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, expressed that the votes held “provided a valuable opportunity for Nicaragua take a step forward towards a peaceful and democratic solution to the crisis”; however, the deterioration of civil and political rights in the electoral context “led to the arbitrary exclusion of many Nicaraguans from participating in the elections.”

On this occasion, Al-Nashif called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to consider “all the measures at its disposal to promote accountability for the serious violations that have occurred since 2018” and human rights organizations we urge you to create an international investigation and accountability mechanism.

In addition to the aforementioned, the European Parliament approved on December 16th a resolution that condemns “the electoral farce orchestrated by the Ortega-Murillo regime” and rejects the legitimacy of the results of these votes and “the democratic legitimacy of any institutional authority that arises from these rigged elections”. MEPs stressed the importance of the return of international human rights organizations “without conditions sine qua non for any dialogue with the Nicaraguan regime.”

Inauguration

From Race and Equality, we condemn the perpetrate take of power of the Government of Ortega y Murillo, as the result of repression and the systematic violation of the rights of the Nicaraguan population.

We welcome the efforts made by multilateral organizations and international human rights organizations to monitor, document, and report the human rights violations that have occurred to date in Nicaragua. We urge you to promptly apply all available mechanisms to contribute to the uprising of the Police State and the restoration of democracy in the country, which necessarily requires creating the conditions to hold free, fair, and transparent elections.

Likewise, we call on the international community and the OAS Member States to take measures to urge the Nicaraguan State to fully comply with the notion of collective guarantees that underlies the Inter-American Human Rights System of their obligations in the matter of human rights.

We reiterate the urgent need to establish an independent investigation and accountability mechanism. Once again, we call on the United Nations Human Rights Council so that, in its next session in March 2022, it establishes this mechanism to investigate the reported abuses, preserve the evidence, identify the perpetrators, and lay the foundations for the justice process that Nicaragua needs to get out of this crisis.

We do not stop demanding from the State of Nicaragua the immediate and unconditional release of all persons deprived of liberty for political reasons.

We remind the Nicaraguan authorities that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the immediate release of political prisoners, an end to acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in detention centers, and immediate access to independent medical personnel to know the state of physical and mental health of people deprived of liberty.

Race and Equality denounces the situation of political prisoners in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela in the framework of the IX Summit of the Americas

Race and Equality denounces the situation of political prisoners in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela in the framework of the IX Summit of the Americas

World Press Freedom Day: Journalism in resistance inside and outside Nicaragua

OHCHR Representative on Nicaragua: The creation of the Group of Experts on Human Rights represents a step forward towards accountability

IACHR Rapporteur for Nicaragua: “We will continue to monitor the situation, accompanying and listening to the victims”

Nicaraguan NGOs: “Justice for Nicaragua will come”

Nicaragua, four years of impunity: Race and Equality launches a campaign that demands truth, justice, reparation, and no repetition for crimes against humanity

International organizations condemn conviction of independent journalists, members of former Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation and La Prensa in Nicaragua

8M-International Women’s Day: Recognize and protect women’s leadership from an intersectional perspective

Organisations call for Nicaraguan government to immediately free detained journalists

Nicaragua: Urgent call to the international community given the illegitimate permanence of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo in power

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