Statement by Civil Society Organizations on the Occasion of the Oral Update Regarding the Situation in Nicaragua to be Delivered by the UNHCHR

Statement by Civil Society Organizations on the Occasion of the Oral Update Regarding the Situation in Nicaragua to be Delivered by the UNHCHR

December 11th, 2019.  We, the undersigned civil society organizations, would like to express our alarm to United Nations High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet regarding the escalation of repression in Nicaragua and the unwillingness of the Nicaraguan State to respond to the appeals contained in the resolution ‘Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Nicaragua’ (A/HRC/40/L.8) approved by the United Nations Human Rights Council in March 2019.

To that end, nearly a year after the adoption of the aforementioned resolution, we the organizations that sign the present statement wish to report that the concerns, requests, and appeals contained in said resolution continue to be valid today:

1. The grave human rights violations committed in Nicaragua since April 2018

The assaults, threats, and reprisals continue against human rights defenders, journalists, indigenous people, Afro-descendants, LGBTI persons, former prisoners, relatives of victims of repression, boys, girls, and adolescents, members of the Catholic Church, and citizens exercising their right to dissent.  Illegal forced entries and degrading treatment by the police continue being recorded, as occurred in the recent case with the Reyes Alonso family.  Police violence that produces lethal effects is ongoing, above all in the countryside, where organizations have recorded the assassinations of some 30 campesino leaders between April 2018 and September 2019 in incidents that could constitute extrajudicial executions.

2. Restrictions on civic space and expressions of dissent in Nicaragua

The legal status of nine non-governmental organizations that were shuttered in December 2018 with the goal of ending decades of work in defense of human rights and democracy has not been restored.  Their assets are in the hands of the police.  The media outlets Confidencial [Confidential] and 100% Noticias [100% News] continue being unable to broadcast on open television and their offices and work equipment have been illegally occupied for nearly a year.

3. Respect for the rights to freedom of assembly, association, and expression

The police restriction to respect the right to protest has not been nullified.  Nor has the government addressed the appeal of the international community to release persons who have been arbitrarily or illegally detained.  While it is true that more than 400 people were released from prison between February and May of this year, the Alianza Cívica por la Justicia y la Democracia [Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy] reports that through November, at least 159 people continue to be jailed, including two adolescents.  Those political prisoners include 16 defenders detained in November for bringing water to a group of mothers on a hunger strike.  These people are criminalized for their opposition to the government and their work denouncing [violations] and protecting human rights.

4. Cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner, mechanisms of the Human Rights Council, and the organs created by virtue of competent treaties, as well as the Organization of American States and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)

On August 30, 2018, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua rescinded the invitation to the OHCHR and in December 2018 decided to expel the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) and the IACHR’s Special Monitoring Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI) from the country.  Since then, they have not been able to reenter the country, despite multiple requests.

5. The resumption of the National Dialogue

The government continues refusing to rejoin the Dialogue Roundtable, nor does it accept civil society organizations’ willingness to comply with the roadmap that had been approved by the previous Dialogue begun in February 2019.  While the Nicaraguan Assembly approved Law 985 in January of this year, whose purpose is to “establish the general legal framework that guarantees a culture of dialogue,” this law does not take into account the multiple human rights violations that have transpired since April 2018, nor does it consider members of the opposition or human rights defenders to be subjects of the Dialogue.

6. An exhaustive and transparent process of accountability with an eye to ensuring that victims of human rights violations and abuse in Nicaragua can access justice and reparations

The government of Nicaragua continues denying the denunciations of human rights violations and hopes to perpetuate impunity through legal instruments such as the Amnesty Law approved in June 2019, which does not comply with human rights standards with regard to accountability and has not included civil society participation in its process of adoption and the Comprehensive Attention to Victims Act approved last May, which does not enshrine the right of victims to file appeals before judicial authorities and continues designating individuals opposed to the government as authors of the failed coup d’état rather than victims of repression.  Nor has it provided an explanation for the 328 assassinations documented by the IACHR or prosecuted the material or intellectual authors of those crimes.

7. Exhaustive report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights regarding the human rights situation in Nicaragua

We, the undersigned organizations, are warning about the risk of greater violence on one hand, keeping in mind that the causes that motivated the protests in April have not been addressed by the State and on the other, we anticipate tensions once elections draw near in November 2021 and the government of Nicaragua exerts greater force to ensure its reelection without essential democratic guarantees.  As of this writing, there are no indications in Nicaragua that the authorities have the will to guarantee truth, justice, and reparations for the victims of the repression and their relatives.

We the organizations that have signed the present statement ask the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to keep in mind the context described above when she delivers her next oral update in March 2020.  We additionally urge the United Nations Human Rights Council and diplomatic missions at the United Nations to renew the ‘Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Nicaragua’ resolution so that the OHCHR can continue monitoring and documenting the grave human rights situation in Nicaragua.

Signatories:

  • Instituto Internacional sobre Raza, Igualdad y Derechos Humanos (Raza e Igualdad)
  • Servicio Internacional para los Derechos Humanos (ISHR)
  • CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
  • Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras de Derechos Humanos (IM-Defensoras)
  • Fondo de Acción Urgente para América Latina y el Caribe (FAU-AL)
  • Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional (CEJIL)
  • Concertación Interamericana de Mujeres en Acción
  • Arrupe Human Rights Observatory (USF)
  • Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos (CENIDH)
  • Comisión Permanente de Derechos Humanos (CPDH)
  • Centro de Información y Servicios de Asesoría en Salud (CISAS – Costa Rica)
  • Iniciativa Nicaragüenses de Defensoras (IN-Defensoras)
  • Comité de América Latina y El Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres (CLADEM)
  • Asociación Madres de Abril (AMA)
  • Colectivo de Derechos Humanos Nicaragua Nunca +
  • Fundación Puntos de Encuentro
  • Instituto de Estudios Estratégicos y Políticas Públicas (IEEPP)
  • Academia Nicaragüense de las Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas
  • Academia de Ciencias de Nicaragua (ACN)
  • Centro de Investigación de la Comunicación (CINCO)
  • Fundación Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (FVBCH)
  • Instituto de Liderazgo de Las Segovias (ILLS)
  • Asociación Hagamos Democracia (Hademos)
  • Instituto para el Desarrollo y la Democracia (IPADE)
  • Centro por la Justicia y Derechos Humanos de la Costa Atlántica de Nicaragua (CEJUDHCAN)
  • Centro de Asistencia Legal a Pueblos Indígenas (CALPI)
  • Centro de Investigación y Acción Educativa Social (CIASES)
  • Unidad de Defensa Jurídica (UDJ)
  • Movimiento por Nicaragua (MpN)
  • Movimiento Autónomo de Mujeres (MAM)
  • Red de Mujeres Contra la Violencia (RMCV)
  • Red de Mujeres de Matagalpa
  • Colectivo de Mujeres de Matagalpa
  • Asociación Colectivo de Mujeres 8 de Marzo
  • Movimiento de jóvenes feministas Las Malcriadas
  • Grupo Lésbico Feminista Artemisa
  • Mesa Nacional LGBTIQ Nicaragua
  • Fundación POPOL NA
  • Fundación del Río
  • Radio Darío
  • 100% Noticias
  • Radio La Costeñísima
  • Confidencial
  • Periodistas y Comunicadores Independientes de Nicaragua (PCIN)
  • Movimiento Nicaragüense de Profesionales del Turismo
  • Centro de Estudios y Capacitación Familiar (CEFA)
  • Centro de la Mujer ACCIÓN YA
  • Acción en Red
  • Asociación Agentes de Cambio
  • Cotidiano Mujer
  • Centro de la Mujer Peruana “Flora Tristán”
  • DEMUS – Estudio para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer, Perú
  • Colectivo por la Igualdad de Género Piura
  • Feministas por la Democracia
  • Grupo Impulsor Mujeres y Cambio Climático (GIMCC)
  • Activismo Digital Nicaragüense (ADNIC)
  • Acción Universitaria
  • Unidos por Nicaragua
  • Movimiento Costeño Autoconvocado
  • Movimiento Universitario Costeño 19 de Abril
  • Comité Cívico Universitario
  • Movimiento 19 de Abril de Rivas
  • Morada Feminista Nicaragua UK
  • Unidad por los Exiliados Nicaragüenses en Panamá
  • Feministas Autoconvocadas de Barcelona
  • SOS Nicaragua Madrid
  • Feministas Madrid por Nicaragua
  • GENERA
  • Movimientos Sociales de Nueva Segovia
  • Movimiento 19 de abril Matagalpa
  • SOS Nicaragua France

Colombia undergoes review by the UN CERD Committee as Afro-Colombian Civil Society Organizations Participate

Colombia was reviewed by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) during its 100th session between November 27-28. The Committee conducted a detailed review on the level of compliance of commitments made by the Colombian government towards the eradication of any form of discrimination and racism in the country by using the State’s responses to the recommendations made to it in its last review in 2015.

“Since its last review of CERD in 2015, the Colombian government has not delivered the necessary response which guarantees the rights of Black, Afro-Colombian, Palenqueras and Raizales (NAPR) communities,” stated an alternative report presented to the Committee by civil society organizations, including the Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES), the National Conference of Afrocolombian Organizations (CNOA), the Chocó Solidarity Inter-Ethnic Forum, the Racial Justice Collective, the National Network of Afro-Colombian Women “Kambiri” and the Consultancy for Human Rights and Forced Displacement (CODHES.)

UN CERD rapporteur member Mayte Verdugo was in charge of carefully reviewing the official report submitted by the Colombian State and of making a series of observations regarding the recognition of the rights of ethnic communities in Colombia.

Rapporteur Verdugo’s observations included: requesting the Colombian State for more information on the results of the last population census of 2018 and questioning the lack of visibility of Afro-Colombian communities in census findings; referring to the situation of Afro-Colombian women victims of the armed conflict; addressing the alarming levels of killed ethnic leaders; questioning the government’s plan to address the processes of prior consultation with ethnic peoples and finally the situation of the implementation of the peace agreement’s ethnic chapter.

DANE’s “Statistical Genocide”

The results of the 2018 National Population and Housing Census in Colombia showed alarming figures about the number of self-recognized NAPR communities, to what different media and civil society organizations have called a “statistical genocide.” The figures published by the Colombian National Department of Statistics (DANE) indicate a decrease in the self-recognized NAPR population since its last count, from 4,311,757 million in the 2005 to 2,982,224 million in 2018. This represents an abnormal decrease of more than 30% of the previous population – nearly 1.3 million self-recognized NAPR individuals.

“These figures do not represent us, and we do not accept them. They are a product of an institutional framework that has ignored the constant alerts made by Afro-descendant and indigenous ethnic organizations,” stated a CNOA press release reacting to the results. Father Emigdio, Secretary General of CNOA, also warned about the impact that these results will have on the lives of NAPR people, which will further obscure the communities and seriously affect the ability of adequate public policies being created that transform the “(structural) conditions of exclusion.”

In this regard, Rapporteur Verdugo and others CERD Commissioners questioned the State’s approach to the principle of self-identification on the 2018 census and pointed out the need to work on best practices that allow the true recognition of the NAPR people. The Colombian State admitted under-registration of the Afro-Colombian population in the results of the 2018 Census, and so it announced that state institutions will continue to work in accordance with the data collected in the 2005 census.

Colombian civil society organizations demanded that the State repeat the census for the Afro-Colombian population, as they warn about the negative effects that the lack of information may bring to ethnic groups in terms of budget allocation, visibility of the reality of the people and the need to create plans and policies for inclusion and equality for them.

“This finding is the responsibility of the Colombian state, which did not guarantee the necessary conditions that would strengthen the self-recognition question in the censuses, despite more than a decade of efforts made by the communities and the State to strengthen the processes of formation of self-identification. It is also worrisome that the National Department of Statistics has chosen to use its own research and data collection methodology, and had not shown confidence in the proposals of the NAPR communities, which included dialogue spaces such as the Inter-Ethnic Census Table that ceased to meet later having concluded the census operation in 2018,” adds Father Emigdio.

Lack of Implementation of the Peace Agreements and Ethnic Chapter

“Despite the existence of legal frameworks as well as advances in recognition of the differential impact of the armed conflict towards the NAPR population, there have not yet been significant changes in structural factors that positively affect ethnic peoples,” warns the alternative report delivered by Colombian civil society.

Similarly, the Ethnic Chapter of the Peace Agreements between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) designates the ethnic population as “seriously affected by the internal armed conflict” and offers a differential approach to the provisions necessary for the protection and reparation of the populations victims of the conflict. However, the situation of vulnerability, marginalization and violence continues to directly and disproportionately affect ethnic communities, resulting in an alarming number of leaders who have been killed, threatened and displaced from their territories.

Faced with this, the Colombian State admitted that there certainly is a worrying situation caused by illegal drug trafficking groups that threatens the lives of human rights defenders. In this regard, CERD Commissioners asked the Colombian State to take the necessary measures to guarantee the life of community leaders, recalling its obligation to protect the principles of life and the integrity of any person.

In addition, CERD members requested information from the State on the application of Law 70, the processes of prior consultation and land restitution for Afro-descendant and indigenous communities. The Committee pointed out the need to understand the presence of foreign and extractive companies in declared ancestral territories and the multiple denunciations of communities in these territories against the violence produced because of the presence of these foreign groups.

Collective reparation for Afro-Colombian women victims of the conflict

Colombia continues to adopt insufficient collective reparation processes for Afro-descendant women victims of the armed conflict. The case of the Coordination of Afro-Colombian Displaced Women in Resistance (COMADRE) is emblematic in the sense that despite being recognized as subject to collective reparation through Order 092/2008 of the Constitutional Court, the implementation of the reparation plan under the Decree 4635 has not advanced properly. Even worse, the implementation of the plan lacks a gender approach that considers the level of vulnerability of women.

In this matter, Commissioner Chung requested the Colombian State to explain the information contained in the report regarding sexual violence during the armed conflict, more specifically the types of violence, investigations, punishments and apologies of the State. Rapporteur Mayte Verdugo expressed her concern about the high number of cases of sexual violence against Afro-Colombian women and adolescents.

Civil society recommendations to the State of Colombia

During an informal dialogue between members of civil society organizations and CERD representatives, a series of recommendations were made which seek necessary and urgent improvements in the conditions of ethnic populations in Colombia, precisely because of the imminent state of vulnerability of NAPR populations.

Civil society issued recommendations to the Colombian National Department of Statistics to correct the results of the 2018 census regarding the under-registration of the NAPR population in order to mitigate the possible negative impacts against a population that has historically and disproportionately suffered the impacts of under-registration and public policies. In regard to the Peace Accords and the Ethnic Chapter, they urge the full implementation of it and of all legal frameworks that seek to advance the processes of restitution and protection of the rights of Afro-Colombian communities, particularly women. Finally, the Colombian state is urged to implement extraordinary measures to guarantee collective reparation of NAPR women victims of the armed conflict and to advance the established processes with a gender approach.

Watch here broadcast of Colombia CERD Session

As the UN anti-racism committee starts its 100th session, NGOs celebrate achievements and stress enormous challenges ahead

Geneva (Switzerland), 25 November 2019 – As the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) begins its 100th session today, the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race & Equality), the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) and Minority Rights Group International (MRG) recall that this Committee has set key milestones for the fight against racism and racial discrimination across the world, and yet stress the enormous challenges in realizing the ambition of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was the very first treaty body to be established, in application of Article 8 of the ICERD, and the only one existing for its first 7 years. As such, when the Committee gathered for its very first session in January 1970, to review the situation in Brazil and Niger, it had to set precedents, establish working methods and rules of procedure at the service of its mission. These foundational first sessions served as a blueprint for the work of all future treaty bodies, including the Human Rights Committee that commenced in 1977, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1980, and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 1982.

Since that first session, the Committee has held over 1200 periodic reviews of the situation of racial discrimination in 167 states, addressed dozens of thousands of recommendations for States parties to bring their legislation, policies and practices in line with the ICERD.

The Committee has also considerably expanded the scope of its work and proven to be a key guardian of the rights of marginalized groups, including people of African descent, Roma, indigenous peoples, minorities, persons discriminated on the basis of caste or descent, non-citizens and migrants. The Committee has elaborated on their rights and state obligations through thirty-five General Recommendations. Some of them have also addressed specific forms of racial discrimination such as racist hate speech, and have looked at multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination based on gender and belonging to the aforementioned groups. We welcome the Committee’s work on a new General Recommendation No.36 on “preventing and combating racial profiling”. These General Recommendations provide authoritative interpretation of States parties’ obligations under the ICERD, and concrete guidance for them to implement the Convention.

Through its Early-Warning Measures and Urgent Procedures, a unique tool among treaty bodies, the Committee has taken actions to prevent systematic oppression from escalating into conflicts and grave violations of human rights of racialized communities. Since 2003, the Committee has adopted 22 decisions; made five statements; and addressed 165 letters to States parties; and two letters to regional institutions. This 100th session should be an opportunity to reaffirm the Committee’s demonstrated commitment to the prevention of mass human rights violations against indigenous peoples, minorities, migrants and other groups and individuals the Convention seeks to protect.

We welcome the Committee’s long-standing commitment to cooperate with civil society, including with persons experiencing racial discrimination, in order to bring the goal and spirit of the Convention into reality. The 2010 decision to hold informal meetings with NGOs prior to the dialogues with States parties has significantly expanded the civil society space at the Committee.[1] Moreover, the Committee’s global consultation with civil society in 2016 reaffirmed the importance of partnership with and contributions of civil society in implementing the Convention. Many of the recommendations from the consultation remain valid today such as to protect human rights defenders from reprisals and increase the Committee’s outreach to civil society. We encourage the Committee to continue strengthening its cooperation with civil society in order to bring the system closer to the ground which is key for full implementation of the Convention.

Not only does the 100th session provide a moment for reflection, but also the opportunity to recognize issues that the Committee will encounter throughout the next decades. Much remains to be done before the promise of the ICERD to “eliminate all forms of racial discrimination” becomes a reality. People of African descent, indigenous peoples, minorities, migrants, groups facing caste- or descent-based discrimination continue to be marginalized and excluded on all continents, to face discrimination impeding the full enjoyment of their civil and political rights on an equal basis with others, and to confront distinct barriers in their access to education, work, health and housing, and in their right to an adequate standard of living. These continuing issues can be further impacted by a number of contemporary challenges such as new and emerging technologies, increasing migratory flows due to forced displacement and greater mobility, and counter-terrorism measures, captured in the thematic discussion held by the CERD in 2017.

The Committee – as the first treaty body – has been a pioneer, and it should remain so. It should play a spearheading role in applying the Convention to present-day challenges including the impacts of climate change and business on human rights, and intersections of racism and racial discrimination with other grounds of discrimination such as religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.

International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race & Equality)

the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR)

Minority Rights Group International (MRG)

Víctor Madrigal: “States should consider that the valuable contributions of LGBTI people to the construction of the social fabric is one of the ways to guarantee their recognition and inclusion”

In his most recent report, the United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Víctor Madrigal, presented an analysis of the ways in which discriminatory laws and social and cultural norms continue to marginalize and exclude people because of their sexual orientation and / or gender identity in different spheres of society, situations that according to the document, are aggravated when interrelated with other forms of discrimination such as ethnicity, race, socio-economic status, and national origin, among others that lead to definitive states of exclusion and marginalization.

The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) spoke with the Independent expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity so that, in the light of the reality that Latin American people live, he could present some considerations on the LGBTI situation, the multiple forms of violence they experience today, and present proposals that make it possible to overcome these forms of exclusion.

What is the current situation of LGBTI people in Latin America, how would you characterize it, and what is your interpretation of the current legal situation of LGBTI people in Latin America?

Víctor Madrigal (VM): The problem faced by the human rights of LGBTI people is conditioned, first by a historical framework that has been built over centuries, systems of exclusion and stigma that are based on notions about what the roles that people acquire should be according to their genital configuration. The idea here is to try to understand what these structures are, understand, in addition to what ways in which power is structured in society, and thus understand how the realities of LGBTI people, which are subversive to these systems built over decades and centuries, are violated through frameworks that are intended to defend these power structures.

What the Mandate has done throughout this time, is study the basic causes of stigma and discrimination and come to understand that there are certain structural manifestations: the first is what is known as the “denial” related to the existing idea in some legal systems (or the political message that has been tried to spread), that LGBT people do not really exist in that particular context, justifying their position on the premise that these are ideas imported from some other context.

The second manifestation or mechanism is that of “stigma,” which I have organized into three categories: First, the claim that LGBT existence is criminal in nature, that is, through crime or of criminal legislation. At this moment, there are still 69 countries in the world that criminalize homosexuality, and of these 9 are in the Caribbean Region. Another is the idea that the lives of LGBT people are sinful in nature. Hence the whole structure of the church that is used to create messages of exclusion and discrimination, and the last manifestation or mechanism is the idea of ​​pathologizing, which is connected with the basic idea that LGBTI existence is in some way or another sick or a reflection of pathologies.

The phenomenology of the human rights problems faced by LGBT people is registered in this context and is deeply rooted in patriarchal structure, in social structures that are prevalent in Latin America and that have, as a result, very high levels of social exclusion and violence.

In the report on “Data collection and management as a means to raise awareness about violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity” A / HRC / 41/45 lays out the use of data as part of the strategy of overcoming these contexts and discrimination of violence. Could you explain a little, how is this expressed?

Víctor Madrigal: The context in which I pose this is my conviction that the processes of stigma are based on preconceptions, prejudices, and an exploitation of concerns that the general public have about the very existence of LGBT people, that it is not based on any empirical basis, or in other words, that it is not based on evidence, and therefore, I consider that the strategy to counteract these prejudice structures is through the production of evidence and with this data is essential.

When I started working at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and created the LGBT Rapporteurship, one of the first things we did was create a record of violence, and we realized, for example, that problems of violence against trans women were completely invisible in the data, and therefore in public policy. This is because trans women who were killed, and violently, were usually registered in the police records as men, therefore there was a complete invisibility of their problems from the viewpoint of public policy, but also in regard to social consciousness.  The messages were very powerful from every level.  The fact that there was no data disaggregated from this population’s point of view, no recognition of the existence of this population at the base of this violence was powerful, but there were also very powerful messages by means of written media that constantly reported murders of trans women as murders of a man dressed as a woman, or a transvestite man, or a man automatically labeled as a sex worker, in short, a number of pre-concepts that didn’t really have any foundation from an empirical base.

So for me, the creation of an evidence base, which allows us to reflect on the true nature of this violence problem, but also the true nature of the social existence of LGBT people, is an essential part of solving the issue.

According to his latest report on socio-cultural and economic inclusion of the population (https://undocs.org/A/74/181), which aspects do you consider the most fundamental for civil society and the States in Latin America?

Víctor Madrigal: On the basis of everything, there is the production of knowledge regarding the reality of LGBTI people’s lives. I insist that obtaining disaggregated data that allows us to understand the situation of LGBT people in relation to education, health, housing, and other sectors highlighted in my report is essential. Without that knowledge base, without that evidence base, it will be absolutely impossible to have public policies that dialogue and impact these lived realities of LGBT people.

Next, it is important that there is a willingness to connect this empirical base with public policy. It is essential to ensure that public policy is informed by this base, but also that when it is being carried out there is a conscious exercise of involving communities, peoples, and populations that are being affected.

Every public policy maker must know in a very clearly the limitations on what we do not know about the realities of these populations. Meanwhile, bringing them into the consultation processes, conducting participatory processes, is the only way to ensure that public policies will have a sustainable impact.

A third element would be related to the fact that in these processes there are very clear political manifestations about the way in which States receive and promote the message of the lives and realities of LGBT people, as long as they consider that they contribute to the social fabric, that they are valuable and worthy of existing in the social fabric, and that the ability and possibility of these people to live free and equal in the context of these societies is a manifestation of their human rights, which are not special rights, which are not unique rights, but it is an essential basis of their human right to be able to live in equality and freedom.

And on the basis of these conditions, I believe that the last element that must be there is the fact that the States recognize that, in these recognitions and in this way of proceeding, there is a fundamental key to ensuring the full potential of LGBT people’s contribution to our society, to enhance and make it possible to unleash and ensure the full potential of the social contribution of these people in our contexts.

Since the exercise of the mandate, you have had the experience of working with various LGBTI activists around the world. What particularities in activism, human rights violations or successful results have you been able to identify in racialized and / or impoverished LGBTI sectors?

Víctor Madrigal: I think that the first achievement to be highlighted is related to the strategic litigation regarding decriminalization. It is extraordinary what has been achieved through judicial activism, for example, in dismantling criminalization systems in India, in the Caribbean itself we have the example of Trinidad and Tobago, we have the example of Belize.

Other achievements that I could mention are related to the access of services and non-discrimination provisions.

I do not participate in the provision of policies for the creation and provision of the Mandate, but I have found it very important how the creation of civil society coalitions has created the mandate and now has gotten an extraordinary renewal through the coalition of more than 1300 civil society organizations that come from 174 countries and have really created a wonderful synergy so that the mandate could be renewed with a fairly forceful majority in the international community. I also believe that networking is a great achievement for the impact on the enforceability of LGBT rights.

If there is any evidence from the last 25 years of experience, it is that social change is possible in our generation.  We have gone from contexts of criminalization and pathologizing to contexts of dignity, and I believe that energy of changes, that the change of paradigms is something that can be expected to continue. For the next 25 years, I have the expectation that there will be a world free of criminalization for 2030 and the expectation of a world in which there will be true social inclusion for the next generation.

Manifesto of the Brazilian civil society organizations on the candidature of Brazil to the UN Human Rights Council

The Brazilian civil society organizations, supported by several foreign, regional and international organizations, express their deep and grave concern about the Brazilian candidacy for the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) for the three-year period 2020- 2022. These concerns have already been expressed several times by civil society and are reiterated in view of the position adopted by the Brazilian government in the United Nations spaces, including and particularly reiterated by the president himself in his speech at the opening of the 74th UN General Assembly.

The stances taken by the Brazilian government justifying its candidacy contradict the Brazilian tradition accrued along decades ago in multilateral relations that always defended the universalism of human rights.

These stances do not recognize human rights as a system of protection for everyone because they are guided by the defense of the “good humans”, “the right humans” the only entitled to enjoy human rights, while other beings humans, the “criminals” and those who support them are not regarded as rights holders. Positions of this type promote exclusion and attack against women, LGBTIs, indigenous peoples, quilombolas, traditional peoples and communities, black communities, young people, among others. These repeated stances, which are also becoming practices of the Brazilian government, are not acceptable. A government that acts with serious reservations to human rights, and that promotes actions that lead to setbacks in the realization of rights, is anti-universalistic and cannot expect the international community to believe that Brazil is committed to a view that human rights are progressively realized, universal, interdependent and indivisible, for all individuals.

The signatory organizations reject the actions resulting from these stances by the Brazilian government, such as the glorification of atrocities, including through attacks against the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; the dismantling of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture, in violation of the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture; the dismantling of social participation councils; the order by the President of the Republic to the military to commemorate the coup d’etat of 1964 and the official denial of the same coup; the categorical refusal to continue the process of demarcation of indigenous territories; disrespect and attack against traditional peoples and communities; the rejection of the recognition of the gender issue by explanation of vote during the 41st Regular Session of the Human Rights Council; reprisal against human rights defender Jean Wyllys during the 40th ordinary session of the Human Rights Council; the setbacks in the fight against slave labor; incitement to violence against traditional peoples and communities, their lands and territories; legislation of gun ownership laws for landowners and statements legitimizing violence against these populations, including landless people, among other measures.

Such stances and actions are incompatible with the objectives of the Human Rights Council, whose work must be guided by universality, impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity, a constructive international dialogue and cooperation to improve the promotion and protection of all rights, in accordance with the Article 4 of Resolution 60/251 of the General Assembly of the United Nations. The same Resolution, in its article 9, establishes that the members of the Human Rights Council must uphold the highest level of protection and promotion of Human Rights. This means that, to qualify for a position in the Human Rights Council, a candidate state must set the example and make the best efforts to promote and protect human rights.

The signatory organizations affirm that the Brazilian State does not meet the minimum conditions to apply for the renewal of its candidacy for the Human Rights Council, in view of the conditions of the said resolution. Therefore, they do not recommend the international community of States to vote for Brazil for one of GRULAC’s vacancies for the three-year period 2020-2022.

In addition, civil society organizations expect the international community of states to more closely monitor the human rights situation in Brazil.

Download here full manifesto (organizations signature are included)

UPR: Nicaraguan State rejects 100 recommendations aimed at resolving the current human rights crisis

Geneva, September 20, 2019. United Nations member states participating in the 42nd session of the Human Rights Council adopted the Report of the Working Group with the results of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) for Nicaragua. This Report brings together a total of 259 recommendations to the State of Nicaragua made by other member States in order to help improve the human rights situation in the country, which has faced a serious human rights crisis since April 2018.

We regret that the State of Nicaragua has rejected 124 recommendations, 100 of which  are related to the current crisis and propose the return of human rights mechanisms, freedom for all political prisoners, the full restitution of civil and political rights, the cessation of repression and security guarantees for Nicaraguan exiles to return to the country.

Nicaragua justified this rejection by claiming that the recommendations “do not apply due to lack of substance and distortion of reality.” The Nicaraguan ambassador to the Human Rights Council, Carlos Ernesto Morales, denied the systematic violations of human rights committed by State forces and para-state armed groups, which have been widely documented by national and international human rights organizations such as OHCHR and IACHR. Additionally, he said that “some states issued political speeches, far removed from constructive recommendations, trying to politicize” the UPR.

The Nicaraguan State only accepted 135 recommendations, most of which are related to the rights of children and adolescents, gender violence, inclusive public policies, climate change, combating poverty and inequality, access to education and improving land titling for indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples.

Nicaragua’s lack of commitment

During the session of the Human Rights Council held today in Geneva, a series of diplomatic delegations and civil society organizations expressed their concern over the recommendations rejected by the  State of Nicaragua and the State’s denial of reality, which in turn shows its lack of commitment to restoring the fundamental human rights of its citizens.

“Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru remember that the report of the High Commissioner on the situation of human rights in Nicaragua corroborates the lack of accountability; the denial of the victims’ right to the truth, justice and reparation; the reduction of civic space; the violation of the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly; the attack on human rights defenders, journalists and people who are critical of the government; arbitrary detentions and torture. The countries mentioned above urge the Nicaraguan Government to comply with human rights commitments and to consider the implementation of all the recommendations presented (in the UPR),” said the representative of Peru on behalf of a group of South American countries.

Delegations from Egypt, Haiti, India, Iran, Iraq, the Philippines, Russia, Serbia, South Africa and the United Kingdom also participated in the plenary discussion.

The International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and its partner organization in Nicaragua, the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), noted: “We are concerned that (the State of Nicaragua) continues to deny lethal violence in the city and the countryside, hiding the serious human rights crisis in the country, trying to give an image of normality that does not correspond to the repression that the population continues to face today. Serious crimes are still in impunity, public demonstrations continue to be repressed and parapolice forces harass, threaten and attack any dissenting voice. We are deeply concerned that the State rejects the numerous recommendations on access for human rights organizations to the country (…) We insist that the State restore the legal status of which [9 civil society organizations] were arbitrarily deprived and the return of their assets as well as ensuring a safe environment for them to carry out their work without reprisals or threats.”

Other civil society organizations that participated in the session were UNICEF, UNFPA, Indigenous Missionary Council, CIVICUS and the International Network for Human Rights (RIDH).

Race and Equality joins the calls to the State of Nicaragua to honor its international commitments in the field of human rights and immediately implement both the accepted recommendations, as well as those that it rejected based on the supposed lack of substance and distortion of reality. Likewise, we urge the State of Nicaragua to return to the dialogue table, ensuring a broad, credible, representative, inclusive and transparent dialogue to achieve a peaceful and democratic solution to the crisis, as recommended in the Universal Periodic Review.

Previous advocacy

The UPR is one of the main tools of the Human Rights Council that allows member states to examine each other on how they are fulfilling their international human rights commitments. These recommendations are essential for Nicaragua to overcome the current situation of serious human rights violations and comply with international obligations acquired through the ratification of international human rights instruments.

On May 15, the State of Nicaragua was evaluated by the UPR in Geneva, and in that session a total of 94 States made recommendations to Nicaragua to help improve the human rights situation in the country.

A month earlier, on April 3, representatives of Nicaraguan civil society participated in the pre-session of the UPR of the UPR, a space in which they presented the various human rights violations committed in the country to inform the delegations that would later evaluate Nicaragua.

This is the third time that Nicaragua has been subjected to the UPR’s scrutiny. In the previous review, which took place in 2014, the State accepted 164 recommendations, but human rights defenders denounced that an important part of those recommendations were not fully implemented.

Race and Equality: “The cuban State uses its penal code to criminalize voices that speak out against the regime”

In its most recent report, the human rights organization asserts that Cuban laws lack the necessary protections to ensure respect for due process and other human rights of persons accused of crimes. The guarantees that do exist are not respected by the authorities in cases of independent activists.

As a part of the event “Weaponizing Justice: Rule of Law and Cuba’s New Constitution” that took place Wednesday, September 11 at the Inter-American Dialogue, the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) officially launched its most recent report, entitled “Premeditated Convictions: Analysis of the Situation of the Administration of Justice in Cuba.”

In the report, Race and Equality documents and analyzes the patterns of criminalization, repression, and harassment used by the Cuban state against independent activists, a group that encompasses any activist, human rights defender, political leader, journalist or press outlet that opposes Cuba’s dictatorial policies that deny its citizens their fundamental civil and political rights.

“Although many changes have taken place in Cuba in recent years, the repression of independent activists has not ceased,” the report states, insisting that despite the adoption of a new constitution and the first non-Castro president in nearly sixty years, persecution and violence against the opposition continue, aided by laws that criminalize civil society activities.

Our investigation allowed us to document and analyze the government’s actions in criminal proceedings, and how the government uses the Penal Code and other laws to criminalize the work of the opposition,” explained Caitlin Kelly, an attorney and Program Officer at Race and Equality. 

The report investigates cases of repression against activists by state authorities, to describe and explain the Cuban government’s behavior and to establish a pattern of systematic violation of Cubans’ rights to freedom of expression, association and due process in court. The case of Dr. Eduardo Cardet is highlighted in the report as an example of the violations that occur in every stage of the criminal process. These abuses aall violate Cuba’s international human rights commitments and obligations.

“My brother was detained late at night on November 30, 2016 by several persons in civilian clothing, but they were actually from the political police. These men attacked him in front of his family and friends, beating him from head to toe. He was arrested for no reason, and later they fabricated a case against him for a crime that never happened. My brother will serve his sentence until September 30, he has been released conditionally from prison but he is still serving his sentence.” -Miriam Cardet, sister of political prisoner Eduardo Cardet.

Race and Equality’s investigation found that although some human rights and due process guarantees exist in Cuban law, they are disregarded by authorities when dealing with human rights defenders, activists and independent journalists.

Meanwhile, the state utilizes the Penal Code to criminalize people who express opinions against the government, particularly through the use of vaguely-defined crimes such as “contempt” and “disobedience” or the legal label of “social dangerousness,” all of which can be used to impose lengthy sentences without due process.

“When my brother made his statements after the death of Fidel Castro, he was not in Cuba. They called his wife and told her that it was better for him never to return to Cuba because if he did, he would disappear, and eventually he was violently arrested and held in life-threatening conditions. When they detained him, they kept him ‘disappeared’ for five days, with no medical attention despite the terrible beating he suffered. We could only visit him in a dark hallway; we could see how badly he was doing. His trial was held behind closed doors, where they fabricated crimes and kept him in horrible conditions that continue to affect his health today. -Miriam Cardet

Other findings from the report include violence against activists when they are arrested, the use of travel restrictions to prevent activists from leaving the island and deplorable conditions in jails and prisons.

 “They kept my husband in a cell, a 2-by-3-meter hole. Although it is against regulations to keep someone in a solitary cell for more than three days, he was there for eight or nine months of inhumane treatment. When I went to visit the prison, he came out with injuries all over his body, accompanied by two men carrying huge guns and chained around his waist, ankles and feet; he was treated as if he was a terrorist.” –Dolia Leal, founding member of the Damas de Blanco and Cuban exile

Download here the report:  “Premeditated Convictions: Analysis of the Situation of the Administration of Justice in Cuba” in Spanish

Download here the report´s Executive Summary “Premeditated Convictions: Analysis of the Situation of the Administration of Justice in Cuba”

Broadcast event: “Weaponizing Justice: Rule of Law and Cuba’s New Constitution” 

Human rights crisis in Nicaragua has not been resolved, according to High Commissioner for Human Rights, IACHR and activists

Geneva, September 10, 2019. The serious socio-political and human rights crisis that Nicaragua has suffered since April 2018 was exposed in all its magnitude this week during the 42nd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. On Tuesday, High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet presented an updated report on the situation in the country and various diplomatic delegations expressed their support to the people of the Nicaragua. A delegation of activists, journalists, former political prisoners, defenders of Nicaraguan human rights and international human rights organizations also attended the session.

The Bachelet Report

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, communicated in her report that serious human rights violations have continued in Nicaragua, especially violations of the rights to peaceful assembly, to freedom of expression and association, to personal freedom, to not be subjected to torture or inhuman conditions of detention, to a fair trial and to obtain reparations.

“The institutional response to human rights violations has been insufficient,” Bachelet said in her speech, adding that the justice system in Nicaragua has not guaranteed accountability for these serious violations. Consequently, she stressed the importance of human rights organizations being able to return to the country to monitor the human rights situation.

The report gives eight recommendations to the State of Nicaragua, including: to “urgently” resume the dialogue between the government and the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy; to guarantee the freedoms of peaceful assembly, expression and association; to restore the legal status of the nine civil society organizations and the media that were sanctioned and outlawed; and to establish a broad plan of action oriented towards accountability.

IACHR and international delegations endorse the report

The Rapporteur for Nicaragua of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Antonia Urrejola, said that the crisis in Nicaragua “keeps the country in a climate of serious institutional deterioration and complete closure of democratic spaces for the exercise of human rights.”

According to the Commissioner, “the de facto installation of a state of exception persists and this keeps public liberties suspended or seriously limited; arbitrary detentions also persist, as do the exile of journalists and social leaders, a lack of effective judicial protection for victims, impunity, reports of murders of people identified as government opponents, reports of cases that could be described as forced disappearances and the reports of sexual attacks and torture.”

Various diplomatic delegations also supported the OHCHR report, including: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, the European Union, France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Switzerland, South Africa and Uruguay. Likewise, the organizations CIVICUS, Red Local, Human Rights Watch, FIDH, Amnesty International, CitizenGo and Hivos all welcomed the report and urged the State to accept its recommendations.

Nicaraguan state denies human rights violations

The Vice Chancellor of Nicaragua, Valdrack Jaentscke, denied the human rights violations committed by the State of Nicaragua from the beginning of the crisis in April 2018 to the present, despite the evidence presented by Bachelet and Urrejola.

Instead, he discredited the report and defended the government position that in Nicaragua there is full freedom of association, no journalist has been persecuted for exercising his or her work, no human defenders have been repressed, no arbitrary detentions have taken place and that there is no torture or cruel and inhuman treatment in prisons.

The State of Nicaragua was supported by the delegations of Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Russia, Syria and Venezuela, countries that requested the UN not to intervene in internal affairs.

Advocacy

One day before the presentation of the human rights report on Nicaragua, the event “Fighting impunity and strengthening accountability: violations of human rights in Nicaragua” was held in Geneva, organized by the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) with the purpose of bringing the Nicaragua’s reality closer to the Human Rights Council’s proceedings.

The panel was made up of Nicaraguan ex-political prisoners Lucia Pineda, Victoria Obando and Edwin Carcache, the UN Special Rapporteur on Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, Clément Voulé and the first vice president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty, Joel Hernández.

Lucía Pineda, News Director of 100% Noticias, explained how the Nicaraguan government continues to harass, threaten and repress independent communicators and journalists in her country, and how the offices of the 100% Noticias and the digital outlet Confidencial as well as the television programs Esta Noche and Esta Semana, directed by Carlos Fernando Chamorro, are still occupied by state forces.

Edwin Carcache, student leader and member of the Civic Alliance, said that at least 126 people who were arrested for their participation in citizen protests are still being held, and regretted that these political prisoners are experiencing the same conditions of torture and inhuman treatment that he suffered in the cells of the Jorge Navarro Penitentiary System, also known as “La Modelo.”

Victoria Obando, on the other hand, highlighted how the LGBTQ community has been an active part of citizen demonstrations and therefore has suffered the onslaught of repression through imprisonment or exile. “We have records of people from our community who are exiled in at least 13 countries, where their living conditions are severely affected in ways that intersect with the visibility of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Obando explained.

Support of the Universal System and Inter-American System

The UN Special Rapporteur on Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, Clément Voulé, agreed with Bachelet’s report and reiterated that the human rights of Nicaraguan citizens continue to be violated.

Voulé stated that the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association are fundamental and necessary to guarantee other rights. He therefore asked the State of Nicaragua to return legal status to NGOs that were outlawed, since they play a vital role in the protection and fulfillment of human rights and the democratic life of society.

“The Nicaraguan government should not see them as a threat, but as a means of dialogue in which they should participate,” he added, highlighting that the beginning of any transitional justice process involves allowing independent organizations to support the victims and document facts. In addition, he stressed the great interest of his office in visiting the country to establish a dialogue with the Nicaraguan government, although he has not received a response from the State.

Finally, IACHR vice-president Joel Hernández also stressed that the Commission is willing to deploy their missions again in Nicaragua, although they have not received a response to their repeated requests. “The democratic spaces have been closed and to date they have not been opened. Nicaragua does not have a will to solve this crisis,” Hernández said.

Statement of civil society organizations regarding the coming report about the situation in Nicaragua from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

August 26th, 2019. As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet prepares to present her report on Nicaragua on September 10th, in compliance with the March 21st Human Rights Council resolution “Promotion and protection of human rights in Nicaragua” (A/HRC/40/L.8), civil society organizations and human rights defenders wish to express our concerns regarding ongoing repression, harassment, and threats against those defending democracy, justice, and human rights in Nicaragua.

For the last 16 months, Nicaragua has suffered a human rights crisis provoked by brutal repression from state forces and pro-government armed groups seeking to quell massive country-wide protests.

According to data from the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) at least 328 people died, including 29 children and adolescents, and more than 2,000 were injured as a result of this violence. Thousands more were arrested arbitrarily, and hundreds were criminalized for exercising their right to protest. The majority of these political prisoners were released under the recent Amnesty Law, which was approved unilaterally by National Assembly members from the ruling FSLN party. However, the Amnesty Law perpetuates impunity by ruling out investigation into suspected crimes committed against protestors.

Furthermore, the government continues to repress the population by imprisoning citizens and violating the due processes to which they are entitled under Nicaraguan law. As a result, some 120 political prisoners remain incarcerated as of July 28th according to the the registry maintained by the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy.

The second attempt at dialogue between the Civic Alliance (made up of various opposition groups) and the government, which began in February this year, had achieved some formal agreements, but none of these agreements were honored or implemented by the government. After months of impasse caused by this non-compliance, the government made a unilateral decision to terminate negotiations on July 30th.

The facts on the ground make clear that there is no will among the Nicaraguan authorities to guarantee truth, justice, and reparation for the victims of repression and their families; nor are there guarantees that the government will return to good-faith dialogues that respect the previous agreements.

Given these facts, we recommend that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights should:

  1. Demand the immediate release of all prisoners arrested in relation to the protests beginning in April 2018 and of all those being charged for alleged common crimes in retaliation for their continued participation in civic demonstrations. Furthermore, to demand the full restoration of these released persons’ rights and liberties along with the closure of their cases, cancelation of their convictions, and reparation of their confiscated goods.
  2. Urge the State of Nicaragua to cease the repression and persecution of young people, human rights defenders, student leaders, women, journalists, LGBTQ persons, and ex-prisoners who continue to be harassed and threatened with detention or prosecution. Furthermore, to demand respect for the rights of children and adolescents to safety and protection.
  3. Demand that the State of Nicaragua disarm and dismantle pro-government armed groups that threaten and attack Nicaraguans.
  4. Make use of all mechanisms within the Universal System of Human Rights to give special and urgent attention to the human rights of Nicaraguans currently seeking refuge in Costa Rica and other countries.
  5. Demand that the State of Nicaragua respect the right to pursue human rights work, restore legal recognition to civil society organizations whose status was revoked (CENIDH, CISAS, CINCO, IEEPP, Hagamos Democracia, Popol Na, IPADE, ILLS, and Fundación del Río), and return these organizations’ confiscated property
  6. Insist upon the return of confiscated property and the restoration of suspended licenses to news outlets 100% Noticias, Confidencial, and Esta Noche and insist that these outlets be allowed to carry out their work without any obstacles or retaliation.
  7. Offer the OHCHR’s good offices for ensuring the return of human rights mechanisms (IACHR, OHCHR, GIEI) to Nicaragua. In this area, the work of the GIEI (Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts), including its proposal of creating a Special Prosecutor’s Office and an Integral Plan of Reparations for the victims, was very positive.
  8. Request that Nicaragua revoke the Amnesty Law, which is contrary to the American Convention on Human Rights; make meaningful reforms to the national judicial system; and ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
  9. Demand that the State of Nicaragua immediately implement protection for indigenous and Afro-descendant people who are being harassed and killed in different regions of the country and underline that the State must urgently protect these communities from violent attacks and land invasions.

We also request that States’ permanent missions to the United Nations:

  1. Call upon the Nicaraguan government to return to inclusive national dialogues that will end the ongoing repression and establish concrete terms for a democratic transition.
  2. Insist that as part of these dialogues, the State of Nicaragua take up a sincere electoral reform process that will result in legislation guaranteeing free and fair elections scheduled for November 2021.
  3. Firmly back the demands of the Nicaraguan people for truth, justice, reparation, and guarantees of non-repetition.
  4. Urge the State of Nicaragua to accept the recommendations resulting from the Universal Periodic Review process and to implement those recommendations classified as urgent, including the disarmament of paramilitary forces.

Finally, we call upon the United Nations Human Rights Council to:

  1. Renew the mandate of the resolution “Promotion and protection of human rights in Nicaragua,” so that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights can continue to monitor the human rights situation in the country.

Signed by:

NICARAGUAN ORGANIZATIONS

  • – Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos, CENIDH.
  • – Instituto para el Desarrollo y la Democracia, IPADE.
  • – Unión de Presos y Presas políticos de Nicaragua, UPPN.
  • – Centro por la Justicia y Derechos Humanos de la Costa Atlántica de Nicaragua, CEJUDHCAN.
  • – Fundación Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, FVBCH.
  • – Canal 100% Noticias
  • – Movimiento Autónomo de Mujeres, MAM.
  • – Articulación de Movimientos Sociales.
  • – Centro de Investigaciones de la Comunicación, CINCO.
  • – Centro de Información y Servicios de Asesoría en Salud, CISAS.
  • – Foro de Educación y Desarrollo Humano de la Iniciativa por Nicaragua.
  • – Iniciativa Nicaragüense de Defensoras, IN-Defensoras.
  • – Fundación Puntos de Encuentro.
  • – Red de Mujeres de Matagalpa.
  • – Red de Mujeres Contra la Violencia.
  • – Colectivo de Mujeres de Matagalpa.
  • – Feministas Madrid por Nicaragua.
  • – Asociación Colectivo de Mujeres 8 de Marzo.
  • – Movimiento de Jóvenes Feministas Las Malcriadas.
  • – Articulación Feminista de Nicaragua.
  • – Movimiento Feminista de Nicaragua.
  • – Programa Feminista La Corriente.
  • – Mujeral en Acción.
  • – Grupo Lésbico Feminista Artemisa.
  • – Fundación Coordinadora de ONG’s que trabajan por los derechos de la Niñez, CODENI.
  • – SOS Nicaragua UK.
  • – Morada Feminista Nicaragua UK.
  • – SOS Nicaragua- Sverige.
  • – Resistencia Civil Nicaraguense.
  • – Proyecto Lechuza.
  • – Popol Na.
  • – Movimiento por Nicaragua.
  • – Anides.
  • – Campaña 28 de septiembre por la Despenalización del Aborto – Punto focal Nicaragua.

LATIN AMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS

  • – Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres.
  • – Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras de Derechos Humanos, IM-Defensoras.
  • – Fundación Para el Debido Proceso, DPLF.
  • – Unidad de Protección a Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos -Guatemala, UDEFEGUA.
  • – Fondo de Acción Urgente – América Latina y el Caribe.
  • – Red Latinoamericana y del Caribe por la Democracia, REDLAD.

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

  • – Institute about Race, Equality and Human Rights, Race&Equality.
  • – International Service for Human Rights, ISHR.
  • – International Network of Human Rights, RIDH.
  • – Just Associates, JASS.
  • – CIVICUS.
  • – Asociation France-Nicaragua.
  • – Freedom House.

Venezuela, Nicaragua and LGBTI issues: key points of the 41st session of the UN Human Rights Council

Geneva, July 16th 2019.  A report on the human rights situation in Venezuela presented by the High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet and an update on the state of human rights in Nicaragua presented by Deputy High Commissioner Kate Gilmore, as well as the mandate renewal of the UN independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity, were all key agenda items during the 41st session of the UN Human Rights Council.

The 41st session of the Human Rights Council, which took place between June 24 and July 12 at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, was marked by the Latin American agenda. In her opening speech, Bachelet expressed concern about the setbacks experienced in Latin America that affect important achievements made by victims, human rights defenders and political leaders in terms of reconciliation and transitional justice in recent decades.

The High Commissioner warned: “today we are witnessing a worrisome trend of denial of the facts, even extending to the passage of laws intended to undo the progress made in seeking justice.”

As an example, she cited the recent approval of the Amnesty Law in Nicaragua and the attempts of Guatemala and El Salvador to pass similar laws. Faced with this situation, she urged “these and all other countries not to adopt regulations that prevent serious human rights violations from being prosecuted and duly punished.” She also said that “accountability, with fair trials, protects societies from future radicalisation and violence.”

The Human Rights Council is the intergovernmental body of the United Nations that is responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights. It has the competence to discuss all human rights thematic issues and to call for change through recommendations. This body also has the function of empowering special procedures and carrying out the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). It meets three times a year: in February, June and September.

About Venezuela

At the request of the Human Rights Council, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) prepared a report on the human rights situation in Venezuela that was presented at this session.

The High Commissioner began the presentation by commenting on her recent visit to Venezuela, where she was able to meet with various sectors of society, which she understands is undoubtedly a sign of the Venezuelan authorities to commit to a constructive dialogue. She also noted that the report cannot ignore that the rule of law in Venezuela has been “seriously damaged” in recent years. Today, the rights to freedom of expression, to peaceful assembly and to participate in public life all entail threats against the life and physical integrity of those who exercise them.

The report details the gradual militarization of state institutions during the last decade. The pro-government armed groups known as colectivos have contributed to the deterioration and have managed to impose a social order of generalized repression. The OHCHR documented at least 66 deaths during the protests carried out from January to May 2019, of which 52 are extrajudicial executions directly attributable to Government security forces or to the colectivos. “In the previous year, the government of Venezuela registered 5,287 deaths due to ‘resistance to authority’ and between January 1st and May 19th of this year, another 1,569 people were killed, according to the government’s own statistics. Others sources suggest that the figures could be much higher.”

The High Commissioner expressed concern about the excessive and lethal use of force, saying that such force should be classified as extrajudicial execution and requires an investigation aimed at condemning the perpetrators and guaranteeing the non-repetition of similar acts. The report notes, however, that most of the victims have not yet had access to justice or adequate reparation.

Meanwhile, the people of Venezuela continue to face an economic crisis that is seriously affecting the fulfillment of economic, social and cultural rights. This crisis has also been exacerbated by the recent economic sanctions that are affecting the ability of the State to guarantee the population’s access to medical services and the right to food. Many public services such as the healthcare system have collapsed, the High Commissioner stressed in her speech, stating that the lack of basic medicines is having serious consequences, even causing deaths; also, the lack of contraceptive methods is forcing many women to continue pregnancies in circumstances of extreme precarity by forcing them to take care of children who they will not be able to feed. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), by March 2018, around seven million Venezuelan people, a quarter of the total population, will need humanitarian assistance.

Hunger and poverty have forced many to flee in conditions of extreme vulnerability. The protection of their human rights, says the High Commissioner, is a matter of extreme urgency. Bachelet highlighted the situation of indigenous people in Venezuela, which is also extremely worrisome, given the loss of their ancestral territories and natural resources, militarization, the effects of mining and the lack of adequate access to water and food.

About Nicaragua

The Deputy High Commissioner presented the update on the human rights situation in Nicaragua. This intervention was held as part of the resolution of the Human Rights Council for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Nicaragua (Resolution A/HRC/40/ L8) approved in April 2019, which also provides for the presentation of a report in the following Council session in September of this year.

In her oral intervention, Deputy High Commissioner Kate Gilmore stressed that one year after the violent repression of demonstrations throughout the country, which killed more than 300 people, injured 2,000 and put more than 70,000 people in exile, human rights violations committed during that crisis remain unresolved. Peaceful protest and dissent continue to be repressed.

She also noted that, despite the Nicaraguan authorities’ claim that they have freed all those arrested in the context of the protests, more than 80 people could still be in custody under severe conditions of detention. The OHCHR has even received reports of torture and mistreatment. Gilmore urged the release of all persons arbitrarily detained for their participation in the protests or for expressing dissenting or critical opinions, including those who are still under alternative measures to incarceration, and reiterated the call to the Nicaraguan authorities to carry out immediate, impartial and effective investigations into the allegations of torture and violent acts in custody.

Regarding the Amnesty Law and the Law of Integral Attention to Victims, she emphasized that nether guarantees the right of victims to truth and reparation and that they were adopted without sufficient consultation with civil society or victims’ organizations. One of the most critical points of her speech was the reference to the work of the OHCHR, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI, for its initials in Spanish) of the Organization of American States. Although these agencies have managed to document serious human rights violations, the Government continues to deny the responsibility of the state or its professional agents. The National Police has continued to systematically deny authorization for civil society meetings and to arbitrarily arrest people who attempt to demonstrate, with episodes of excessive use of force. The Deputy High Commissioner also showed concern for human rights defenders, community leaders, media journalists and civil society organizations who continue to be the target of attacks, threats, harassment and constant surveillance.

She ended her speech by calling on the authorities to participate in a genuine, meaningful and inclusive dialogue to address the legitimate demands of justice and reparation and to undertake institutional and electoral reforms. She recalled her office’s willingness to support the Nicaraguan Government in the fulfillment of its international obligations regarding human rights.

About the renewal of the UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (IE SOGI)

Victor Madrigal, an independent expert on SOGI, began his speech by recalling that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall protests and that his mandate is a necessary response to the abuse that the LGBT community throughout the world continues to suffer. He shared some data collected in a recent report that presented violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. For example, 60% of bisexual women have been victims of rape, physical violence and/or harassment by an intimate partner in their lives; trans people have a life expectancy of 35 years; and half of LGBT students have been victims of harassment.

The campaign behind the renewal of this mandate was an example of coordination and shared effort between civil society organizations and diplomatic missions that endorsed the protection of the human rights of LGBT people. Special mention should be made to the Latin American region since Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Uruguay were the countries that promoted the resolution to renew the mandate, which more than 50 co-sponsoring countries later joined. Their negotiating skills and constructive spirit earned them the gratitude of several council members. The resolution had to face ten hostile amendments led by Pakistan and seconded by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation with the exception of Albania and Tunisia, which were all rejected. The mandate was renewed with 27 votes in favor, 7 abstentions and 12 votes against, among which there were no Latin American countries. Only Cuba abstained in the voting to reject these hostile amendments, but at last voted in favor of the renewal.

The call to the Council for the renewal of the Independent Expert of the UN on SOGI was supported by 1,312 non-governmental organizations from 174 States and territories. After the voting, the renewal of the mandate filled the room and the corridors with an emotion and a joy that perhaps can be captured through the words of gratitude of the activist Andrea Ayala: “all of us here work for people whose names or skin color we don’t know, all we know is that they need us and here we will continue to work together.”

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