Repression of journalists has become acute since the current political crisis broke out in 2018. Is there freedom for nongovernmental organizations, particularly those that are engaged in human rights and governance-related work? In March 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Council established a group of human rights experts with a one-year mandate to investigate human rights violations committed in Nicaragua since April 2018. Sacasa was released a few hours later but remains subject to criminal prosecution for allegedly purchasing stolen goods for his antiques collection. The US sanctioned additional Nicaraguan officials and the state mining company, bringing to 53 the individuals and entities sanctioned, as of September, under the Global Magnitsky Act of 2016, the Nicaraguan Human Rights and Corruption Act of 2018, and other US laws and executive orders. A brutal crackdown by the National Police and armed pro-government groups left over 300 dead and 2,000 injured in 2018, and resulted in hundreds of arbitrary arrests and prosecutions. Employees have reportedly been dismissed for union activities, and citizens have no effective recourse when those in power violate labor laws. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Those who have abortions face prison sentences up to two years; medical professionals who perform them, up to six years. Journalists have been arrested and charged with terrorism; as of April 2020, over 90 media workers had gone into exile. The Foreign Agents Law enacted in 2020 threatened to further impede the operations of independent groups. In late 2020, violently broke up a press conference held by journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, at which he called on the government to return the building that had housed the Confidencial and Esta Semana. Many had been held for over a year, under abusive conditions. Score Change: The score declined from 2 to 1 because the government has failed to protect Indigenous peoples from violent land grabs by settlers. Share this via Twitter Some have been detained repeatedlysometimes being abused during detentionfor periods ranging from several days to several months. In December, the government passed a law enabling officials to bar individuals labeled as terrorists or traitors from running for or holding public office. Your patience is appreciated. No international monitoring bodies have been allowed to enter the country since 2018, when authorities expelled the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)s Special Monitoring Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI), the IACHR-appointed Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI), and OHCHR. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from: a. The Treasury Department has also sanctioned nine entities, including financial and state security institutions. Serious violations of due process and other rights marred prosecutions. Many people whose deaths were attributed to atypical pneumonia were nonetheless given express burials that family members were barred from attending. The FSLN controls many of the countrys labor unions, and the legal rights of non-FSLN unions are not fully guaranteed in practice. Also in March, authorities expelled Apostolic Nuncio to Nicaragua Monsignor Waldemar Stanisaw Sommertag. Share this via Twitter Critics have been charged with undermining national integrity, propagating false news, laundering money, and related crimes. As of October 2021, just over 8 percent of the population was fully vaccinated. As per a new municipal electoral law approved in 2012, half of each partys candidates for mayoralties and council seats must be women. Afghanistan Human Rights Coordination Mechanism, Emergency Assistance and Thematic Programs. Numerous outlets have been raided and closed. Charges, carrying prison sentences of 15 to 25 years, ranged from money laundering to, most commonly, conspiracy to undermine national integrity. Prosecutors failed to identify specific acts by the defendants to support the charges in at least 14 cases. Observers noted reports of forced labor, including of men, women, and children in agriculture, construction, mining, street begging, and domestic servitude. 2017 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Nicaragua Download [177 KB] Translations In this section / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Section 1. There were reports ahead of the polls that the FSLN had ignored local primary surveys in order to put its preferred candidates up for election. Ortega has often referred to opposition actions as hate crimes, and analysts feared the law would be used to target political opponents. The countrys LGBT+ population is subject to intermittent threats and discriminatory treatment. Prisons are often characterized by overcrowding and poor sanitation. Nicaragua - United States Department of Justice Nicaraguan Asylum Seekers. The pervasive lack of effective due process intensified activist concerns regarding implementation of the Foreign Agents Law, the Cybersecurity Law, and the anti-traitors law, all of which were passed in late 2020, as well as the pending constitutional amendment on hate crimes. The Ortega administration restricts freedom of expression for journalists and media outlets through threats, insults, physical attacks, detentions, arbitrary financial investigations, and forced closures. Share this via Reddit Those harassed are unable to visit friends and family, attend meetings, go to work, or participate in protests, religious events, or political activities. Republic of Nicaragua - United States Department of Justice Rates of domestic abuse, violence against women, and femicide, defined in Nicaraguan law as a crime committed by a man who murders a woman in the public or private sphere, have increased since 2019, OHCHR reported in February 2021. Attacks against Indigenous populations and land incursions in recent years have been perpetrated with impunity. Of the 1,988,510 vaccine doses, 100% were donated in partnership with COVAX. In August, police summoned Francisco Aguirre Sacasa, a government critic and former foreign minister, to a police station. In May 2020, the European Union and United Kingdom imposed sanctions against six Ortega administration officials, including travel bans and asset freezes against top officials responsible for abuse. Ten others had been closed since 2018. Research and data: Edouard Mathieu, Hannah Ritchie, Lucas Rods-Guirao, Cameron Appel, Daniel Gavrilov, Charlie Giattino, Joe Hasell, Bobbie Macdonald, Saloni Dattani, Diana Beltekian, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, and Max Roser. The Electoral Council, stacked with his supporters, has barred opposition political parties and removed opposition lawmakers. Minority groups, especially the Indigenous inhabitants of Nicaraguas eastern and Caribbean regions, are politically underrepresented across parties, and the government and FSLN largely ignore their grievances. In the public primary and secondary school system, there have been reports of students being required to attend progovernment rallies, and of pro-FSLN materials displayed in school buildings. Constitutional reforms in 2014 eliminated term limits and required the winner of the presidential ballot to secure a simple plurality of votes. It covers the period from February 1, 2019 to January 31, 2021. Hundreds of health professionals were dismissed from public hospitals for providing assistance to protesters or for their alleged role in antigovernment demonstrations. Nicaragua Seizes Universities, Inching Toward Dictatorship 2 April 2020. Sanctions against all 14 were renewed for another year in October 2021. Those who have abortions face prison sentences of up to two years; medical professionals who perform them can face up to six years. Does due process prevail in civil and criminal matters? In November 2021, the US enacted a law to monitor, report on, and address corruption by the Ortega government and human rights abuses by Nicaraguan security forces. Share this via Facebook Poor infrastructure limits movement in some majority-indigenous areas. Restrictions on ink and paper forced the newspaper El Nuevo Diario to close in 2019. As of June 2023, there had been no major changes since the 2022 report. December 5, 2022 Nicaragua - Level 3: Reconsider Travel O D H C Reissued with updates to wrongful detention information. Nicaragua Travel Advisory Many protestors were detained for months, subjected to torture and ill-treatment including electric shocks, severe beatings, fingernail removal, asphyxiation, and rape. . Nicaragua International Travel Information EU member states renewed the sanctions against the regime until October 2021. 04 Nicaragua's constitution provides for a directly elected president, and elections are held every five years. Positive evaluation of the country's economy in Nicaragua 2018 - Statista general assessment: Nicaragua's telecoms market has mirrored the country's poor economic achievements, with fixed-line teledensity and mobile penetration also being the lowest in Central America; the fixed line broadband market remains nascent, with population penetration below 4%; most internet users are concentrated in the largest cities . Nicaragua Overview: Development news, research, data | World Bank Thousands more live in Mexico, Panama, Europe, and the United States. The countrys next presidential election will take place in November 2021. 22. In 2020, Ortega accused local bishops of participating in a plot to overthrow him, and the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a report expressing concern about the repression of Catholics. Employment rate in Nicaragua 2020 | Statista Do laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of the population? Women also hold 45 percent of National Assembly seats. > Aircraft on order: 0. Share this via Printer. Are individuals free to practice and express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private? In September 2020, the government barred the commission from entering Nicaragua. Police, in coordination with armed pro-government groups, repressed massive anti-government protests in 2018, killing at least 328 people, injuring some 2,000, and detaining hundreds. BTI 2022: Nicaragua : BTI 2022 PDF Nicaragua - BTI 2022 In June 2019, the Organization of American States General Assembly passed a resolution that opens the door to evaluation of Nicaraguas compliance with the 2001 Inter-American Democratic Charter, which enables the OAS secretary general, or any member country, to convene a Permanent Council meeting to address situations where there has been an unconstitutional alteration of the constitutional regime that seriously impairs the democratic order in a member state. The resolution urged the government to take steps toward resumption of negotiations with the opposition and restoration of access for international rights-monitoring mechanisms. Nicaragua: Coronavirus Pandemic Country Profile. In June 2019, Canada imposed targeted sanctions against nine senior Nicaraguan officials implicated in human rights violations. After the National Assembly, which is allied with Ortega, appointed new Supreme Electoral Council members in May, the Council stripped legal registration from the main opposition parties. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2021 United States Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor . In August 2022, police arbitrarily arrested Bishop Rolando lvarez, an outspoken critic, along with five priests, two seminarians, and one cameraman, after holding them hostage at the episcopal curia of Matagalpa for two weeks. Report Name: FAIRS Annual Country Report Annual 172 countries and multiple candidate vaccines engaged in COVID-19 vaccine Global Access Facility. Unique hard to find content on Nicaragua. The law, passed in October 2020, criminalizes a wide range of online communications, including by punishing with sentences of up to five years the publication or dissemination of false or distorted information on the internet that is likely to spread anxiety, anguish or fear.. The HRC condemnedabuses and urged the government to resume cooperation with international human rights bodies. The report places 28 countries in the Red category for persecution. 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Nicaragua. Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot. When Sacasa arrived, police arrested him without informing him of the charges against him and without allowing him access to a lawyer. A demonstrator with a banner calling for the freedom of political prisoners in Nicaragua takes part of a march of Nicaraguans exiled in Costa Rica, in San Jose, Costa Rica, November 6, 2022. Several of the presidents sons are among the multiple Nicaraguan officials sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for alleged involvement in corrupt activities, including one who was added to the sanctions list in July 2020. Hugo Torres, 73, a government critic, who was a guerrilla fighter in the 1970s revolution that first brought Ortega to power, died in detention in February 2022. Nicaragua: Freedom on the Net 2022 Country Report | Freedom House EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. Political parties face legal and practical obstacles to formation and operations. The government has accused the organization and critical doctors of promoting health terrorism. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) reported that state agents were persecuting and harassing members of the Observatory, as well as from the medical associations Nicaraguan Medical Unit (UMN) and Interdisciplinary Scientific Committee. At least 16 journalists have been summoned as witnesses in a money laundering investigation into Cristiana Chamorro, a detained presidential candidate who, until its closure, headed an NGO dedicated to press freedom. Serious violations of due process and other rights also marred prosecutions against protesters. Since taking office in 2007, the government has dismantled all institutional checks on presidential power. Most critics have been held incommunicado and subjected to abuses in detention, including daily interrogations, prolonged solitary confinement, and insufficient food. After the National Assembly appointed Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) members loyal to President Ortega in 2021, the CSE stripped the main opposition parties registration. Two seats in the legislature are reserved for the previous president and the runner-up in the most recent presidential election. Legislators have passed several laws that severely restrict freedom of expression and association and have used them to forcibly close hundreds of non-profits, universities, and media outlets and to arbitrarily detain and prosecute journalists and human rights defenders. In practice, successful political advocacy by women is generally restricted to initiatives that enjoy the support of the FSLN, which has not prioritized womens policy concerns. The government also severed diplomatic relations with the Netherlands after it cited concerns with human rights violations and deteriorating democratic institutions in Nicaragua when cancelling funding for a hospital project. In March 2020, the IACHR rebuked Nicaraguas failure to protect Indigenous people from violence and expulsion from their traditional lands. Country & Region reports. In October 2020, the Organization of American States General Assembly passed a resolution setting May 2021 as the deadline for the Ortega government to implement electoral reforms necessary to guarantee free, fair, and transparent elections in November 2021. Under 2014 constitutional reforms, legislators must follow the party vote or risk losing their seats. Republic of Nicaragua Citizenship and Country Documents US Government Reports State Department - Country Documents Library of Congress - Law Library of Congress (LLOC) Family Reunification Laws in Selected Jurisdictions - July 2014 Foreign Government Reports Canada Responses to Information Requests (RIRs) Police frequently station themselves outside critics homes, preventing them from leaving, in what in many cases amounts to arbitrary arrest. A 2013 reform to the law allows mediation between the victim and accuser, despite concerns from rights groups. In September 2019, Army Commander-in-Chief Julio Csar Avils Castillo accused NGOs of being coup-plotters. As of June 2020, Congress had stripped 10 NGOs of legal registration, forcing them to close. In a report released in December, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) identified a revolving door system of short-term arbitrary detentions intended to intimidate and disrupt regime opponents. In June, Switzerland also imposed financial and travel sanctions on six government officials. The press has faced increased political and judicial harassment since 2007, when Ortega returned to power, with the administration engaging in systematic efforts to obstruct and discredit media critics. In April, Ortega said he was against public campaigns that urged people to stay at home. Impunity for human rights abuses by the police continues. In 2018, state forces, with the aid of informally allied armed groups, responded to a mass antigovernment movement with violence and repression. Ortegas sons and daughters have been appointed to prominent positions such as ambassador and presidential adviser. See the methodology. Both the acting head of the CSE, Lumberto Campbell, and the previous CSE president, Roberto Rivas, are on the United States list of sanctioned individuals for the CSEs role in facilitating Nicaraguas highly flawed elections. The government has refused to discuss electoral reforms or early elections as called for by the Nicaraguan population. The rule of law collapsed as the government moved to put down the movement, with rights monitors reporting the deaths of at least 325 people, extrajudicial detentions, disappearances, and torture. Titles are often contested, and individuals with connections to the FSLN sometimes enjoy an advantage during property disputes. Persistent problems include severe restrictions on freedom of expression and association, political discrimination against state workers who support the opposition, and stringent abortion laws that leave no options for rape victims. The constitution provides for a directly elected president, and elections are held every five years. Many were subjected to torture and ill-treatment including electric shocks, severe beatings, fingernail removal, asphyxiation, and rape. Nicaragua Health Information What are the health conditions in Nicaragua? It defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman and, as such, deprives same-sex couples the right to adopt children or the ability to receive fertility treatment. Health workers were reportedly prevented from using personal protective equipment and implementing safety protocols in public hospitals, and dozens of nurses and doctors were fired for signing a letter criticizing the governments response to the pandemic. While most fleeing Nicaraguans have gone to Costa Rica, thousands have gone to Mexico, Panama, Europe, and the United States. The newspaper La Prensa ended its print edition in August, when the Customs Authority withheld newsprint and ink supplies it had imported. The government also suppressed actions by NGOs and church groups to provide public health assistance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. World Report 2021: Nicaragua | Human Rights Watch Amid repression of critics and political opponents, President Ortega was elected, in 2021, to a fourth consecutive term. Nicaragua - United States Department of State Election-related changes and laws adopted between October 2020 and February 2021 have been used to deter critical speech, inhibit opposition participation in elections, and keep critics in prison without formal charges, to prevent or limit their political participation. During the 2018 crackdown, at least 405 doctors, nurses, and other health workers were fired from public hospitals, seemingly for providing care to protesters or criticizing the government. Criminal proceedings were based on bogus charges and violated basic due process rights. The ban forces women and girls confronting unwanted pregnancies to seek illegal and unsafe abortions, risking their health and lives. Abortion is illegal and punishable by imprisonment, even when performed to save the pregnant persons life or in cases of rape or incest. Police abuses continued in 2020. Nicaragua: Coronavirus Pandemic Country Profile - Our World in Data Released prisoners were subjected to harassment and surveillance. Nicaragua: Freedom in the World 2021 Country Report | Freedom House As the crackdown intensified, some individuals responded violently. Some have been arrested repeatedlysometimes abused in detentionfor periods ranging from several days to several months. 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Nicaragua Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Download [1 MB] Translations In this section / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Section 1. Groups critical of the government or that focus on issues like corruption have operated within an increasingly restrictive environment under the Ortega administration, which among other measures has used registration laws to choke off their sources of funding. It has not closed schools or ordered lockdowns or social distancing. During the brief congressional debate on the 2020 Foreign Agents Law, Rivera expressed concern that the law could disproportionately impact underrepresented political groups. The government took no emergency measures in response to the pandemic and has kept schools open. In March, police attacked and detained demonstrators requesting release of political prisoners, media reported, and police and unidentified assailants attacked journalists. Human rights defenders and other critics are targets of death threats, intimidation, online defamation campaigns, harassment, surveillance, and assault. Employers sometimes form their own unions to avoid recognizing legitimate organizations. Defense lawyers have experienced escalating harassment and prosecutions. Nicaragua in depth country profile. World Report 2023: Nicaragua | Human Rights Watch Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination? Denial, inaction, and opacity have characterized the governments response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Also see the Department of State's Trafficking in Persons Report at https://www.state.gov/trafficking-in-persons-report/. Years of political repression under Ortega, including through politicized court rulings and other measures that prevented opposition figures from participating in politics, severely limit the ability of the opposition to gain power through elections, and very few opposition figures hold legislative seats or other government positions. Nicaragua's crackdown on the political opposition, free press, and civil society is intensifying. In March, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported neighboring Costa Rica hosting some 77,000 Nicaraguan refugees and asylum seekers. Reports World Health Statistics 2022 . In August, three employees of the El Rama mayors office filed a criminal slandercomplaint against Kala Salazar, a journalist at radio station La Costesima, after she reported on corruption. In April 2022, the National Assembly passed a Regulation and Control of Non-Profit Organizations law that allows the Interior Ministry to ask legislators to cancel the legal status of groups that promote campaigns to destabilize the country. Authorities can also seize the assets of associations that commit unlawful acts, violate public order, or hinder the Interior Ministrys control and surveillance., In 2020, authorities passed a cybercrime law that criminalizes a wide range of online communications, including by punishing with sentences of up to five years the publication or dissemination of false or distorted information on the internet that is likely to spread anxiety, anguish or fear. The same year a Foreign Agents law was enacted, which allows cancellation of the legal status of organizations that obtain foreign funds for activities that interfere in Nicaraguas internal affairs.. In addition, Ortega said he would propose a constitutional amendment to allow life sentences for hate crimes, in September. Share this via Reddit The only independent observer group reported a number of irregularities, including the participation of voters from ineligible areas; low turnout; and a heavy military presence in several municipalities while polling took place. > Number of militaries using: 25 (tied) > Active aircraft: 489. Are the peoples political choices free from domination by forces that are external to the political sphere, or by political forces that employ extrapolitical means? The elections of 1990 marked an important step in Nicaragua's history: The country's first peaceful and accepted transfer of power through free elections was achieved, and a civil Nicaragua, the second poorest country in Latin America after Haiti, has had a difficult path to democracy, characterized by ongoing struggles between rival caudillos (strongmen), generations of dictatorial rule, and civil war. Global freedom statuses are calculated on a weighted scale. Short- to medium-term outlook, including forecasts for economic growth, inflation, monetary and fiscal policy, exchange rates and the external sector. This report documented the human rights situation in 149 countries in 2021, as well as providing global and regional analysis. In October 2020, Congress passed a foreign agents bill, proposed by Ortega, that could be used to further suppress dissent. Police continued to block or disperse attempted demonstrations in 2019 and 2020. Ernesto Medina, the former rector of the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua's Len campus, one of the country's largest, said that the government takeover was a warning to the . This includes 1,988,510 Pfizer doses. Approximately 5 percent of the population is Indigenous and lives mostly in the RACCN and the RACCS.

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