He was also presented to the press surrounded by highly armed police officers. As of September 2022, 209 people perceived as government critics remained in detention, according to local rights groups, including many who were arrested in the context of the 2021 elections. Ortega has often referred to opposition actions as hate crimes, and analysts feared the law would be used to target political opponents. 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. Nicaragua: Freedom in the World 2023 Country Report | Freedom House In September 2019, OHCHR released a comprehensive report on Nicaraguas human rights record from August 2018 to July 2019, urging the government to guarantee civil society freedoms; reinstate shuttered NGOs and media outlets; investigate and prosecute rights abuses in the context of protests; and end arbitrary arrests, among othermeasures. Recent developments and key government policies. During the brief congressional debate on the 2020 Foreign Agents Law, Rivera expressed concern that the law could disproportionately impact underrepresented political groups. In April 2022, the Ortega government said the withdrawal was completed, seized the OAS office in the country; and revoked the credentials of OAS representatives; however, the OAS says that the OAS Charter remains in effect in Nicaragua until the end of 2023, requiring Nicaraguas compliance with obligations under the Inter-American System. A majority of the abuses have been attributed to the national police and armed allied groups, which the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in an August 2018 report operate with total impunity. In September of that year, the national police issued a statement declaring unauthorized marches and demonstrations illegal. Police have since denied permits for public demonstrations, and have occupied public spaces to prevent protests. Impunity for human rights violations by the police continues. Executive dominance of the highly polarized legislature results in a consistent lack of oversight. Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings b. 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. 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. The governments response to Covid-19 included denying its impact and failing to implement measures recommended by global health experts. Many others fled to Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, and Europe. March 9, 2023, 12:29 PM. Employers sometimes form their own unions to avoid recognizing legitimate organizations. 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 PDF Nicaragua - BTI 2022 Nicaragua - United States Department of State In August, the Attorney Generals Office filed charges against most of the detainees, in criminal proceedings that lacked basic due process guarantees. Freedom of Expression, Association Human rights defenders, journalists and critics are targets of death threats, assault, intimidation, harassment, surveillance, online defamation campaigns, and. Defense lawyers have experienced escalating harassment and prosecutions. BTI 2022: Nicaragua : BTI 2022 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) In this section /. Indigenous and Afro-descendent populations are underrepresented in the National Assembly; in 2020 there was only one Indigenous representative, Brooklyn Rivera of the Yatama party, and two Kriol representatives. From April 2018 through June 2021, more than 110,000 people fled Nicaragua, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reported. As the crackdown intensified, some individuals responded violently. In addition, Ortega said he would propose a constitutional amendment to allow life sentences for hate crimes, in September. 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 government also suppressed actions by NGOs and church groups to provide public health assistance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The government took no emergency measures in response to the pandemic and has kept schools open. In September 2020, the government barred the commission from entering Nicaragua. Arbitrary arrests and detentions have since continued, perceived government opponents report surveillance and monitoring, and talks with the opposition have floundered. Nicaragua: Freedom in the World 2022 Country Report | Freedom House The United States Border Patrol apprehended 164,600 Nicaraguans from January to September 2022, up from 50,000 in all of 2021 and only a few thousand in years prior. This report is part of the Bertelsmann Stiftung's Transformation Index (BTI) 2022. Share this via Reddit 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? Freedom in the World 2022 Nicaragua Not Free 23 100 Last Year's Score & Status 30 100 Not Free Global freedom statuses are calculated on a weighted scale. In September, a group of domestic and regional human rights NGOs, including Amnesty International and the Washington Office on Latin America, decried a wave of repression of activists, including sexual assaults of women activists. Nicaragua Population and Demographics from Nicaragua - CountryReports 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 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. Freedom of assembly deteriorated severely in 2018, when at least 325 people were killed and at least 2,000 were injured in a ferocious crackdown on an antigovernment protest movement that began that April, after authorities announced social security reforms; it soon turned into a broader antigovernment movement aimed at forcing the regime from power. The OAS General Assembly and Permanent Council had said that the 2021 elections were not free nor fair, and that Nicaragua had violated its commitments under the Inter-American Democratic Charter. Nicaragua in depth country profile. Employment rate in Nicaragua 2020 | Statista An amnesty law passed in 2019 states that protesters who are released must not take part in actions that lead to further crimes, effectively prohibiting them from again participating in antigovernment demonstrations. 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Nicaragua. Status Index 1-10 5.57 # 67 of 129 . As of April 2020, more than 103,000 citizens had fled Nicaragua since April 2018, IACHR reports. La Prensa ended its newspapers print edition in August 2021, when the Customs Authority withheld newsprint it had imported. 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 . Government agencies at all levels generally ignore this law. The constitution and laws nominally recognize the rights of indigenous communities, but those rights have not been respected in practice. Numerous outlets have been raided and closed. The data on the coronavirus pandemic is updated daily. The law had been approved by the Senate in August. After the National Assembly appointed Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) members loyal to President Ortega in 2021, the CSE stripped the main opposition parties registration. In October, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning Nicaraguas deteriorating human rights record and urging a tougher EU approach in the absence of any progress. In 2019, President Ortega promoted top officials implicated in abuses. More on the BTI at https://www.bti-project.org. La Prensa then reported that an unspecified number of its reporters, editors, and photographers had left Nicaragua, citing constant police harassment. A local human rights organization reported 46 femicides between January and October 2022. Riot police stand guard outside the house of Cristiana Chamorro, former director of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation and opposition presidential candidate, in Managua on June 2, 2021, the day Nicaraguan police raided her home without a warrant and placed her under house arrest. World Report 2021: Nicaragua | Human Rights Watch 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. Police, in coordination with armed pro-government groups, brutally repressed protesters, which lefta death toll of 328 people and almost 2,000 people injured, and led to hundreds of detentions. In May 2021, the National Assembly approved a legal reform consolidating government control of the electoral process. In April, police arrested at least fiveand injured two demonstrators commemorating the 2018 protests in Esquipulas, Moyogalpa. Nicaraguas North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (RACCN) and South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (RACCS) have regional councils, for which elections were held in March 2019; the FSLN won the largest share of the vote in each. Persistent problems include severe restrictions on freedom of expression and association, political discrimination, and stringent restrictions on abortion. The European Parliament, in July, condemned the Ortega governments repression of opposition groups and other opponents and called for the release of arbitrarily detained political prisoners, including presidential candidates. The lawrequires manypeople and groups that receive direct or indirect funding from abroad to register as foreign agents and bars them from intervening in matters of internal politics. The lawcould impact journalists, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and political opponents. It has not closed schools or ordered lockdowns or social distancing. 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. Fourteen were sanctioned pursuant to Executive Order 13851 and three pursuant the Global Magnitsky Act of 2016, which allows for sanctions against human rights violators. Ortega refused to allow international election monitoring. 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. Under 2014 constitutional reforms, legislators must follow the party vote or risk losing their seats. Changes to the military code and national police passed in 2014 give the president power to deploy the army for internal security purposes and appoint the national police chief, and permitted the police to engage in political activity. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2021 United States Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor . In June, Switzerland also imposed financial and travel sanctions on six government officials. In October, a pro-government group attacked and gravely injured journalist Vernica Chvez, from the news outlet 100% Noticias, in Masaya as she was leaving a meeting with the opposition. The Human Rights Collective Nicaragua Nunca +, an NGO based in Costa Rica that documents human rights abuses in Nicaragua, reported that the Ortega governments sustained "persecution, harassment, and prosecution" had forced at least 100 journalists into exile, including 25 in 2021. 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. The UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution in March urging the government to repeal or amend legislation that undermines fundamental rights and to adopt electoral reforms to ensure free and fair elections with international oversight. Also in March, Emiliano Chamorro, director of digital outlet El Portavoz Ciudadano, reported experiencing police surveillance and harassment. As of December, 12 members of the Mayangna and Miskito communities had been murdered in 2020, adding to a toll of nearly 50 since 2015. Nicaragua Country Overview | World Health Organization Individuals and communities in the construction zone for a planned interoceanic canal have reported intimidation by surveyors and anonymous actors, though the project appeared to have stalled. Between January and October 2021, authorities had arbitrarily arrested and prosecuted three journalists and brought charges or initiated investigations against several journalists who were abroad. Nicaragua - United States Department of State There have been reports that Ortega supporters have infiltrated parishes and harassed or intimidated parishioners at church services. Between July 28 and August 26, 2021, authorities ordered the closure of 45 NGOs, including womens groups, international aid organizations, and several medical associations. The government has refused to discuss electoral reforms or early elections as called for by the Nicaraguan population. International watchdogs including Human Rights Watch and domestic government opponents viewed the new laws as indications the government intended to clamp down on opposition and prevent competition in the 2021 elections. Nicaragua: Freedom on the Net 2022 Country Report | Freedom House Share this via Telegram The tripartite alliance between government, private business, and organized labor, which is recognized in Article 98 of the constitution, has become less functional since the private sector began to distance itself from the government upon the violent events of 2018. Police frequently station themselves outside the houses of government critics, preventing them from leaving, in what amounts to arbitrary arrest. While such large-scale violence was not repeated in 2019 and 2020, heavy-handed repression of the opposition has continued, with frequent reports of harassment, arbitrary detention, and violence. Nicaragua seizes properties of businessman in exile | Reuters Includes customs, culture, history, geography, economy current events, photos, video, and more. Reconsider travel to Nicaragua due to limited healthcare availability and arbitrary enforcement of laws. The OHCHR noted persistent restrictions on civic space, particularly the governments targeting of journalists and human rights defenders, and that the 2019 Amnesty Law had furthered impunity for serious human rights abuses. Since the political crisis ignited, however, church officials have been denounced and smeared by authorities for accompanying or defending antigovernment protestors, progovernment mobs have attacked churches where antigovernment protesters were sheltering, and members of the clergy have received threats and experienced surveillance. As damage assessment and aid efforts got underway, accusations emerged that the government was prioritizing Sandinista-led areas, as well as hindering independent journalistic coverage of the crisis. Police continued to block or disperse attempted demonstrations in 2019 and 2020. The intermixing of Ortega family, Sandinista party, and government interests have long been criticized as presenting significant conflicts of interest and opportunities for corruption. Key forecast data, with regional comparisons. While the government reported over 13,000 cases and more than 200 deaths, as of September 2021, the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Covid-19 Citizen Observatory registered almost twice as many suspected cases and 4,500 suspected deaths. 6,804,000 Form Of Government: unitary multiparty republic with one legislative house (National Assembly [92 1 ]) . The decision severely disrupted the operations of the PLI, and Ortegas closest competitor, Maximino Rodrguez of the Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC), received just 15 percent of the vote, with no other candidate reaching 5 percent. Nicaragua in Brief: Political Developments in 2021, U.S. Policy, and Nicaragua: Coronavirus Pandemic Country Profile - Our World in Data They were renewed in October for a one-year period. This includes 1,988,510 Pfizer doses. Since taking office in 2007, the government of President Daniel Ortega has dismantled nearly all institutional checks on presidential power. Also in September, the Ortega government expelled the European Union envoy to Nicaragua days after the EU delegation to the UN called for the restoration of democracy and the freeing of political prisoners. Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? The 2020 Cybercrimes Law criminalized the spread of false news and targeted whistleblowing by government employees. Authorities reported that 21 police officers allegedly died in the context of demonstrations between April and September. OAS :: IACHR :: Country Reports - Organization of American States The EU maintains sanctions on 21 individuals and three state-linked entities in Nicaragua. Journalists have been arrested and charged with terrorism; as of April 2020, over 90 media workers had gone into exile. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? Other ways to share