Human rights situation in Nicaragua - Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (A/HRC/51/42) (Unofficial English Translation)

Human Rights Council
Fifty-first session
12 September–7 October 2022
Agenda item 2
Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General

Summary

This report, submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 49/3, contains an update on the human rights situation in Nicaragua and a detailed assessment of the implementation of the recommendations made to the State by OHCHR, Human Rights Council mechanisms and Treaty Bodies since 2018.

I. Introduction and methodology

1. In resolution 49/3, adopted on 31 March, 2022, the Human Rights Council requested the High Commissioner to prepare a comprehensive report on the human rights situation in Nicaragua containing a detailed assessment of the implementation of the recommendations made in her previous reports, and of the recommendations of the Council's mechanisms and treaty bodies.

2. Chapter II summarizes the human rights situation since March 2022, highlighting the most worrying facts documented by the Office through the analysis of official and non-governmental documents and reports, videos and photographs, 43 face-to-face and remote meetings with different actors, including members of civil society and members of the international community, as well as 25 interviews with victims, family members, lawyers and witnesses of human rights violations.

3. Chapter III assesses the implementation of the recommendations made to Nicaragua in the reports of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the first (OHCHR 2018 ) prepared pursuant to the universal mandate of the High Commissioner, and the other three submitted to the Human Rights Council in 2019 , 2021 and 2022 , pursuant to Council resolutions. The four reports contain 47 recommendations addressed to the State and 9 to the international community and the Human Rights Council. Compliance with the recommendations made to Nicaragua in the framework of the 2019 Universal Periodic Review (out of 259 recommendations, the State accepted 135 ), and by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in nine cases (38 recommendations) is also evaluated. Finally, compliance with the 43 recommendations adopted by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2021 is evaluated. The Committees against Torture and for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination adopted provisional observations in July and August 2022, respectively, therefore, the evaluation of their compliance is not included in this report.

4. In April and May 2022, OHCHR requested information from the Government of Nicaragua on the implementation of the 396 recommendations, but did not receive a response. It also requested information from agencies of the United Nations system, victims of human rights violations and civil society, to whom it is grateful for their cooperation. In addition, official sources, OHCHR records, and other reliable and open sources were consulted in accordance with the Office's monitoring methodology.