Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since April 2018
The UN Office for Human Rights on Tuesday condemned the closure of 1,500 oenegens by the Nicaraguan authorities, bringing the number of private organizations, means and universities banned in the country to more than 5,000 since 2022.
According to the office headed by High Commissioner Volker T.rk, this massive closure of civil society organizations is “deeply alarming” and, even more so, in a country that has seen its civic space “severely eroded” in recent years.
Undue restrictions on freedom of religion by the Government of Nicaragua would also be applied, reflecting that approximately half of the newly closed NGOs were religious associations.
“The serious impact of these measures on the rights to freedom of association and expression, as well as on religious freedom, makes it increasingly difficult to defend human rights in Nicaragua,” said UN agency spokeswoman Liz Throssell.
He recalled that, of Nicaraguan civil society organizations that still operate, many have opted for self-censorship or dissolution in the midst of restrictive laws limiting their activities.
In view of this situation, the office reiterated its call on the Nicaraguan authorities to stop imposing restrictions on the country’s civic and democratic spaces and to ensure respect for human rights, in accordance with their international obligations in this area.
Nicaragua has been in a political and social crisis since April 2018, which was accentuated after the controversial general elections of 2021, in which Daniel Ortega was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term, with his main contenders in prison, who were then expelled from the country and deprived of his nationality.
This article has been translated after first appearing in El Salvador