In the first half of 2024, the focus of the Nicaragua project's work had been on advocacy for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which was the year of Nicaragua's turn.
We began a training process in collaboration with the OHCHR, continued by providing support for advising on the Civil Society reports to be submitted to the Human Rights Council, and further engaged in advocacy actions directed at the international community.
Three organisations accompanied by PBI produced reports on various topics: political prisoners and those released from prison, women's rights and defenders, and the right to education and academic freedom.
Grupo de Reflexión de Excarcelados políticos
The Grupo de Reflexión de Excarcelados Políticos produced a report on the persecution and stigmatisation experienced by former political prisoners after their release. ‘We have been victims of fierce persecution, harassment and destruction of our way of life. Precarious and silent employment, forced displacement inside and outside the country and exile, are the obvious signs of a policy of civil death, which has reduced us to simple inhabitants, without civil and political rights and with other social rights affected‘ Read the full report.
Coordinadora Universitaria por la Democracia y la Justicia
The Coordinadora Universitaria por la Democracia y la Justicia, in its report on Higher Education, academic freedom and university autonomy, refers to different situations of human rights violations. In the period 2018- 2024, they identify several practices that violate rights such as repression and persecution against students and professors; the closure of universities for political reasons, the denial of academic documentation to students who have been forced to abandon their studies and the lack of respect for university autonomy. Read the complete report
Las Malcriadas Feminist Collective, in coalition with the Movimiento Autónomo de Mujeres
The Feminist Collective Las Malcriadas, in coalition with the Movimiento Autónomo de Mujeres, produced a report on the situation of women in Nicaragua over the last four years. In this report, the organisations draw attention to the lack of interest of the state in combating violence against women. They denounce that in this period, 341 femicides have been committed, and more than 20,000 acts of sexual violence. Read the full report.
In addition, a young woman defender of the accompanied organisation, CUDJ - Coordinadora Universitaria por la Democracia y la Justicia, was selected by UPR Info to participate in Geneva in the press conference with the missions of the different countries at the UN. She was part of a delegation of Nicaraguan human rights defenders who toured Geneva in the last week of August 2024, accompanied by PBI. This tour, featuring a representative defender from the GREX - Group of Former Political Prisoners - was organised in collaboration with over ten Nicaraguan organisations in exile and three international organisations. The UPR-Nicaragua occurred in November 2024, and we will monitor this process throughout 2025, providing updates on the outcomes.