In the first half of 2024, the focus of the Nicaragua project's work has been on advocacy for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which this year is Nicaragua's turn.
We have started with a training process in conjunction with the OHCHR, and continued with support in advising on the Civil Society reports to be submitted to the Human Rights Council, and also in advocacy actions towards the international community.
Three of the organisations accompanied by PBI have produced reports on different topics: political prisoners and those released from prison, the rights of women and defenders, 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, has been 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, accompanied by PBI. This tour, in which an accompanied defender from the GREX - Group of Former Political Prisoners - is also participating, has been organised in coordination with more than ten Nicaraguan organisations in exile and three international organisations. The UPR-Nicaragua will take place in November, so we will follow this process in the next semester and report on the results.