HRC51: Oral statement during ID on the High Commissioner’s report on Nicaragua

Item 2: Interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner’s report on the situation of human rights in Nicaragua

Organisation:Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)

Speaker: Ellis Heasley

Thank you Mr President,

CSW welcomes the High Commissioner’s timely report and shares the OHCHR’s assessment that there has been a significant deterioration in the situation of human rights in Nicaragua in 2022.

We welcome the report’s focus on the case of the Bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Álvarez, and add with concern that the bishop was placed under house arrest in Managua on 19 August after being forcibly confined in the Curia in Matagalpa for 15 days.

Seven others who were detained in the Curia alongside Bishop Álvarez are currently being held in Evaristo Vásquez Sánchez Police Complex, also known as El Nuevo Chipote.[1]

The Nicaraguan police’s accusations that the bishop and his colleagues are responsible for attempting to organise violent groups in order to destablise the government are unfounded, and their continued detention is unconscionable.

We call on the government of Nicaragua to ensure their immediate and unconditional release, as well as that of the other religious leaders who have been arbitrarily detained and imprisoned in recent months.

The targeting of the bishop and his colleagues in this manner is symptomatic of a wider crackdown on fundamental freedoms and civil society.

The government has repeatedly revoked the legal status of non-governmental organisations including many of a religious nature, and continues to harass and threaten human rights defenders, activists, students and religious leaders, among others.

We therefore echo the OHCHR’s recommendation to the government of Nicaragua to reinstate the civic space, and further urge the wider international community to strengthen mechanisms to monitor human rights violations in Nicaragua and maintain pressure on the government to immediately cease its threats and harassment targeting those it perceives as critical of the government and its policies.

Thank you

[1] Their names are Father Ramiro Tijerino, Father Sadiel Eugarrios, Father Raúl González, Father José Luis Díaz, seminarians Darvin Leiva and Melkin Sequeira, and cameraman Sergio Cárdenas.