The UK Parliament has released the findings of a report into the oppression of religious leaders, media and political opposition in Nicaragua.
“The Silencing of Democracy in Nicaragua”was launched under the auspices of three All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs), to consider the situation in Nicaragua and the ever-growing targeting of anyone critical of the Nicaraguan government. Those targeted include opposition leaders, human rights defenders, journalists and religious leaders.
“This report makes it very clear that anyone critical of the Ortega regime will be targeted,” Lord David Alton said of the report’s findings. “With every attack on political opposition, journalists, human rights defenders, and religious leaders, democracy is being eroded piece by piece.”
The report endeavours to identify practical and meaningful steps that can be taken by the UK Government and other States to address the problem “as a matter of international concern”.
Bianca Jagger, founder and president of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, highlights that the report includes voices of those targeted by the dictatorial Ortega-Murillo regime while investigating extrajudicial executions; arbitrary detentions; torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; arbitrary deprivation of nationality; and violation of the right to remain in one’s country.
“We must now engage the UK Government and States globally to act against these human rights violations in Nicaragua, particularly those perpetrated so aggressively against the Catholic Church, the educational institutions and the independent media,” Jagger says.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega took power in 2007, and since then has jailed and persecuted challengers to his authority. In 2018, Ortega accused church leaders of attempting to overthrow the government when they acted as mediators after deadly protests broke out that left more than 300 people dead, reportsCrux.
It notes that the report also calls for a more detailed examination of the ties between Nicaragua, Russia and China, “identifying the risks involved, including the implications of foreign investment used to aid and abet human rights violations in the country.”
Alton highlights that since the parliamentarians concluded their draft, there have been reports that Russia will train Ortega’s police and develop an intelligence and espionage system in Nicaragua with a new training centre for “security and internal order” that is entirely run by the Russian Interior Ministry.
The parliamentary groups involved in the report are the APPGs on Central America, on International Freedom of Religion and Belief, and on International Law, Justice and Accountability. The APPGs are made up of cross-party parliamentarians with expertise and interest in those areas cited above, including from the government and opposition parties, as well as being drawn from both parliamentary houses.
In addition to Lord Alton of Liverpool, the Nicaragua Inquiry includes leading parliamentarians working on human rights, such as Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws KC, Baroness Hooper, Mark Menzies MP, Brendan O’Hara MP, Bishop Philip Mounstephen of Winchester (and author of the “Truro Independent Review into the Persecution of Christians“), and Fiona Bruce MP, the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy.
The inquiry received contributions from over 13 “lived experience” witnesses and experts, who provided evidence in person or online, and from a further 60 individuals and organisations that provided written submissions.
“This silencing of democracy in Nicaragua is manifested in atrocities that are classified by international experts, including the UN Group of Experts on Nicaragua, as crimes against humanity and need to be addressed as such,” Alton says.
Photo: Nicaraguan Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes greets his parishioners before officiating the Palm Sunday Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Managua, Nicaragua, 24 March 2024. (Photo by OSWALDO RIVAS/AFP via Getty Images.)
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