As part of a systematic attempt to silence critical voices, the government of Nicaragua is perpetrating widespread violations and abuses that may amount to crimes against humanity. 

BACKGROUND:

For more than seven years, Nicaragua has experienced an unprecedented human rights crisis amid a rapid descent into authoritarianism. Under President Daniel Ortega, the government has engaged in a broad campaign of repressing dissenting or independent voices, including human rights defenders, women’s rights groups, journalists, community, peasant movement and religious leaders, students and academics, business owners and political opponents. As part of this campaign, various government structures have committed widespread human rights violations and abuses that may amount to crimes against humanity, including murder, imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, deportation and politically motivated persecution. In September 2024 the UN Human Rights Council (HRC)-mandated Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN) reported that the situation has dramatically worsened over the past year, warning that “as the Government has neared its goal of total destruction of critical voices in Nicaragua…there has been an exponential increase of patterns of violations focusing on incapacitating any kind of opposition in the long term.”  

The crisis first escalated in April 2018 when tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest severe pension cuts. The police – at times in coordination with pro-government armed elements – cracked down on the demonstrations. State agents utilized disproportionate force against protesters, which triggered an escalation in the protests. Between April and September 2018 at least 320 people were killed and 2,000 injured in the ensuing violence and crackdown. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts documented widespread and systematic violations and abuses of human rights perpetrated on behalf of state authorities and pro-government actors between April and May 2018. In response to their respective reports, the government expelled OHCHR and the IACHR Experts from the country in 2018. Since then, no independent human rights monitoring body has been able to access the country.  

The GHREN has found that the government, as well as pro-government groups, have committed crimes against humanity as part of a systematic campaign to eliminate any opposition. Dozens of government critics remain arbitrarily detained under what the GHREN has determined is a state policy. President Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, have dismantled checks and balances and instrumentalized the country’s executive, judicial, legislative and electoral branches. 

The GHREN has warned that university students, professors, academic administrators and other personnel have been particularly targeted in violations and abuses, including murder, imprisonment, torture, deportation and persecution for political reasons, and that the pattern of attacks against them may constitute the crime against humanity of persecution on political grounds. Religious leaders, including the Catholic Church, which was invited to mediate a national dialogue following state-led violence in 2018, have also become one of the primary targets of persecution. Violence has also been perpetrated against Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples, including killings, harassment, the invasion of their lands and the deliberate burning of homes.  

Between 2018 and 2024 more than 5,000 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been forcibly shutdown, a policy that remains ongoing. According to the Nicaraguan Platform of NGO networks, since 2018 more than 50 media outlets have been forced to close and over 200 media workers have left the country as journalists have increasingly faced prosecution on criminal charges of alleged hate crimes and terrorism. Many universities have also had their legal status canceled.  

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS:

In February 2025 the National Assembly finalized the approval process of constitutional reforms which consolidate President Ortega’s absolute power, including de-facto control over the legislature, judiciary and electoral institutions. On 26 February the GHREN warned that President Ortega and Vice President Murillo are acting as “the eyes and ears” that allow the government to maintain total control. In response to the GHREN’s February report, Nicaragua announced its withdrawal from the HRC on 27 February.  

On 3 April the HRC extended the mandate of the GHREN for two years and requested a presentation of its findings to the UN General Assembly. The same day, the GHREN released a groundbreaking report identifying 54 government, military and ruling party officials responsible for crimes against humanity and other systematic and grave human rights violations and abuses. 

On 27 June OHCHR warned of the continued “devastating dismantling of civic space” inside Nicaragua, as well as systematic repression extending beyond the country’s border, including through the deprivation of nationality and other violations impeding family reunifications. OHCHR had previously warned that at least 546 Nicaraguans have been stripped of their nationality between February 2023 and December 2024 alone. 

ANALYSIS:

State-led repression and targeted persecution have become more sophisticated over time. Ongoing crimes against humanity have been facilitated in part by the deliberate dismantling of democratic institutions since President Ortega took office in 2007. Pervasive impunity for violations committed before and since 2018 further enables such crimes. Domestic avenues to ensure redress for victims of state-led violence remain nonexistent. The latest constitutional reforms further empower the government to arbitrarily revoke citizenship and enable state-led media censorship – both of which are already widely used to repress dissent. 

Arbitrary criminal prosecutions are used as an instrument of political persecution, which has expanded over time and now targets a broad and diverse range of dissenting voices. Patterns of violence against opponents – including psychological torture – often vary by gender, with specific methods of torture used to target women. 

Nicaragua’s regional and international isolation helps facilitate the commission of atrocity crimes. Although Nicaragua had previously refused to cooperate with the HRC, the withdrawal can be seen as part of a broader strategy to undermine the credibility and legitimacy of the UN human rights system. Continued investigations and public reporting by the GHREN remain crucial to ensure international scrutiny and exert pressure on UN member states to respond to ongoing atrocity crimes.  

While UN member states have taken important steps to address ongoing atrocity crimes, including through the establishment of the GHREN, the international community has so far failed to apply a coordinated, holistic and robust strategy. The Nicaraguan government has also been unresponsive to targeted sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU), the United States, Canada and others.  

RISK ASSESSMENT:

• • • Tactics utilized by the Ortega administration to maintain absolute power.
    • Expulsion or refusal to allow the presence of NGOs, international organizations, media or other relevant actors and total lack of cooperation with international and regional human rights mechanisms.
    • Instrumentalization of the judicial system to facilitate the persecution of actual or alleged opponents, including Nicaraguans in exile. 

• • • Pervasive impunity for past and ongoing atrocity crimes, encouraging perpetrators to continue systematic repression.  

• • • Lack of domestic protection mechanisms, leaving Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples, among other communities, particularly vulnerable. 

NECESSARY ACTION:

The government of Nicaragua must immediately halt the systematic persecution of actual or alleged opponents, allow independent media and civil society organizations to operate safely and freely and immediately release all arbitrarily detained individuals. The government should commit to full and meaningful cooperation with regional and international human rights monitoring mechanisms. All human rights violations and abuses should be independently investigated and those responsible held accountable. 

UN member states should utilize the evidence collected by the GHREN to pursue accountability for victims, including through universal jurisdiction, and strengthen and expand a robust individual sanctions regime against identified perpetrators at the highest level. Governments and regional institutions should also make use of the GHREN’s findings in all security, financial and trade relations and policies to increase pressure on the government to halt pervasive persecution. Latin American governments, together with the EU and other allies and in close consultation with Nicaraguan civil society, should intensify efforts to ensure a coordinated, consistent and holistic response to the crisis, which prioritizes human rights protection and democratic reform.