Nicaragua has withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights Council following a damning report by U.N. experts accusing President Daniel Ortega’s government of systematically suppressing human rights, democracy and religious groups.
The report, released two days before Nicaragua’s withdrawal, described the Ortega administration as being engaged in “methodical repression” of dissent, noted the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern.
One of the experts, Ariela Peralta, stated that the government was effectively “at war with its own people.”
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The decision to leave the UNHRC comes amid continued tightening of power by Ortega, including naming his wife, Rosario Murillo, as co-president and bringing the legislative and judicial branches under his control.
The Nicaraguan government claims that international bodies, including the U.N. and the Organization of American States, are waging a smear campaign against it.
Murillo dismissed the U.N. report as “falsehoods” and “slander.”
Nicaragua has been increasingly criticized for targeting religious groups, particularly the Catholic Church.
A 2018 law regulating NGO (non-governmental organizations) funding has led to the mass revocation of legal status for thousands of organizations, but Catholic institutions have faced the harshest crackdown due to their vocal opposition to government actions and their role in sheltering student protesters in 2019.
International bodies have been tracking the decline in religious freedom in Nicaragua for years.
The U.S. Department of State placed the country on its Special Watchlist for religious freedom violations in 2019 before elevating it to the more serious “Countries of Particular Concern” list in 2022, a designation that typically triggers sanctions.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has noted worsening conditions, including the arbitrary arrest, imprisonment, and expulsion of Catholic clergy, the seizure of church property and the intimidation of worshipers in Nicaragua.
The U.K.-based religious freedom advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide has also released a report on repression against religious communities in that country, titled “Total Control: The Eradication of Independent Voices in Nicaragua.”
CSW documented 222 cases of religious persecution, many involving multiple violations affecting thousands of people.
Authorities have continued to cancel religious events and prevent public religious processions, the report states, adding that the government has imposed new restrictions on religious leaders, forcing them to report weekly to designated police officers, submit their activity schedules and have their photos taken. Some have been warned that noncompliance could lead to detention or exile.
Protestant Pastor Efrén Antonio Vílchez López has been sentenced to 23 years in prison on what are described as fabricated charges, according to the CSW report, which expresses concerns about his deteriorating health due to untreated diabetes.
Catholic lay leaders Carmen María Sáenz Martínez and Lesbia del Socorro Gutiérrez Poveda have been held in incommunicado detention since August 2024, with no proof of life provided to their families, says the report.
The Inter-American Human Rights Commission has called for protective measures in these cases, but the Nicaraguan government has not responded, CSW adds.
In total, CSW recorded 46 instances of religious leaders being arbitrarily detained in 2024, both short- and long-term.
CSW’s Director of Advocacy, Anna Lee Stangl, stated that Ortega, Murillo and their ruling party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front, are intent on eradicating independent civil society and silencing critics.
She urged the international community to find new ways to support Nicaraguan dissidents, whether inside the country or in exile, given the government’s refusal to engage with organizations like the U.N.
