Nicaraguan opposition denounces obstacles to their rights (December 2020) 1:53
(CNN Spanish) -
The UN Human Rights Council approved an agreement that demands electoral reforms from the government of Daniel Ortega before the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for November 7.
The document approved on Tuesday also requires that public demonstrations be authorized and detained opponents be released.
The agency calls for these reforms to be finalized no later than May 2021, as requested by the Organization of American States in a resolution of October 2020.
Both the opposition National Coalition and the Citizen Alliance have demanded electoral reforms to give credibility to the upcoming electoral process and overcome the socio-political crisis that Nicaragua is experiencing.
Among these proposals are the complete restructuring of the Supreme Electoral Council, the purification of the electoral roll, the establishment of presidential non-reelection, and national and international observation of the process.
Also the detailed and immediate disclosure of results.
The majority of the opposition did not participate in the 2016 elections after a controversial court ruling that hurt then-candidate Luis Callejas, of the Independent Liberal Party.
Since then, they have denounced that the elections that ultimately gave victory to the reelection candidate Daniel Ortega were a sham.
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The UN's vision on Nicaragua
The United Nations resolution also asks Nicaragua to adopt a plan with defined deadlines to implement recommendations made by international and regional mechanisms, including the suggestions of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in consultation with civil society.
In a February report, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that since April 2018, when strong protests were filed against the Ortega government, his office, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR ) and the interdisciplinary group of independent experts (GIEI) documented multiple forms of repression and violence, which left more than 300 dead, 2,000 injured, 1,614 people arbitrarily deprived of their liberty and more than 100,000 asylees in various countries.
The high commissioner's report ensures that the approval of a law that regulates the actions of foreign agents, the Cybercrime Law and the reforms to the Penal Code "affect freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and political participation in a electoral year ”.
Foreigners in their own land: new Nicaraguan law 1:41
Through the private secretary for national policy, Paul Oquist, the Nicaraguan government rejected the resolution of the Human Rights Council.
The government considers that it is written based on biased information and data provided by organizations that participated in what the government called an "attempted coup."
President Daniel Ortega reappeared on March 8 on the national television network, but ignored the issue of electoral reforms.
On previous occasions, he has warned that those who ask for sanctions against his government do not deserve to be Nicaraguans and have lost their right to run for public office.