Nicaraguan Government Shutting Down Civil Society Organisations

Today, 12 December 2018, the Nicaraguan National Assembly voted on the revocation of CENIDH and Hagamos Democracia’s legal personality. CENIDH is a non-profit civil society organisation that works on the defence of human rights in Nicaragua, issuing complaints about human rights violations by the population to the State for almost 30 years, and acting as a reference for Nicaraguan citizens whose rights have been violated. Hagamos Democracia has played a prominent role in strengthening democratic processes and public policies in the country for the past 23 years.

This effort is seen as a clear reprisal against their work, which is part of a governmental policy of targeting human rights organizations and human rights defenders in order to shut down civic space. Recently, human rights-based civil society organisations CISAS and IEEPP suffered the same arbitrary measure.

Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned by these attacks on the exercise of freedom of expression and association in Nicaragua, and demands the national authorities to cease repression against human rights organisations and human rights defenders.