Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2003 - Nicaragua

Defamation and threats againt organisations for the protection of women, children and youth139

The situation of civil society organisations that defend the rights of children and youth, which have been the target of a defamation campaign, notably by religious groups, is particularly worrying. On 28th March 2003, in a paid newspaper advertisement, the Nicaraguan Committee for the Defence of Life called on the Nicaraguan president to expel Mrs. Violeta Delgado, the representative of the Women's Network Against Violence and Mrs. Ana Quiroz, representative of the Civilian Coordinating Committee (CCER, Coordinadora Civil para la Emergencia y Reconstrucción de Nicaragua), from the National Council for Economic and Social Planning (CONPES, Consejo Nacional de Planificación económica y social), on the grounds that they do not uphold the moral, ethical and cultural values of Nicaraguan society, as they are in favour of abortion and homosexuality. Mrs. Delgado and Mrs. Quiroz reported the incident to the Second Local Criminal Court in Managua. On 4th April 2003, the two women were again defamed in an editorial in the newspaper La Prensa.

In addition on 22nd April, Mrs. Violeta Delgado and Mr. Bayardo Izaba Soliz, director of defence and denunciation at the Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights (CENIDH, Centro Nicaraguense de Derechos Humanos), were summoned to appear before the Seventh Local Criminal Court in Managua, to alleged extortion of GOTA Films. The two defenders were working to assist Nicaraguan citizens whose rights had been denied by that company.

On 25th April 2003, GOTA Films withdrew the charges against the two defenders and recognised that the defenders' work consisted in mediation and not extortion.

Maria Luisa Acosta denied justice140

Mrs. Maria Luisa Acosta, the representative of several indigenous communities, suffered persecution and accusations in 2002, following the murder of her husband, Mr. Francisco García Valle, on 8th April 2002. Although, on 6th October 2003, the Nicaraguan Human Rights Prosecutor stated that these incidents were a violation of Mrs. Acosta's rights and recommended to the Supreme Court that it revise the complaint number 362-2002 for denial of justice, at end-2003, the criminal trial into the murder of Francisco García Valle is still open.


[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

139. See international investigation mission report of the Observatory: Nicaragua: Polarización política en Nicaragua : escenario de hostigamiento a los defensores y defensoras, November 2001.

140. Idem.

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