The Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy recognizes as a step towards the path of justice the forceful report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH): Serious violations of human rights in the context of social protests in Nicaragua, presented this June 22nd in extraordinary session at the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) and that, according to its numbers, the repressive action of the State has left at least 212 people dead until June 19; 1,337 injured people and 507 people deprived of their freedom until June 6, and hundreds of people at risk after having been victims of attacks, harassment, threats and other forms of intimidation.
«The Commission concludes that the State of Nicaragua violated the rights to life, personal integrity, health, personal freedom, assembly, freedom of expression and access to justice. It is of particular concern to the Commission the assassinations, extrajudicial executions, ill-treatment, possible acts of torture and arbitrary detentions committed against the country’s mostly young population. Likewise, the IACHR expresses its concern on the violation of the right to health and medical care, the reprisals on public personnel for refraining from complying with orders contrary to human rights; acts of censorship and violence against the press, acts of harassment against human rights defenders, irregularities in the initiation of investigations into the murders and injuries that occurred in this context, as well as other serious facts found by the Commission » says the report.
There can not be democracy without justice. As the OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, said:
«Those responsible for the deaths and other aberrations that we have seen and are seeing in Nicaragua must be brought to justice and pay for their crimes. There can not be another option. »
These violations of the humanity of Nicaraguans can not go unpunished. We make ours the words of the General Secretary of the IACHR, Paulo Abrão, when referring to the human rights violations suffered in this country:
«This paper document is not capable of revealing the integrality of an alarming reality, it is not capable of translating the human dramas being that are living the people in Nicaragua.”
Andrés González, president of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States, said the organization is looking for five points: peace, justice, dialogue, democracy and international scrutiny. It is on these issues that this Alliance has been raising its positions and on which we will continue working, listening to the demand of the people.
We thank the support for this report from eleven member countries, who also see the National Dialogue as a space «inclusive and with results». This demonstrates our commitment to this instance convened and led by the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua.
Similarly, we welcome the fulfillment of three of the fifteen recommendations of the IACHR that make it possible for the Special Follow-up Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI) to begin operations on June 26th, and for the International Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) to arrive the first week of July.
The electoral issues, also addressed in this extraordinary session, are on the agenda of the Electoral Table of the National Dialogue and that is where the final election calendar should come from and other related issues. We emphasize the fundamentals of the immediate cease of repression and respect for life. Peace and understanding secure the path to Democracy.
University and Civil Society Coalition
AmCham
Funides
Faganic
Caribbean Coast
Civil society
National Council in Defense of Our Land, Lake and Sovereignty – Cuntrymen Movement
COSEP
Upanic
