Action Alert: UN Human Rights Report on Nicaragua is Fatally Flawed and Should be Withdrawn

Para la versión en español, haga clic aquí.

Sign in protest here. (Español) Firmar la declaración de protesta aquí. 

The Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition and other allies have issued a response to a very negative report (summary is here) released on March 2 by the UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN).  We see this report as not only biased, but filled with false statements.  We are asking for organizational and individual signers as soon as possible in protest.  

Below you will see the protest statement, and you can sign onto the statement, as an individual, or on behalf of your organization, or both.  (Go here for the Spanish version.)  You’ll also find a lot more information below and in the linked sources to contradict the claims of the report. 

To the United Nations Human Rights Council:

The report of the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN), released by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on March 2, 2023, should never have been published:

  • It is extremely biased, based on material from only one side in what was a serious and prolonged conflict, despite the requirement to examine “all alleged human rights violations and abuses committed in Nicaragua since April 2018.”
  • The claim that the group was unable to get material from the Nicaraguan government is false because the government had already submitted very substantial documentation to both the UN and the OAS, which was never taken into account by either body.
  • It completely fails to address the enormous damage done to ordinary people, businesses, and public services by violent protesters in 2018, perpetuating a gross injustice against the human rights of thousands of Nicaraguans.
  • It makes many allegations that are demonstrably wrong and do not withstand a simple checking of the facts. 
  • It was presented in a sensational and unprofessional manner, making unfounded and damaging slurs against the Nicaraguan people and their government.

This report is an attempt to use a multilateral human rights body to lend legitimacy to a regime change campaign and justify sanctions. It is an abuse of the United Nations system.

Instead of repeating these unsubstantiated claims against a country clearly being targeted for regime change by the United States, the UNHRC should be condemning the economic coercive measures the latter country has imposed on one-third of humanity, which violate the UN Charter, kill thousands, and constitute crimes against humanity.

If the UNHRC wants to help the people of sanctioned countries, it must advocate the immediate lifting of coercive measures, which would create a climate more favorable to the enjoyment of civil and political rights.  If the UNHRC wants to facilitate peace and reconciliation in Nicaragua, it must examine the testimony of ordinary Nicaraguans and the findings of the Nicaraguan Commission for Truth, Justice and Peace  here.   Other essential material that needs to be considered is found  here, and here, and here.   The spurious, unprofessional report published by the GHREN on March 2, 2023, must be withdrawn.

Below are the distinguished initial signers. Please join them in signing! Thanks.  Sign onto the statement

Initial signers:

Professor Alfred de Zayas, Geneva, former UN Independent Expert on International Order, author of Building a Just World Order, Clarity Press 2021

Richard Falk, Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University

Daniel Kovalik, Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh, and author of numerous books, including Nicaragua: A History of US Intervention and Resistance 

Sara Flounders, International Action Center, editor of Sanctions:  A Wrecking Ball in a Global Economy, by the SanctionsKill Campaign 

Other individual signers to date are listed here.

Organizational signers to date:

A-APRP-GC, USA

ÁBACOenRed, Estelí, Nicaragua

All Souls Unitarian Church, NY, Peace and Justice Task Force, New York, NY, USA

Alliance for Global Justice, USA

Altrenotizie.org, Roma, Italia/Italy

Amandas, Managua, Nicaragua

American Federation of Teachers Local 212, Wisconsin, USA

Asociación Cultura y Análisis para la Transformación Social (ACATS), Madrid, España/Spain

Asociación HATUN YACHAY _BARCELONA, Barcelona, España/Spain

Asociación Nicaragüense de Amigos del Socialismo y la Paz, Managua, Nicaragua

Assoc.italia nicaragua-milan, Milan, Italia/Italy

Association de solidarité Nicaragua – El Salvador, Genève, Suisse/Switzerland

Benedictine University, Hilton Head, SC, USA

BFUU Social Justice Committee, Berkeley, CA, USA

Black Agenda Report, USA

Black Alliance For Peace Haiti/Americas Team, USA

Black Alliance for Peace, USA

Calgary Peace Council, Alberta, Canada

Casa Baltimore Limay, USA

Casa Benjamin Linder, Managua, Nicaragua

Center for Global Studies, Purdue University Northwest, IN, USA

Chicago ALBA Solidarity, Chicago, IL, USA

Christian Alliance For Peace, USA

Círculos Allendistas Dinamarca, Vanløse, Copenhague, Dinamarca/Denmark

Codepink San Pedro, San Pedro, CA, USA

College for Sustainable Abundance, Auckland, New Zealand

Comite de Solidaridad Internacionalista de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, España/Spain

Comité de Solidaridad por NICARAGUA ”Carlos Fonseca Amador”, Järfälla, Suecia/Sweden

Comité internacionalista de Zaragoza en Solidaridad con el pueblo Nicaragüense, Zaragoza, España/Spain

Communist Party of Ireland, Ard Mhacha, UK

CONACAMHI PERÚ, Lima, Perú

Confederación Nacional de Mujeres del Perú Micaela Bastidas Puiucagua, Lima, Huarochirí, Perú

Coordinadora de Solidaridad con los Pueblos, Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile

Coordinadora Regional de Ex Prisioneros Politicos VIII Region BioBio, Chiguayante, Concepción Region del Biobio, Chile

Corporación Colombo Cubana, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia

Corporación José Martí Pérez, Bogota, Colombia

Corvallis Latin America Solidarity Committee, Corvallis, OR, USA

CREI, Managua, Nicaragua

Cuaderno Sandinista, Managua, Nicaragua

Cuba and Venezuela Solidarity Committee, San Francisco, CA, USA

D19: Partido Libre, USA-Canadá y Costa Rica, NY, NY, Estados Unidos/USA

Diocese Saint Francis of Assisi, Brockton, MA, USA

Echoes of Silence, Managua, Nicaragua

El Partido Nacional de La Raza Unida, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Bernallio/USA

Environmentalists Against War, Berkeley, California, USA

Fire This Time Movement for Social Justice – Canada, Canada

Frente de Mujeres Internacionalistas por La Justicia y la Paz, EEUU/USA

Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación (FMLN), San Salvador, El Salvador

Frente Internacionalista de Mujeres por la Justicia y la Paz, Hyattsville, MD, USA

Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN), Managua, Nicaragua

Friends of Latin America, USA

Friends of the ATC

Friendship Office of the Americas, USA

Green Renaissance-Sovereign Rights Movement, USA

Grupo Salvador Allende, Copenhague, Dinamarca/Denmark

Hernando County Green Party, Spring Hill, Florida, USA

International Action Center

Jamaica LANDS, Portmore, St. Catherine, Jamaica

Jennifer Aist Lactation Services, LLC, Anchorage, Alaska, USA

Jubilee House Community, USA & Nicaragua

Knowledgepanel, Gary, Indiana, USA

Latin America Solidarity Committee–Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, Milwaukee/USA

Los Ronderos de las Redes, California, USA

Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO) – Canada, Canada

Montreal for a World BEYOND War, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

New Creation Community Presbyterian Church, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA

Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign Action Group, UK

Nicaragüenses por la Paz ZGZ, España/Spain

Occupy Bergen County, Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, USA

Ongd Africando, Ingenio, Las Palmas, España/Spain

Organización Comunidad Eclesial de Base San Pablo Apóstol, Managua, Nicaragua

Organización Grupo Promotor Encuentro Sandinista de Solidaridad con Nicaragua, España/Spain

Organization for the Victory of the People, Georgetown, Guyana

Peace Action WI, Milwaukee, WI, USA

PIA GLOBAL Periodismo Internacional Alternativo, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Polemics: Journal of the Workingclass Struggle, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Popular Resistance, USA

Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (PCASC), Portland, Multnomah & Washington, OR, USA

Pseusa, Clarksburg, MD, USA

Radio La Primerísima, Managua, Nicaragua

Radio Sandino, Mateare, Managua, Nicaragua

RAS Film Productions, Chatsworth, CA, USA

REDH Irlanda, Ireland

Resumen Latinoamericano in English, USA

Rights Action, Toronto, ON, Canada

Rochester Committee on Latin America (ROCLA), Rochester, NY, USA

Sanctions Kill Campaign

Santa Venetia Ministries, Santa Venetia, CA, USA

Secretariadode Centroamérica, Suiza/Switzerland

Self and Community for Development in Central America, Winston Salem, NC, USA

si, Huaytará, Huancavelica, Perú

Silent Crow News, Rego Park, NY, USA

Soarpal, Arbúcies, Catalunya

SOAW Austin, Austin, TX, USA

Swedish Cuban Association, Sweden

Task Force on the Americas / Marin Interfaith Task Force, USA

The Grayzone

Tom Wells for Congress, Gainesville, FL, USA

Union del Barrio, Los Angeles, California, USA

Veterans For Peace Linus Pauling Chapter 132, Albany, OR, USA

Victor Jara Siempre Canta, Managua, Nicaragua

Voz de la tierra, radio show., Estados Unidos/USA

Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, DMV Branch, Washington, DC, USA