Gov't targets NGOs in Nicaragua,civil leaders denounce persecution

Gov't targets NGOs in Nicaragua, civil leaders denounce persecution



Reporters Without Borders strongly condemns a newly-launched interior ministry investigation into 17 non-governmental organisations for alleged “embezzlement” and “money-laundering” and fears it could jeopardize the right to inform and the right of association, two basic constitutional rights.
“The administrative and judicial harassment of CINCO and MAM is an outrage,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Aside from the fact that the courts are being used to settle political scores, the very principle of this investigation - which is mainly targeted at NGOs dedicated to communication, human rights and women’s rights - poses a threat to the role of civil society as an arena for democratic debate.
The press freedom organisation added: “President Ortega, who is the guarantor of constitutional rights, must put an end to this campaign and to its consequences in the administrative and judicial domains.”
Chamorro, a former member of the Sandinista movement, was previously the target of a campaign of personal attacks after he accused the leadership of the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) of involvement in a case of extortion. No action was taken on his allegations.
“At the time, my photo was being shown every day on Canal 4, the pro-government TV station, where I was branded as a gangster, a terrorist, a drug trafficker or a killer of peasants,” Chamorro told Reporters Without Borders. “But the courts acknowledged at the time that I had not done anything wrong. The same TV methods resumed in May and have continued until now, this time with me being labeled as a CIA agent and agent of imperialism in allusion to the fact that CINCO received 20,000 dollars from USAID this year, which is barely 1 per cent of our budget.”
Last month, the First Lady, Rosario Murillo, publicly accused CINCO, MAM and Oxfam-UK - which supervises a cooperation accord with CINCO and MAM - of “hatching a plan to destabilise the government.”
“ARTICLE 19 is deeply concerned with the pattern of harassment and threats against CINCO and other non-governmental organisations due to their work on freedom of information, gender issues, and towards of the full realisation of human rights in Nicaragua. It is clear that the silencing of these organisations is a retrograde step for the promotion of gender equality and the state of freedom of expression in modern-day democracies” said Dr Agnes Callamard, ARTICLE 19 Executive Director.

Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, which paves the way for the full realisation of all other human rights and the enabling of democracy. The UN General Assembly has established the right of all people to “study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters”. The Vienna Declaration and Programme Action (1993) recognises that democracy, development and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. In this context the full exercise of freedom of expression has proven to be essential to the progressive realisation of all human rights, including women’s rights.

For more information: please contact Ricardo González http://us.mc596.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=ricardo@article19.org +55 11 30 57 00 42