UN experts accuse Nicaragua government of crimes against humanity
Human rights experts are calling for sanctions against President Daniel Ortega’s government.
Nicaragua’s government has committed serious and systematic violations which amount to crimes against humanity, a United Nations-appointed team of human rights experts has said, calling for international sanctions against the government.
The three-person body said on Thursday that the government has committed, and continues to commit, acts of torture, extrajudicial executions and arbitrary detention since 2018.
It names President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo, who is his wife, as participants in the violations and calls for international legal action and sanctions against those involved.
“The objective (of the government) is to eliminate by different means any opposing or dissenting voices in the country,” Jan Simon, chair of the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua, told journalists at a briefing to present the findings in Geneva, Switzerland, saying the government was “weaponising the functions of the state against the population”.
“This has resulted in the Nicaraguan population living in fear,” he said.
The report also condemned Ortega’s government for stripping 222 opponents of their nationality, after they were loaded on board a plane and flown to the United States last month.
Nicaragua’s diplomatic mission in Geneva did not reply to a request for comment on the report’s findings.
The group of experts said it sent 12 letters to the government since it began working a year ago as well as the final report but never received a response.
Ortega, now aged 77, first came to power as a leader of the left-wing Sandinista movement that toppled the Somoza dictatorship in a 1970s revolution.
He was in and out of office over the years but took power again in 2007 and has ruled since.
Human rights groups and the political opposition have long accused his government of severely repressing civic freedoms and his opponents to win elections and keep his grip on the country.
Security forces killed more than 300 people in anti-government protests in 2018.
Asked about the scale of the abuses, the experts said they had documented more than 100 cases of executions, hundreds of cases of torture and arbitrary detention, and thousands of cases of political persecution.
Simon said the crisis in Nicaragua risks getting worse and warned of a “humanitarian crisis” ahead.
“We are very concerned with the present situation,” he said.
“It is our sincere hope that this report can contribute to preventing the further spiralling of systemic violations and abuses.”
The three-person body said on Thursday that the government has committed, and continues to commit, acts of torture, extrajudicial executions and arbitrary detention since 2018.
It names President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo, who is his wife, as participants in the violations and calls for international legal action and sanctions against those involved.
“The objective (of the government) is to eliminate by different means any opposing or dissenting voices in the country,” Jan Simon, chair of the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua, told journalists at a briefing to present the findings in Geneva, Switzerland, saying the government was “weaponising the functions of the state against the population”.
“This has resulted in the Nicaraguan population living in fear,” he said.
The report also condemned Ortega’s government for stripping 222 opponents of their nationality, after they were loaded on board a plane and flown to the United States last month.
Nicaragua’s diplomatic mission in Geneva did not reply to a request for comment on the report’s findings.
The group of experts said it sent 12 letters to the government since it began working a year ago as well as the final report but never received a response.
Ortega, now aged 77, first came to power as a leader of the left-wing Sandinista movement that toppled the Somoza dictatorship in a 1970s revolution.
He was in and out of office over the years but took power again in 2007 and has ruled since.
Human rights groups and the political opposition have long accused his government of severely repressing civic freedoms and his opponents to win elections and keep his grip on the country.
Security forces killed more than 300 people in anti-government protests in 2018.
Asked about the scale of the abuses, the experts said they had documented more than 100 cases of executions, hundreds of cases of torture and arbitrary detention, and thousands of cases of political persecution.
Simon said the crisis in Nicaragua risks getting worse and warned of a “humanitarian crisis” ahead.
“We are very concerned with the present situation,” he said.
“It is our sincere hope that this report can contribute to preventing the further spiralling of systemic violations and abuses.”
4:40pm Aug 3, 2022
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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus May Face Genocide Charges
The times uk
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus age 55?
* He is the organisation’s first leader without medical qualifications.
* The complaint also alleged that Dr Tedros oversaw the “killing, and causing serious bodily and mental harm to, members of the Amhara, Konso, Oromo and Somali tribes with intent to destroy those tribes in whole or in part”.
In his complaint, Mr Steinman pointed to a 2016 US government report on human rights in Ethiopia that found the “civilian authorities at times did not maintain control over the security forces, and local police in rural areas and local militias sometimes acted independently”.
Mr Steinman, a former consultant to the US National Security Council, was a senior foreign adviser to Ethiopia’s democracy movement for 27 years until its victory in 2018 under Abiy Ahmed Ali, the current prime minister.
Dr Tedros has risen to international prominence as the leader of the UN’s health body during the coronavirus pandemic. He is the organisation’s first leader without medical qualifications.
He claimed that Dr Tedros “was a crucial decision maker in relation to security service actions that included killing, arbitrarily detaining and torturing Ethiopians”.
The complaint to prosecutors at the ICC comes after General Berhanu Jula, Ethiopia’s army chief of staff, called last month for the WHO leader to resign. He accused him of trying to procure weapons for the Tigray region, where the Ethiopian army is fighting local forces.
Mr Steinman added that the US report cited “other documented crimes”. He accused Dr Tedros of being involved in the “intimidation of opposition candidates and supporters”, including “arbitrary arrest . . . and lengthy pre-trial detention”.
Mr Steinman claimed that during the four years Dr Tedros “co-led” Ethiopia’s government, the regime “was marked by widespread or systematic crimes against humanity by subordinates”.
His complaint can proceed only if it is adopted by prosecutors at The Hague court, which is independent of the UN. If they do, it would be the first prosecution of a senior UN figure.
* The Guy With "NO" Medical Qualifications Says Pandemic Isn't Over
On Monday, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the pandemic is not yet over.
Gateway. pundit. . com
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan announced earlier this month that he had instructed his cabinet to reclassify COVID-19, placing it in the same category as seasonal flu, rubella, and chickenpox in spring.
“In order to further advance the efforts of ‘living with Corona’ and restore Japan to a state of normalcy, we will transition the various policies and measures to date in phases,” Kishida said.