Nicaragua exits U.N. rights council after damning report

Nicaragua’s government, under President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, has withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights Council following a damning U.N. report on its human rights violations. This move, announced last Friday, comes just two days after U.N. experts strongly condemned Ortega’s regime for its systematic crackdown on democratic freedoms and religious groups.

Ariela Peralta, one of the experts who contributed to the report, called the situation dire.

Since his re-election earlier this year, Ortega has further consolidated control, officially naming Murillo as “co-president” and bringing Nicaragua’s legislative and judicial branches firmly under his authority. Critics say this move cements his authoritarian rule and eliminates any meaningful political opposition.

The regime has dismissed international criticism as "foreign interference." Murillo denounced the U.N. report as “falsehoods” and “slander,” framing Nicaragua’s withdrawal from the Human Rights Council as a rejection of what the government calls a “smear campaign.”

However, reports from human rights organizations tell a different story — one of mass arrests, suppression of dissent, and severe restrictions on civil liberties. In particular, the Catholic Church has faced relentless persecution.

Since student protests against the government erupted in 2018, Catholic clergy and institutions have been among the most vocal defenders of human rights in Nicaragua. In response, the Ortega regime has targeted the Church with arrests, harassment, and the closure of Catholic organizations. In 2019, when churches sheltered student protestors fleeing state violence, the government escalated its crackdown.

The U.S. State Department placed Nicaragua on its Special Watchlist for severe religious freedom violations in 2019. By 2022, it had been reclassified as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), a designation that can trigger economic sanctions. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has consistently reported worsening conditions, citing the arbitrary arrest and expulsion of Catholic clergy, the confiscation of church properties, and increased government intimidation of worshippers.

Ortega’s decision to withdraw from the U.N. Human Rights Council effectively cuts off an already fragile link between Nicaragua and the international human rights community. Without external pressure, the regime may feel emboldened to continue its crackdown on political opponents, journalists, and religious leaders.

For the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, this latest development signals more hardship ahead.

As the situation in Nicaragua deteriorates, the international community faces a pressing question: How can it support the country’s suffering people without worsening their plight? The coming months will likely reveal whether global pressure can influence the Ortega regime — or whether Nicaragua’s descent into repression will continue unchecked.