GENEVA – Power is increasingly concentrated in the executive branch and the ruling party in Nicaragua, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned on Wednesday, as the UN Human Rights Office issued a report detailing the progressive dismantling of democratic institutions and the rule of law in the country.
“The report traces the near-total capture of State institutions by the ruling party, and the systematic abuse of power that has weakened institutional checks and balances, leaving most Nicaraguans without recourse in the face of human rights violations or abuses,” the High Commissioner said.
“The situation is utterly indefensible.”
The report, mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, provides an overview of the human rights situation in the country between 15 June 2025 and 15 June 2026.
There is almost no space for independent civic or political participation, and the State has continued to extend repression against dissenting voices beyond the country’s borders, the report states.
Recently proposed constitutional reforms, already approved in first reading by the Parliament on 1 September, would exclude organized opposition forces from future electoral competition and postpone elections for the second time until 2028 by extending the mandate of several elected authorities – including the presidency itself, to up to seven years.
The ruling party currently controls the legislative branch, all 153 municipalities, and both regional councils in the autonomous regions of the Caribbean coast, the report states. Organic Act Number 1259, adopted last year, placed key oversight bodies under presidential authority, further concentrating power in the executive branch, weakening institutional checks and balances, and undermining political pluralism.
The report further highlights the systematic use of arbitrary detention as a key tool of repression. At the end of the reporting period, civil society organisations reported that at least 46 individuals remained in detention. The UN Human Rights Office also identified at least eight ongoing cases of enforced disappearance and four cases of deaths in State custody.
The report notes that the figures are not exhaustive, given lack of access to the country, national authorities’ unwillingness to cooperate, and fear of reprisals among victims and witnesses, among other limitations. Actual figures may be higher.
Türk urged the authorities to promptly release all those arbitrarily detained.
Over the last year, four more civil society organisations were forced to close, bringing the total to 5,539 entities arbitrarily dissolved in the last eight years alone. Authorities also ordered another media outlet to close, bringing the total of those closed to at least 56 over that same period.
“There is almost nothing left to shut down,” said the High Commissioner.
The report emphasizes how journalists, human rights defenders, critics, and people perceived as opponents living in exile continue to face serious forms of transnational repression. The Nicaraguan authorities have extensively employed economic reprisals against perceived opponents, including confiscation of assets, loss of pensions or employment, and denial of access to social services.
“Judicial confiscations of property have been systematically used by the Government as a tool to seize assets, businesses and properties from actual or perceived political opponents, businesspeople, including foreigners, independent organisations, religious institutions and certain private entities,” says the report.
The UN Human Rights Chief urged Nicaragua to change course, and to restore cooperation with regional and international human rights mechanisms.
