The Count Me In! (CMI!) consortium, made up of Mama Cash, including the Red Umbrella Fund, the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), Just Associates (JASS), CREA and Urgent Action-Africa (UAF-Africa) along with her sister funds in the United States (UAF) and Latin America (UAF-LAC), expresses its deep concern regarding the escalation of violence against human rights defenders, journalists, feminists, social movements and civil society organizations in Nicaragua.
In the context of social protests that began in April of this year, and according to data from the IACHR’sSpecial Monitoring Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI), at least 325 people have been killed, primarily at the hands of state agents, and over 400 people have been arbitrarily detained (over 40 of them women) and subjected to cruel and degrading treatment for exercising their right to protest. This is on top of the total prohibition of social protest, the systematic persecution of journalists and media, and the harassment, persecution and promotion of hate against human rights and feminist organizations and individual activists.
This statement was originally published on Mama Cash’s website on December 20, 2018.
