MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the situation in Nicaragua
28.5.2018 - (2018/2711(RSP))
pursuant to Rule 123(2) of the Rules of Procedure
Javier Couso Permuy, Sofia Sakorafa, Marie-Pierre Vieu, Merja Kyllönen, Paloma López Bermejo, Dimitrios Papadimoulis, Stelios Kouloglou, Miguel Urbán Crespo, Tania González Peñas, Xabier Benito Ziluaga, Lola Sánchez Caldentey, Estefanía Torres Martínez, Neoklis Sylikiotis, Takis Hadjigeorgiou on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group
The European Parliament,
– having regard to Chapter 1, Article 1(2) of the UN Charter of 1945, with its stated purpose of ‘develop[ing] friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and [taking] other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace’,
– having regard to the principle of non-intervention laid down in the UN Charter,
– having regard to Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, both of which state that ‘all peoples have the right of self-determination’ and that ‘by virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development’,
– having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948,
– having regard to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961,
– having regard to the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between Central America and the EU of 2003,
– having regard the Association Agreement between the European Union and the countries of Central America of 2012, which has been provisionally in force since August 2013 but has not yet been fully ratified,
– having regard to its previous resolutions on Nicaragua,
– having regard to Rule 123(2) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas the current President of the Republic of Nicaragua, José Daniel Ortega Saavedra, was democratically elected in November 2016 with 72.4 % of the total of the votes;
B. whereas the political party ‘Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional’ (FSLN), which supports the current Nicaraguan Government, won the municipal elections – the most recent elections in the country – in November 2017, with 68.54 % of the total of the votes;
C. whereas the aim of the reform of the Nicaraguan Social Security Institute (INSS) proposed by the Government was to guarantee the sustainability of Nicaragua’s social security system, while avoiding implementing the neoliberal recommendations proposed by the IMF;
D. whereas on 19 April 2018 a wave of protests started against the reform, and whereas, since then, 76 people have been killed and more than 800 injured, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR);
E. whereas the Nicaraguan Government withdrew its proposed reform after the protests and is now working together with civil society and the private sector on a reform that guarantees the sustainability of the INSS without jeopardising the social protection and rights of the Nicaraguan population;
F. whereas the protests against the reforms of the INSS have been used by internal and external actors to spread political, economic and social destabilisation in the country;
G. whereas the Republic of Nicaragua has among the lowest rates of violence and homicide in the region – far from neighbouring countries such as Honduras, Guatemala or El Salvador – and one of the highest percentages of access to healthcare and education;
H. whereas the average GDP growth for Nicaragua has been 5.2 % in the last five years;
I. whereas the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has welcomed the start of a national dialogue in Nicaragua between civic groups and the Government;
1. Deeply regrets the loss of lives and extends its condolences to the families of the victims of the violence in Nicaragua;
2. Calls for those responsible for committing or inciting those crimes to be held accountable for their acts; expresses its respect for the judicial system of the Republic of Nicaragua;
3. Condemns all the violent acts that have submerged the country in the current situation, and urges all the actors involved to refrain from using violence in exercising their legitimate right to peaceful assembly and protest and/or in maintaining public order;
4. Calls on the Nicaraguan authorities to reject and investigate any disproportionate use of force in the fulfilment of their commitment to the freedoms and democratic rights of the Nicaraguan population;
5. Welcomes the launch of a national dialogue and the negotiations within the Mediation and Witness Commission of the national dialogue, with the participation of representatives of students, businesses, civil society and the Government;
6. Regrets the suspension of the negotiations and welcomes the launch of the mixed committee with the aim of resuming the national dialogue;
7. Notes that, in the framework of the national dialogue, all the parties have endorsed the recommendations made by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACRH), in particular the launch of an international investigation mechanism and the creation of a special committee for monitoring the implementation of those recommendations, which constitute important steps forward to peacefully resolving the current challenges in Nicaragua;
8. Condemns any external interference in the internal affairs of Nicaragua which aims to destabilise the country, and rejects any attempt to bring down the current democratically elected Government illegally;
9. Rejects any spurious utilisation of the situation in Nicaragua for political ends by the European Union;
10. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Government and authorities of the Republic of Nicaragua, the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly and the Latin American regional bodies, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).