A/HRC/4/40/Add.3
page 2
Summary
The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, established by resolution 1991/42 of the
Commission on Human Rights, the mandate of which was taken over by the Human Rights
Council pursuant to its decision 1/102, visited the Republic of Nicaragua from 15 to
23 May 2006 in response to an invitation extended by the Nicaraguan Government. The
delegation travelled to the capital, Managua, and visited the cities of Estelí, capital of the
department of that name, and Bluefields, capital of the autonomous region of Atlántico Sur. The
delegation visited eight custodial facilities, including prisons, juvenile detention centres,
custodial centres for immigrants and police cells. They were able to have private meetings,
without witnesses, in these facilities with some 150 detainees, selected at random.
The report describes the institutional and legal framework for detention, giving particular
attention to the various bodies involved and to the legislation governing judicial and
administrative detention. The Working Group identifies various positive elements, one of which
is the cooperation extended to it by the Government before, during and after its visit; current
efforts being made to comply with international standards and to ensure protection for human
rights in the criminal justice system; and work being carried out relating to the detention of
minors. Since the promulgation of the Political Constitution in 1987, Nicaragua has
implemented wide-ranging changes to its legal system, which have had a positive impact on the
democratic functioning of the State and on the protection of human rights. Particular mention
should be made of the adoption in 2001 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which departs from
the former inquisitorial approach and replaces it with an adversarial system based on the
principles of legality, opportunity, proportionality and simultaneity and of oral and public
hearings. This system has made it possible to shorten processing times and to reduce the number
of detainees held in pretrial custody. The Working Group notes that Nicaragua is one of the few
countries of Latin America where the number of persons held in custody awaiting trial is
considerably lower than the number of detainees serving sentences.
The report also draws attention to work being conducted with regard to the detention of
minors, including both the juvenile delinquency prevention programmes being implemented by a
number of institutions and the emphasis being placed on the re-education and rehabilitation of
juvenile offenders. Attention is drawn not only to new legal provisions, but also to the
conditions in which minors are held in custody, as observed by the Working Group during its
visit.
The report also identifies certain areas of concern, among which it notes the growing
trend of failure to comply in practice with the conditions and time limits stipulated in the new
criminal procedural law; it also notes the special category of detainees forgotten by both the
justice system and the corrections system, who refer to themselves as “los Donados” - “the
donated ones”, those who have been effectively dumped as “gifts” on the prison system; and it
notes those who have no contact with the outer world and no possibility of availing themselves
of the remedies to which they are entitled.
Attention is also drawn to the disproportionate severity of criminal penalties handed
down for offences relating to the use and sale of narcotics; it notes the unreasonably high
minimum of 1 million cordobas (approximately 61,000 United States dollars) prescribed as a