UN women’s rights committee deplores withdrawal of Nicaraguan Ambassador from public review

GENEVA (25 October 2023) - The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) today deplored that the dialogue with Nicaragua to consider the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in the country could not take place as planned.

The last constructive dialogue of the Committee with Nicaragua took place 16 years ago. After three postponements, the public dialogue was scheduled to take place on 23 October to discuss a range of issues concerning Nicaragua’s combined 7^th to 10^th periodic country reports. The State party did not respond to any correspondence from the Committee and did not send an official State delegation. Therefore, following its Rules of Procedure, the Committee decided to review Nicaragua in the absence of the delegation.

The Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nicaragua, Her Excellency Ms. Rosalia Concepción Bohorquez Palacios, was present at the beginning of the review and delivered a statement including baseless accusations. Immediately following her statement, while the Chair was opening the floor for Committee members to ask questions, the Ambassador left the podium and made a sudden exit from the conference room. The Committee then continued its review without the Ambassador’s presence.

“We deplore this unacceptable conduct and deeply regret that the Ambassador decided not to engage with the Committee members in the review”, said Ana Peláez Narváez, Chair of the Committee. “It is unfortunate that Nicaragua missed the opportunity for an, albeit limited, exchange with the Committee on the implementation of the Convention in Nicaragua for the benefit of all women and girls in the country. However, the doors for engagement remain open, and we look forward to receiving Nicaragua here in Geneva for a constructive dialogue at a future session,” she added.

The Committee stressed that Nicaragua retains the possibility to submit comments on the provisional concluding observations that the Committee will issue next week, which will be made final at the next session of the Committee in February 2024.