Nicaragua: Update to Response to Information Request NIC22266.E of 27 November 1995 particularly with respect to a bill prescribing spousal abuse as a crime and its progress through Congress
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 December 1996 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | NIC25803.E |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Nicaragua: Update to Response to Information Request NIC22266.E of 27 November 1995 particularly with respect to a bill prescribing spousal abuse as a crime and its progress through Congress, 1 December 1996, NIC25803.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6aba578.html [accessed 22 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Specific information on the above-mentioned topic could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB. For recent information on domestic violence in Nicaragua, please consult the attachments. Please note that the 1995 Country Reports states that
the police created four "women's commissariats" two in Managua, one in Esteli, and one in Masaya in response to a growing body of evidence of domestic abuse directed against women. The centers are annexed to local police stations and staffed by female police officers. They provide both social and legal help to women and mediate spousal conflicts. Despite this effort, however, local human rights groups reported that while police sometimes intervened to prevent injury in cases of domestic violence, they rarely charged perpetrators because they considered domestic violence a "private" crime for which the victim, not the State, must press charges. A victim wishing to prosecute must first have an injury examined and registered by a forensic doctor; women's groups criticized the scarcity and inaccessibility of female forensic doctors. Most domestic volence cases thus went unreported because of the difficulty of prosecution and the victim's fears of spousal reprisal. Those cases that actually reached the court usually resulted in a not guilty verdict due to judicial inexperience with, and lack of legal training related to, such violence (1996, 485).
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
Reference
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1995. 1996. US Department of State. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
Attachments
The Christian Science Monitor [Boston]. 28 August 1996. Anna Cearley. "Women Battle Domestic Abuse in Nicaragua." (NEXIS)
Latinamerica Press [Lima]. 5 September 1996. Vol. 28, No. 32. David Koop. "Nicaragua: Medieval Laws Under Fire," pp. 4-5.
Additional Sources Consulted
Central America NewsPak [Austin, Tex.]. 1995-1996.
Central America Report [Guatemala City]. 1995-1996.
DIRB Country File: Nicaragua.
Latin American Regional Reports: Central America and Caribbean Report [London]. 1995-1996.
