A/HRC/45/36 either ‘with us’ or ‘against us’”63 before the Court conducted its public hearings on the matter.64 26. Nicaragua 86. Multiple United Nations actors identified alleged intimidation and reprisals. In September 2019, the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported concerns about the targeted repression of dissenting voices, in particular harassment, attacks on physical integrity and constant surveillance of at least 15 men and eight women who regularly share information with OHCHR (A/HRC/42/18, para. 21). It has been reported to OHCHR that the reprisals take place in a context of ongoing harassment and intimidation against civil society representatives, including vilification, threats, criminalization and attacks targeting individuals who cooperate with the UN. Individuals perceived as opposed to the Government are often subjected to verbal attacks on media, including social media, where they are stigmatized as “coup mongers, terrorists or traitors to the country.” Many have gone into exile or otherwise self-censored. The Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights addressed concerns, including individual cases, in writing to the Government on 9 December 2019. 87. On 19 November 2019, the Spokesperson for the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern at the detention of, and charges against, prominent human rights defenders Ms. Amaya Coppens and Ms. Olga Valle, in particular the possibility that the detention of Ms. Coppens could be considered an act of reprisal for speaking up about the human rights situation in Nicaragua and reaching out to UN officials and mechanisms. 65 Ms. Valle is a member of social movement Articulación de Movimientos Sociales, and Ms. Coppens is a student leader, who was detained in the context of the 2018 protests in the city of León and released in June 2019 under the Amnesty Law. Both Ms. Coppens and Ms. Valle had travelled to Geneva in September 2019 to meet with the High Commissioner and engaged with UN human rights mechanisms, a photo of which was posted on social media. 88. In August 2019, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found Ms. Coppens’ detention in the context of the 2018 protests arbitrary (A/HRC/WGAD/2019/43, para. 60, 66, 85, 90, 93) and called on the Government to provide her compensation and other reparations (paras. 94–95). On 21 January 2020, special procedures mandate holders raised concern about the situation of Ms. Coppens and Ms. Valle and noted that the harassment and acts of violence against them could be connected to their cooperation with the UN (NIC 1/2020). 66 The mandate holders addressed physical violence as well as discriminatory remarks and threats of rape that women in the group suffered, as well as Ms. Coppens’ conditions of detention. In December 2019, it was reported to OHCHR that two close relatives of Ms. Coppens were physically assaulted by a group of armed individuals and that her house was attacked when she was released from prison. 89. It was reported to OHCHR that, on 21 June 2019, two police officers in civilian clothing arrived at the entrance of the residential complex of Ms. Vilma Nuñez de Escorcia, of the Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos (CENIDH), to ask questions about her to the residential guards. One month earlier, on 22 May 2019, Ms. Nuñez de Escorcia had met with the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Panama, a meeting made public through social media, and in July 2019, the Deputy High Commissioner for 63 64 65 66 OHCHR, “Myanmar: UN expert calls for tolerance and safety from reprisals after online threats to activists” (10 December 2019), https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25411&LangID=E. International Court of Justice, Conclusion of the public hearings on the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar), (No. 2019/54, 12 December 2019), https://www.icj-cij.org/files/case-related/178/178-20191212-PRE-0100-EN.pdf. OHCHR, Press Briefing Note, Spokesperson of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, (19 November 2019), https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25313&LangID=E. Oral updates and introduction to country reports of the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner, (27 February 2020), https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25624&LangID=E. 37