Nicaragua announced Friday that it would leave both the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), marking another step in its withdrawal from multilateral institutions amid ongoing criticism of its human rights record.
Rosario Murillo, who co-governs alongside her husband, President Daniel Ortega, stated that the organisations do not fulfill the mission for which they were created.
“We reiterate our irrevocable, firm position of repudiation of all insults, offenses, falsehoods, and aggressions—the double standard of colonialist politics that governs the actions,” said Murillo, 73.
This move follows the government’s recent decision to leave the UN Human Rights Council, a body that had accused Nicaragua of widespread repression.
The government had also announced its withdrawal from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in response to a report highlighting increasing hunger in the country.
Murillo criticised the ILO for its “politicised manner” in handling complaints about labour rights violations, accusing the organisation of being a tool for destabilisation and intervention.
She also accused the IOM of spreading “false, malicious, and irresponsible information” about Nicaragua in its annual migration report.
Since Ortega returned to power in 2007, Nicaragua has become increasingly authoritarian, with Ortega, now 79, consolidating power and leading what critics describe as a nepotistic dictatorship.
Since 2018, the government has imprisoned hundreds of opponents and shut down over 5,000 non-governmental organisations following mass protests, during which more than 300 people were killed, according to UN estimates.
