Speaking on Friday, Shamdasani said: "We are concerned at the volatile situation in Nicaragua, where, according to information from credible sources, to date at least 47 people - the majority of them students, as well as two police officers and a journalist - have been killed in connection with protests that began in mid-April."
She added: "On 7 May, we officially asked the Nicaraguan authorities to grant us access to the country so that we can, in line with the U.N. Human Rights Office’s mandate, gather first-hand information about what happened during the protests and to resume contact with the authorities and others in the country. We are currently waiting for the government’s reply."
Shamdasani also said the U.N. is aware that the Nicaraguan National Assembly had created a truth commission to investigate the deaths and allegations of torture and enforced disappearances during the protests.
She added: “For its investigations to be credible, the commission must be independent and able to conduct its work in a transparent and impartial manner.”
After a violent crackdown by police, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital Managua to demand the resignation of President Daniel Ortega, a former leftist guerrilla leader whom critics accuse of trying to build a family dictatorship.
The protests began as a reaction to social security reforms but widened to include demands for justice for the killings.
