Regime violates six international accords by stripping Nicaraguans of their nationality

The stripping of the nationality of 317 Nicaraguans who have expressed criticism of the Daniel Ortega-Rosario Murillo dictatorship violates Nicaragua's own Political Constitution, as well as at least six international accords and conventions, according to humanitarian organizations and legal experts.

The first group whose nationality was revoked by the regime were the 222 ex-political prisoners, who had been held hostage in prisons since mid-2021 and were expelled and banished from the country on February 9.

The following day, Ortega added to the list Monsignor Rolando José Álvarez, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, sentenced to more than 26 years in prison after refusing to be exiled to the United States by the dictatorship.  

The second group was made up of 94 Nicaraguans, most of whom are in exile. In addition, they were also declared "fugitives from justice". Among them are writers Sergio Ramírez and Gioconda Belli; the auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio Báez; veteran human rights defender Vilma Núñez; the director of CONFIDENCIAL, Carlos Fernando Chamorro and his wife Desirée Elizondo; and former commander Luis Carrión, Ortega's former comrade-in-arms.

Against these 94 Nicaraguans, the regime also ordered "the immobilization and confiscation" by the State of Nicaragua "of all properties and companies" registered fully or partially in their names.

Edgardo Riveros Marín, professor of International and Constitutional Law at the Central University of Chile, told EFE news agency that "by arbitrarily stripping a person of his or her nationality, a series of international instruments and treaties are being violated".

Some of the treaties being violated are: 

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948. Article 15 states: "Everyone has the right to a nationality. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of [their] nationality nor of the right to change [their] nationality."
• The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (sic), adopted in 1948 by the International Conference of American States. Article 19 states: "Everyone has the right to the nationality to which [they are] legally entitled and the right to change [their] nationality, if [they] so desire, for that of any other country which is willing to grant it to [them]."
• The Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, ratified by Nicaragua in May 2013. Article 9 states: "The Contracting States shall not deprive any person, or any group of persons, of their nationality on racial, ethnic, religious or political grounds."
• The American Convention on Human Rights, also called the "Pact of San José", signed in 1969 and entered into force in 1978. Article 20 states: "Every person has the right to a nationality. Every person has the right to the nationality of the State in whose territory [they were] born if [they are] not entitled to another. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of [their] nationality or of the right to change it."
• The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 1966. Article 12, paragraph four, states: "No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter [their] own country." Article 24, paragraph three, states: "Every child has the right to acquire a nationality."
• The Convention on the Rights of the Child, in force since November 1990. Article 7 states: "The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents."

The UN High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) warned this Friday that the arbitrary deprivation of Nicaraguan nationality "violates international law", and demanded that the Ortega and Murillo government "respect its international obligations, guarantee the right to nationality, and take measures to prevent stateless persons."

The agency recalled that "the exercise of fundamental rights such as freedom of expression, assembly and other rights associated with political opinions can never justify the withdrawal of nationality."

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Violation of the principle of legality

Article 20 of the Political Constitution of Nicaragua states: "No national may be deprived of [their] nationality. The condition of being a Nicaraguan national is not revoked by the fact of acquiring another nationality."

And Article 21 of the Constitution, reformed last week in the first of two legislative periods, now states: "The acquisition, loss and recovery of nationality shall be regulated by the laws. Traitors to the homeland lose the condition of Nicaraguan nationality."

The reformed constitutional article 21 must be approved in a second legislative period next year for it to enter into force, argued the Human Rights Collective Nicaragua Nunca +, in a statement.

The special law regulating the loss of Nicaraguan nationality, promoted and approved by the Sandinistas in an expedited manner last week, "is based on a reform that is not admissible, because partial reforms to the Political Constitution of Nicaragua must be discussed in two legislative periods, since they affect the entire legal system of a nation," explained the organization.

• Huge mess in the Assembly regarding statelessness

The human rights organization further alleged that "the Ortega-Murillo regime violated the principle of legality, the right to equality and non-discrimination, left people stateless, and did not respect the guarantees of due process nor the special guarantees for the protection of children."

"Everything was unilateral. None of the people were notified (it was in absentia) about the initiation of the case, which did not give reasons for the loss of nationality. They were not given the opportunity to defend themselves, or to have a fair hearing or legal advice or the right to review or appeal their cases," the organization's statement said. 

For the human rights Collective, "the resolutions disguised as legality by the Court of Appeals of Managua are unconstitutional and arbitrary" and are part of "the continuity of repressionand the implementation of legal atrocities through penalties and punishments against those who think differently and have raised their voices demanding justice, truth and non-repetition."

*With information from EFE

This article was originally published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by our staff.