“To be stateless means that you are deprived of the right to have rights.” Hannah Arendt1 In February 2023, the Ortega-Murillo regime arbitrarily stripped 317 people of their Nicaraguan nationality, rendering them, in the vast majority of cases, stateless. The authorities thereby condemned them to a situation in which they are not considered nationals by any state,2 and therefore cannot exercise rights and obligations inherent in membership in a political community.3 Those affected by this measure are individuals who have raised their voices to demand respect for human rights and the restoration of democracy in the country,4 including well-known human rights defenders, social, political and religious leaders, journalists and other media professionals, as well as academics and cultural figures. The judicial decisions ordering the deprivation of nationality of 317 Nicaraguans, as well as subsequent decisions, reflect the construction of a mechanism of government repression that has been getting stronger since October 2020.5 During this period, the authorities have promoted the enactment and selective application of legislation aimed at stifling the defence of human rights, silencing political opposition and giving state practices of suppressing rights a semblance of legality.6 1. International standards on deprivation of nationality Nationality is a non-derogable right7, which may not be suspended in time of war, public danger or other emergency that threatens the independence or security of a state.8 Its exercise implies the right to retain a nationality9 and imposes on states the duty to protect individuals against arbitrary deprivation of nationality.10 Numerous international instruments11 have enshrined the “explicit and general prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of nationality“.12 This protection seeks to shield individuals from the impossibility of enjoying their rights, which would result from the loss of their nationality.13 1. In 1937, the Nazi regime withdrew the German citizenship of the philosopher Hannah Arendt, who had fled Germany due to the persecution of the Jewish population. For more than a decade, Arendt was in a situation of statelessness, a subject on which she reflected in much of her work. For more information, see: UNHCR, “Hannah Arendt: de la apatridia al pluralismo” (Hannah Arendt: from statelessness to pluralism), 21 April 2022, available at: https://eacnur.org/es/blog/hannah-arendt-de-la-apatridiaal-pluralismo-tc_alt45664n_o_pstn_o_pst 2. A  ccording to Article 1 of the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, “the term ‘stateless person’ means a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law”. Statelessness may result, inter alia, from being subjected to a procedure for the withdrawal of nationality initiated by the authorities. UNHCR, Guidelines on statelessness NO.5: Loss and Deprivation of Nationality under Articles 5-9 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, Distr. GENERAL HCR/GS/20/05, May 2020, para. 9. 3. I/A Court H.R., Case of the Girls Yean and Bosico v. Dominican Republic, Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs, Judgment of 8 September 2005, Series C No. 130, para. 137. In the same vein, IACHR, Due Process in Procedures for the Determination of Refugee Status and Statelessness and the Granting of Complementary Protection, 5 August 2020, para. 295. 4. F  IDH, “Nicaragua: Outrage at new arbitrary action by the Ortega-Murillo regime”, 16 February 2023, available at: https://www. fidh.org/en/region/americas/nicaragua/nicaragua-outrage-at-new-arbitrary-action-by-the-ortega-murillo 5. F  IDH/CENIDH, ¡Basta ya de impunidad! Ejecuciones extrajudiciales y represión en Nicaragua, ¿hasta cuándo? (Accountability now! Extrajudicial executions and repression in Nicaragua), February 2021, pp. 22 et seq., available at: https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/ rapportnicaragua764es.pdf 6. F  IDH/CENIDH, Nicaragua: Las nuevas leyes de la represión (The New Laws of Repression), November 2021, available at: https:// www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/obs_nicaragua_04.pdf 7. I/A Court H.R., Case of expelled Dominicans and Haitians v. Dominican Republic, Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs, Judgment of 28 August 2014, para. 253. 8. I ACHR, Human Mobility, Inter-American Standards, Human Rights of Migrants, Refugees, Stateless Persons, Victims of Human Trafficking and Internally Displaced Persons: Norms and Standards of the Inter-American Human Rights System, 31 December 2015, para. 467. 9. U  N Human Rights Council, Human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality, Report of the Secretary-General, 14 December 2009, A/HRC/13/34, para. 21. 10. I/A Court H.R. Case of expelled Dominicans and Haitians v. Dominican Republic, Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs, Judgment of 28 August 2014, para. 254. 11. F  or example, Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that “[n]o one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality”. UN General Assembly Resolution 50/152 urged states to adopt legislation prohibiting arbitrary deprivation of nationality as a measure to reduce statelessness. 12. U  N Human Rights Council, Human rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality, Report of the Secretary-General, 14 December 2009, A/HRC/13/34, para. 21. 13. I/A Court H.R., Case of expelled Dominicans and Haitians v. Dominican Republic, Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs, Judgment of 28 August 2014, para. 254. 3 FIDH - Exile and civil death