Recommendations The arbitrary deprivation of Nicaraguan nationality in respect of 317 individuals, carried out on 10 and 15 February 2023, shows the intensification of the persecution and punishment of those perceived to be opponents of the government, including human rights defenders.122 It is also designed to intimidate civil society as a whole, as it reaffirms that “any person critical of the government and their relatives will be punished.”123 In short, this measure is yet another step towards the destruction of civic and democratic space which has been progressively promoted by the regime since 2018, and which aims to ensure that there is no room for dissent in Nicaragua.124 This document does not provide an exhaustive picture of the situation. The cases presented here illustrate the seriousness and systematisation of the human rights violations suffered by persons arbitrarily deprived of their Nicaraguan nationality. However, it should be noted that, at the time of writing, we do not know the situations of all stateless persons, who may be facing similar or worse situations of lack of protection than those described in this note. In response to this aberrant situation, which has no recent precedent in the region, we call on States and international organisations to: • Strongly condemn the arbitrary deprivations of nationality imposed by the Ortega-Murillo regime against 317 Nicaraguans and the measures that have further aggravated the effects of their statelessness, including the erasure of their public identity records, the confiscation of their property, and the suppression of their rights to access to justice, to enjoy a retirement pension and to exercise their profession. • Call for the repeal of Law No. 1145 of 2023 enabling loss of nationality to be imposed on persons declared “traitors to the homeland,” and urge the Government of Nicaragua to immediately restore the Nicaraguan nationality of all persons deprived of it. • Call for the repeal of Laws No. 977,125 1055126 and 1060,127 which have been invoked selectively by the Ortega-Murillo regime to persecute dissidents,128 and urge the state of Nicaragua to immediately repeal the criminal sanctions imposed pursuant to these laws, including the sentences handed down against the 317 persons arbitrarily deprived of their nationality. • Urge the state of Nicaragua to immediately and unconditionally release Bishop Rolando Álvarez Lagos and all political prisoners in Nicaragua. • Urge the state of Nicaragua to guarantee the integrity and security of human rights defender Vilma Núñez de Escorcia and Bishop Rolando Álvarez Lagos, who are both stateless in the country. • Continue to closely monitor the situation in Nicaragua, with particular emphasis on the situations of Vilma Núñez de Escorcia and Bishop Rolando Álvarez Lagos, ensuring that their freedom and their physical and psychological integrity are respected. 122. IACHR, Closure of civic space in Nicaragua, 23 September 2023, para. 67. 123. OHCHR, Human Rights Situation in Nicaragua, Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 10 August 2023, A/HRC/54/60, para. 75. 124. Ibid, para. 76. 125. Law No. 977 Contra el Lavado de Activos, el Financiamiento al Terrorismo y el Financiamiento a la Proliferación de Armas de Destrucción Masiva (on money-laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction), adopted in 2018. 126. Law No. 1055 de Defensa de los Derechos del Pueblo a la Independencia, la Soberanía y Autodeterminación para la Paz (on the defence of the rights of the people to independence, sovereignty and self-determination for peace), adopted in 2020. 127. Law No. 1060 Ley de Reforma y Adición a la Ley Nº.406, Código Procesal Penal de la República de Nicaragua (reforming Law No. 406 on the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Nicaragua), adopted in 2021. 128. OHCHR, Human Rights Situation in Nicaragua, Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 10 August 2023, A/HRC/54/60, para. 21. 15 FIDH - Exile and civil death