3.1 Erasure of public identity records The Nicaraguan authorities have denied at least 43 of the 317 persons arbitrarily deprived of their nationality61 access to copies of civil registry documents, including identity cards and birth certificates, as well as university student records. The response received in denying access to their documents was that they “did not exist” in the registers.62 The nullification of the public identity registers of persons arbitrarily deprived of their nationality reflects a deliberate decision by the Ortega-Murillo regime to deny recognition of their existence as persons before the law, and to exclude them from the institutional legal order. This situation seriously undermines their legal personality and implies a total disregard for their status as rights holders.63 The authorities have extended the effects of the nullification of identity records to all legal acts in which the persons arbitrarily deprived of their nationality are named, thus affecting their rights and those of their families. There are documented cases in which the state has also erased the birth registration of the children of the affected persons from the Civil Registry,64 thereby putting them at risk of statelessness.65 One fear expressed by stateless persons is that the cancellation of their identity records will affect the right to filiation of their children under the age of 18.66 Given their legal non-existence, children could end up being legally “without parents”. This situation would affect the right to preserve identity, which implies that the official records recognise the name, nationality and family relations of the children.67 In view of this situation, the Office of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, together with other special procedures, requested the state of Nicaragua to provide information “on the legal grounds for erasing the names of parents from birth certificates and legal documents of their children, in particular those under 18 years of age”.68 The nullification of identity records also affected the rights of third parties. This is illustrated by the case of Ernesto Medina Sandino, former rector of the American University in Managua (UAM), who was arbitrarily deprived of his nationality, along with 93 other persons, by the judicial decision of 15 February 2023. At the time of the decision, the academic had been out of the country for two years, due to the persecution he suffered for his defence of the students who participated in the 2018 protests, and his public condemnation of the acts of violence and repression perpetrated against them by the regime. The only property on which Ernesto Medina Sandino’s name appeared in the Nicaraguan property registry was the house that he and his eleven siblings inherited from their mother. Although this property was sold in 2022, the buyer could not register it as his property, following the judicial decision in February 2023, as the deed of sale contained the name of the academic. The land registry officials stated that the transaction was “unlawful”. The property was later occupied by the police and confiscated by the authorities. 61. O  HCHR, Human Rights Situation in Nicaragua, Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 10 August 2023, A/HRC/54/60, para. 33. 62. Ibid. 63. A  ccording to the Inter-American Court, the right to juridical personality “represents a parameter to determine whether a person is entitled to any given rights”, and therefore “the violation of this recognition presumes an absolute disavowal of the possibility of being a holder of [the civil and fundamental] rights and obligations”. I/A Court H.R., Case of Anzualdo Castro v. Peru, Preliminary Objection, Merits, Reparations and Costs, Judgment of 22 September 2009, Series C No. 202, paras 87 and 88. 64. O  HCHR, Human Rights Situation in Nicaragua, Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 10 August 2023, A/HRC/54/60, para. 33. 65. A  ccording to UNHCR, “Persons are often at risk of statelessness because they have difficulties proving they possess links to a State. Lack of birth registration and personal documentation create such a risk”. UNHCR, UNHCR Action to Address Statelessness, Division of International Protection, 2010, para. 33. 66. Office of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Communication to the State of Nicaragua, 18 September 2023, Ref: AL NIC 3/2023, p. 5. 67. A  ccording to Article 8.1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by the State of Nicaragua in 1990, “States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognised by law without unlawful interference”. 68. O  ffice of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Communication to the State of Nicaragua, 18 September 2023, Ref: AL NIC 3/2023, p. 9. FIDH - Exile and civil death 8