The IACHR criticizes Nicaragua for "arbitrarily" depriving the 222 released prisoners of nationality

MADRID, 14 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has welcomed the release of the 222 people deprived of liberty for political reasons in Nicaragua and has rejected the deportation and "arbitrary deprivation" of nationality by the State of these prisoners.

The IACHR has recognized in a statement that the release "puts an end to years of arbitrary confinement, under deplorable conditions of detention, for being considered opponents of the Government, legitimately exercising the fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly and association, as well as the defense of Human rights".

The organization has stated that it repudiates, however, that these releases have been accompanied by the arbitrary deprivation of Nicaraguan nationality, with which the majority of the 222 people released would be stateless. The commission has also revealed the multiple violations of Human Rights of which these people were victims for several years.

"The American Convention enshrines the right to nationality and expressly establishes a guarantee against its arbitrary deprivation; and the Inter-American Principles on the rights of migrants establish that every person has a non-derogable right to have a nationality and not be stateless, to retain their nationality, and cannot be arbitrarily denied, lost or deprived of it," the IACHR recalled in its letter.

In this sense, the organization has recognized that nationality constitutes "a non-derogable right of all people", and the arbitrary deprivation of it, especially as a penalty or sanction for political reasons, is "contrary to International Human Rights Law". .

For this reason, the IACHR has urged Nicaragua to guarantee full access and enjoyment of the right to nationality, as well as to adopt measures to prevent and eradicate statelessness, for which it has asked the State to repeal the recent legislative modifications contrary to the standards international and inter-American

Likewise, it has called on the States of the region to adopt or strengthen regional cooperation and shared responsibility mechanisms that make it possible to care for and recognize stateless persons and, consequently, grant them the special protection they require.