The UN urges Nicaragua to return the nationality to the 300 stateless Nicaraguans

MADRID, 4 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has called on Nicaragua to release 37 people who remain "arbitrarily" imprisoned and to restore the nationality of the more than 300 people affected by the recent decisions of the Government of Daniel Ortega.

During an oral update to the Human Rights Council, the UN Undersecretary General for Human Rights, Ilze Brands Kehris, has urged the Nicaraguan authorities to repeal all legislation that prevents the exercise of political participation, or that of freedoms such as expression , meeting, association, and nationality.

"We call on the State of Nicaragua to unconditionally release the 37 people who are still arbitrarily deprived of their liberty, including (Bishop) Rolando Álvarez," said Brands Kehris, who stressed that the state of health of the itself is unknown.

It has also asked the Executive of Daniel Ortega to restore the nationality, as well as the civil, political, social and economic rights, to the more than 300 people affected by the recent expatriations.

Last February, the Government withdrew the nationality of 222 prisoners that it expatriated to the United States, taking it away shortly after from another 96 Nicaraguans in exile for the alleged commission of the crime of "treason against the homeland."

In this sense, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has urged Nicaragua to repeal "all legislation" that prevents the exercise of political participation, freedom of expression, assembly and association, the right to nationality and the right to property with legal certainty.

The United Nations request comes after the office has documented "a pattern of violations" of due process norms and standards in the trials carried out between January and February of dissidents arbitrarily detained since August 2022.

"Violations" include closed-door trials, denial of some defendants' right to a lawyer of their choice, and the right to meet with him or her in private.

In addition, some of the defendants did not have timely or complete knowledge of the charges against them or the sentences handed down against them, which prevented them from challenging them, according to the UN in a report.

The erosion of Human Rights in the country has also been evidenced in the increase in the number of people who have left the country, reaching more than 260,000 up to the middle of last year. Nicaragua has a population of less than seven million inhabitants.

Faced with this situation, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has urged the international community, especially those that have received a large number of Nicaraguans since 2018, to "effectively" protect the right to request asylum and the right to an individual assessment of your needs.

"We salute the generous humanitarian gesture of those States that have offered their nationality to Nicaraguans who were deprived of theirs and who, for the most part, are now outside their country of origin. In these difficult circumstances, I wish to highlight the importance of to facilitate, as soon as possible, the reunion of these people with their families", Brands Kehris has wielded.