Anexa Alfred Cunningham
Defenders' stories
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Story behind
[This case has not been included in any Secretary-General reports. ISHR has been campaigning for it to be recognised as a case of reprisals].
Anexa Alfred Cunningham is a Miskitu Indigenous leader, woman human rights defender, lawyer and expert on Indigenous Peoples’ rights from Nicaragua. She defends the ancestral land and natural resources of Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. She has also worked with Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities to investigate the many abuses they suffer and denounce them to the United Nations. These Peoples face attacks by armed groups who seek to take away their ancestral territory with the State’s approval.
What happened
In July 2022, after participating for the first time in a session of a group of United Nations experts on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, where she sits as one of the experts, the authorities of Nicaragua denied her entry into her home country.
The airline, under the orders of the Nicaraguan government, prevented Anexa from boarding her return flight and reaching her ancestral land. She remains in a situation of unlawful, forced exile from her own community since.
What do we want
We want Anexa to be free to go back to her home land and community. We want her to continue her important work as a human rights defender and resume her activities for Indigenous Peoples in Nicaragua.
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- Story behind
[This case has not been included in any Secretary-General reports. ISHR has been campaigning for it to be recognised as a case of reprisals].
Anexa Alfred Cunningham is a Miskitu Indigenous leader, woman human rights defender, lawyer and expert on Indigenous Peoples’ rights from Nicaragua. She defends the ancestral land and natural resources of Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. She has also worked with Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities to investigate the many abuses they suffer and denounce them to the United Nations. These Peoples face attacks by armed groups who seek to take away their ancestral territory with the State’s approval.
- What happened
In July 2022, after participating for the first time in a session of a group of United Nations experts on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, where she sits as one of the experts, the authorities of Nicaragua denied her entry into her home country.
The airline, under the orders of the Nicaraguan government, prevented Anexa from boarding her return flight and reaching her ancestral land. She remains in a situation of unlawful, forced exile from her own community since.
- What do we want
We want Anexa to be free to go back to her home land and community. We want her to continue her important work as a human rights defender and resume her activities for Indigenous Peoples in Nicaragua.
- Call To Action
Join our campaign by writing a letter to State representatives so they publicly raise the cases of Kadar, Anexa, Loujain and Mohamed at the Human Rights Council in Geneva and the General Assembly in New York.
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