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The organization of human rights defenders CEJIL reports that on February 13, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted precautionary protection measures in favor of the indigenous people of the Musawas, Suniwas, and Wilú communities of the Mayangna Territory. Sauni As, in the Autonomous Region of the North Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua.
The IACHR, Organization of American States (OAS) in charge of the promotion and protection of human rights in the American continent through its monitoring of the situation in Nicaragua and this particular, recognize that these communities are in a “situation of gravity and urgency since their rights to life and personal integrity are at serious risk.”
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The request for expansion of precautionary measures was presented by the Center for Justice and Human Rights of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua CEJUDHCAN and the Center for Justice and International Law-CEJIL.
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These precautionary measures occur in the context of increasing dispossession, invasion, and violence by settlers. The CEJIL organization argues that it is “since February 2013, that the Mayangna territorial governments requested the Nicaraguan State to decree a state of emergency in the Mayangna communities and specifically in the Bosawás Reserve”.
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Among the background information presented is the case that occurred and was reported in 2013
“On April 25, 2013, Elías Charlie Taylor was killed by settlers in the Bosawás Reserve, while he was patrolling his territory. He was an indigenous leader from the Musawas community who worked as a ranger for the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources in the Bosawás Reserve. Previously, he had received death threats from settlers because of his work, and, later, he was killed for calling attention to a group of settlers who were felling trees in the Zulun area.
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According to what was reported by the representation, “at least 5 of the murdered residents belonged to Miskito communities, whose residents are beneficiaries of provisional measures ordered by the Inter-American Court. From the Esperanza Rio Wawa community of the Wangki Twi Tasba Raya territory, the young J.L.P., 24 years old, was murdered; while from the Wiwinak community of the Li Lamni Tasbaika Kum territory, the brothers S.G.E. and B.G.E., aged 32 and 41 respectively, the young J.W.S. and the young K.J.G., who was repeatedly raped before her death. According to the available information, the victims of the massacre would have been tortured, including K.J.G. who was sexually abused, and one of her legs was mutilated.
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By September 2021, the parents of the indicated people would continue to seek support to be able to reach the place where the remains of their children were found to take them to their community and bury them.” These, among other verified arguments, are part of the background that validates the IACHR, so that these communities can be beneficiaries of precautionary measures, due to the risk to their lives.
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According to the IACHR notification, the request alleged that the inhabitants of the identified communities “are subject to threats, intimidation, and acts of violence on the Caribbean Coast in a context in which sanitation processes are pending due to the presence of settlers in indigenous territories. ”.
Read the statement from CEJIL
Consequently, under Article 25 of the IACHR Rules of Procedure, the Commission requested the Nicaraguan government in a third paragraph to “report on the actions taken to investigate the alleged facts that gave rise to the adoption of these precautionary measures and thus avoid its repetition.
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For its part, CEJIL provides the background that, from April 2018 to January 2021, the invasion of settlers in the Miskitu and Mayangna indigenous territories left a balance of 17 indigenous people killed, 31 injured (including beatings and sexual violence), 10 disappeared, 53 new families displaced and 37 properties burned or destroyed. In 2021, another series of attacks were reported, including the massacre of 11 Miskito and Mayangna indigenous residents in the Mayangna Sauni As an indigenous territory, the organization describes.
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The IACHR extends the measures granted in 2015 in favor of the Miskitu indigenous communities. To date, other communities have benefited from precautionary measures, including Naranjal, Cocal, Polo Paiwas, and the Mayangna communities: Musawas, Suniwas, and Wilú.
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Additionally, the communities of the North Caribbean Coast that have provisional measures from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IA Court) are Klisnak, Wiwinak, Esperanza Río Coco, Santa Fe, San Jerónimo, Wisconsin, Francia Sirpi, Esperanza Río Wawa, and Saint Clare. These measures also cover human rights defenders from the Center for Justice and Human Rights of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua (CEJUDHCAN), concludes the CEJIL statement.
