In this interview, Myrna Cunnigham, a Miskita feminist, Indigenous rights activist and president of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) in Nicaragua explains why the gender-based violence Indigenous women and girls experience within their communities cannot be separated from colonisation or traditional territorial governance systems. As climate change and land grabs threaten Indigenous women’s role as traditional protectors of Mother Earth, Cunningham invites people worldwide to mobilise against gender-based violence, as it is also a matter of collective rights. Photo credit: Intercontinental Cry