Claudia Vargas
Claudia Vargas is a women human rights defender from Nicaragua. She has been a political refugee in Costa Rica since 2018. Having been ‘de facto denationalised’ by the Nicaraguan government, she was granted Spanish citizenship in 2024. The defender works on issues related to Nicaragua at the ‘Fundación Arias para la Paz y el Progreso Humano’ (Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress), where she leads initiatives related to democracy, memory, transitional justice and leadership of displaced women and youth.
She founded the ‘Liga Feminista de Refugiadas Políticas y de las Clandestinas’ (Feminist League of Political Refugees and Clandestine Women), an organisation representing feminist resistance, advocating at both international and local levels. She is also part of the ‘Red de Lideresas de la Diáspora -OEA, OIM, OIT-’ (The Diaspora Women Leaders Network, -OAS, IOM, ILO-).
Her work focuses on the defence of human rights, intersectional feminism and peacebuilding for displaced communities. She continues to advocate for truth and justice following the assassination of her husband, Roberto Samcam.
Local human rights defenders are facing smear campaigns led by public officials, death threats, attacks and judicial harassment. Women human rights defenders working to advance sexual and reproductive rights as well as combating violence against women and girls have been particularly targeted by pro-government forces, as the feminist movement remains one of the most well organised networks pressing not only for women's human rights but also against corruption and authoritarianism.
