17-year old Valentina Rosendo Cantú lived in an isolated village in Mexico’s impoverished Guerrero state. One morning, soldiers surrounded her as she washed clothes in a shaded stream. An indigenous woman whose first language was Me’phaa, she spoke little Spanish - when she couldn’t answer their questions the soldiers raped and beat her.

Bravely, Valentina reported the crime. She was referred to the military courts but she was too terrified to speak with the army - the case was shelved.

That was in 2002. From that day on, Valentina fought to have her case heard in the civilian justice system.

Refusing to be a silent victim, she began to receive death threats. Her young daughter was attacked and two of her supporters from the Organisation of Indigenous Me’Phaa People (OPIM) were abducted, tortured and murdered. OPIM's leader, Obtilia Emanuel, had to leave the region for her safety.

Threats also forced Valentina’s lawyers from the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center to close one of their offices.

Despite the danger, Valentina carried on fighting, her struggle making her a champion for indigenous women and the fight against impunity, which lets the perpetrators of crimes go unpunished.

She said: “I don’t want the same thing to happen to my daughter, or to other women. That’s why I seek justice.”

In May 2010, Valentina took her case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and won. The court found her rights had been violated and ordered Mexico to end the use of military justice in cases where soldiers commit crimes against civilians.