Safe Women, Strong Nations

One in three Native women is raped in her lifetime.  Six in ten experience domestic abuse. Sadly, the majority of these women never see their abusers or rapists brought to justice.  The complex jurisdictional scheme in Indian country leaves Native women without effective judicial recourse against their perpetrators.

Native women serve as the backbones of our communities, and many strong Native women have shown relentless dedication to ending the epidemic of violence in our communities.  The contributions of women like Tillie Black Gear, Cecelia Fire Thunder, Terri Henry, Karen Artichoker and so many others, inspire hope for the future - that our daughters will face better odds, that our communities will heal, that the violence will cease.

Many of these women have collaborated with the Indian Law Resource Center in creating its Safe Women, Strong Nations program.  The Center’s work builds on the previous grassroots efforts and supplements continuing efforts with a campaign to raise awareness of violence against women as an international human rights issue.

VIDEO:  TO THE INDIGENOUS WOMAN - UNCUT, LONG VERSION

Honor Dance, Dale Auger

SAFE WOMEN / STRONG NATIONS

Native women face the highest rates of sexual violence and physical assault of any group in the United States. According to U.S. Department of Justice statistics, one out of three Native women will be raped in her lifetime, and three out of four will be physically assaulted.  In the majority of the cases, the assailants are non-Indian.  These horrendous statistics document the disproportionate impact of violence on Native communities.

Through our Safe Women, Strong Nations project, the Center is responding by lending our legal skills to help Native women’s organizations in their work to help tribes deal more effectively with this issue.  We are collaborating with Native women leaders who have been dealing with this issue for years, and have been working closely with the National Congress of American Indians Task Force on Violence Against Women, Clan Star, Inc., Sacred Circle National Resource Center to End Violence Against Native Women, National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, the Navajo Nation, and others to raise awareness of this issue internationally.

DENIAL OF EQUALITY UNDER THE LAW

The current criminal jurisdictional scheme created by the United States government impedes the ability of Indian nations to properly protect their citizens, and the federal government has drastically cut funding to law enforcement in Indian Country. This has resulted in the erosion of tribal jurisdictional authority and the denial of equality under the law to Indian nations and women.

Failure to effectively police and prosecute perpetrators negatively impacts not only victims of sexual violence but entire Indian nations as well.  Violence against women disrupts the stability and productivity of their families, their communities, and Indian nations.  As such, our project recognizes that protection for Native women must involve strengthening the ability of Indian nations to effectively police their lands and prosecute offenders.

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

With our help, a coalition of indigenous organizations brought these issues to the attention of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in December 2007.  The collaborative report we submitted to the Committee regarding the United States’ obligations to indigenous peoples can be found here.

 The Committee responded to these issues by  condemning the United States for its failure to respond adequately to the epidemic of violence against Native women in its Concluding Observations and Recommendations. It urged the United States to increase it efforts to ensure that reports of sexual violence against Native women “are independently, promptly, and thoroughly investigated, and that perpetrators are prosecuted and appropriately punished.”

The Center and its partners brought further international attention to the disparate impact of violence against Native women by meeting with the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism about this issue during his visit to the United States in May 2008. The Special Rapporteur expressed interest and concern about this issue, and promised to include it in his report to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

TRAINING OUR COMMUNITIES

To promote awareness of the problem of sexual violence against Native women, the Indian Law Resource Center conducts workshops to train women’s advocates, organizations, and Native nations.  At the Women Empowering Women for Indian Nations (WEWIN) Fourth Annual Conference in Hinckley, MN, on July 29-31, 2008 and the Navajo Nation Social Services Conference in Ft. McDowell, AZ, on July 30, 2008, the Center led full-day training sessions on using the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and international advocacy to promote the protection of indigenous rights.  At the 10th Annual Women Are Scared Conference, Mystic Lake, MN, Aug. 9-11, 2011, the Center co-presented several workshops on criminal jurisdiction in Indian country, how tribes can take advantage of the Tribal Law and Order Act’s enhanced sentencing provision, and how international advocacy can be used to pressure the United States to fulfill its international obligations to ensure that Native women can enjoy the human right to be free and safe from violence.  For more information, contact Jana Walker at jwalker@indianlaw.org or 406/449-2006