By: Kelly Matheson, Posted: Mar 10 09

Regions: North America

Issues: Rape and sexual abuse, Violence against women, Women's rights

Tags: Alaska, impunity, native americans, violence against women

Leslie Ironroad was only 20 years old when she was brutally raped by a group of men near her South Dakota reservation in 2003.  Leslie gave an officer from the Bureau of Indian Police a statement about her attack from her hospital bed, including the names of her attackers.  Leslie died one week later and even though the Bureau of Indian Police had the names of each of her attackers, no investigation was made.  Four years have passed since Leslie's brutal attack and painful death.  No arrests.  No justice.  Sadly, Leslie is not alone.

A Pervasive Problem and Hidden Issue

Native American and Alaskan Native women have a 1 in 3 chance of experiencing sexual abuse in their lifetime - a rate 2.5 times higher than the general rate for women in the U.S.  And that figure is likely higher because of some Indigenous women who may not report the crimes committed against them.  And while violence against women is one of the most pervasive human rights abuses, it is also one of the most hidden, especially among Native American and Alaskan Native women in North America.

Amnesty's video No Justice for Alaskan and Native American Women tells the story of one woman who lived through it:

Jurisdictional barriers and system failures are often blamed on the unique position of American Indian and Alaska Native tribes.  Jurisdiction on tribal lands is a maze.  But perhaps one of the most disturbing limits on Tribal jurisdiction was set forth in the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case Oliphant v. Suquamish, which effectively gave immunity to non-Native perpetrators.  In simple terms, the case strips the Tribes of the authority to arrest and prosecute non-Natives that come onto a reservation and commit a violent crime - so long as the perpetrator then leaves Tribal lands after the violent act is done.  This is deeply problematic in the case of violence against Native women because at least 86% of reported violent crimes perpetrated against these women are by non-Native men.

Additional problems in helping the women who are the victims of these crimes is due to: insufficient funding for law enforcement; inadequate training of victim services personnel; lack of rape kits; geographical isolation; and sometimes even the victims' own lack of trust for outside authorities.  Here's a report from Alaska's KTVA11: 

What's Being Done?

In recent years some tribal communities have begun developing culturally sensitive interventions for violence against American Indian and Alaskan Native women, both within and outside the criminal justice system.

Programs like STOP (Services-Training-Officers-Prosecutors) are being implemented and are partnering with VAIW (Violence Against Indian Women).  The STOP VAIW program awarded over $6.7 million in grants to 35 American Indian and Alaska Native communities in 2006.  But this is not nearly enough.

What Still Needs To Be Done?

According to Amnesty International's (AI's) Maze of Injustice reports about the failure to protect indigenous women from sexual violence in the USA, there is still a significant amount of work that needs to be done in order to ensure that indigenous women's human rights are protected.  Included in AIs recommendations are the needs to:

o    Develop comprehensive plans of action to stop violence against indigenous women;

o    End discrimination on the basis of Indigenous status and gender;

o    End impunity for abusers.

Here's AI's video from the day they released their Maze of Injustice report:

National and international law recognizes gender-based violence against women as not only a crime, but also a form of discrimination. Please help us stop this violation of basic human rights now and give security, justice and equal protection to Native women across our nation.

GET INVOLVED

* Support the reintroduction of the international violence against women act: Amnesty International

* If you are in the US, ask your senator and representative to co-sponsor the International Violence Against Women Act (1-VAWA)

* Join the Facebook group for International Violence Against Women Act

* Call your Senators today to support the Tribal law and Order Act

[This post was written by Nicole Schilit, WITNESS' North America Program Intern, and Kelly Matheson, North America Program Coordinator]