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"Recently, US President Obama signed a revised version of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), adding protections for Native American women.  The new revisions seek to improve tribal jurisdiction by increasing tribal governments’ ability to govern and to bring perpetrators to justice."

"Not only are Native American women often the subject of domestic abuse and rape, but reports state that sexual predators travel to reservations with the specific intent to rape. Because the 1978 US Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional for tribal courts to try non-Native Americans without Congress’ consent, sexual offenders are rarely brought to justice. In Minnesota, accounts of violence against women living in tribal communities increase during hunting season, as non-Native American perpetrators take advantage of immunity from prosecution. Lisa Brunner, an advocate for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in the Native American community, had this to say about sexual predators at Native American reservations:"

“I call it hunting – non-natives come here hunting. They know they can come into our lands and rape us with impunity because they know that we can’t touch them. The US government has created that atmosphere.”

"To better understand the injustices faced by Native American and Alaskan Native (NA/AN) women, read these staggering facts:

• NA/AN women suffer from a 50% higher rate of domestic violence and physical assault than the next highest demographic.
• A 2006 study revealed that 96% of NA/AN women were victims of rape, sexual assault, and/or physical abuse.
• NA/AN women are more than 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than non-natives.
• More than 1 in 3 NA/AN women will be raped during her lifetime.
• 86% of rapes and sexual assaults against NA/AN women cases are committed by non-Natives.
• NA/AN victims of sexual and family violence are more likely than all other races to be injured and need hospital care.
• Most NA/AN women do not report sexual crimes because they believe nothing will be done.
• 17% of NA/AN women have been stalked in their lifetime.
• Between 2005 and 2009, 67% of tribal sexual abuse cases sent to the federal government were declined.
• On some reservations, women are murdered at a rate 10 times the national average."

"Regarding the potential to experience sexual violence, one young Native American woman said:"

“When I’m raped, we won’t report it, because we know nothing will happen. We don’t want to cause problems for our family.”

Further reading:

Huffington Post’s “Violence Against Women Act Includes New Protections for Native American Women.”

The New York Times’ “Rape on the Reservation.”

Futures Without Violence’s “The Facts on Violence Against American Indian/Alaskan Native Women.”Mor

http://girlsglobe.org/2013/04/19/americas-dark-secret-violence-against-natives/

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=329292770504622&set=a.328020490631850.58180.324372967663269&type=1&theater


U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES EXPECTED TO 'FAST-TRACK' AND VOTE ON THE REAUTHORIZATION OF THE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT

WILL NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN SEE JUSTICE AND EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE 'LAW OF THE LAND'?

2-25-13

By Deborah LaVallie

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) responded to Friday’s (2-22) filing of the House version of the reauthorization of The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) voicing their adamant opposition to the proposed House legislation stating that it lacks the necessary protections for the victims of violence, rolls back current law and disregards bipartisan efforts in the Senate regarding tribal provisions.

  

In the NCAI statement, Executive Director Jacqueline Pata stated, “The inclusion of tribal provisions is long overdue, and let’s be clear, the House language is not even close to the Senate Bill which passed with bipartisan support last week 78-22.   She said that in some areas the House language rolls back existing laws that protect Native women, representing a major step backward.  The NCAI position is that provisions made by the House would do much to interfere with tribal justice and would do little for Native victims of violence.  She stated, “In short, the House proposed VAWA legislation filed today seems to go the distance in considering the rights and privileges of domestic abusers that would be subject to a tribal court’s ‘special domestic violence jurisdiction,’ but does not provide Native victims of violence the necessary protections they need for swift and fair justice in Indian country.”

The Reauthorization of VAWA easily passed in the Senate on February 12 where the Bill authorized $659 million over a period of five years for VAWA programs and expanded VAWA to include new protections for Native victims of domestic violence, gays and undocumented immigrants.  The Bill also adopted an amendment to combat human trafficking and another to make sure child victims of sex trafficking are eligible to receive grant assistance.  In a statement President Obama said, “The bill passed by the Senate will help reduce homicides that occur from domestic violence, improve the criminal justice response to rape and sexual assault, address the high rates of dating violence experienced by young women, and provide justice to the most vulnerable among us.”  Thanking Senator Patrick Leahy (D Vt), the Bill’s chief sponsor, he stated, “It’s now time for the House to follow suit and send this bill to my desk so that I can sign it into law.”

The Reauthorization Bill will not pass the House so easily, where it’s expected to be discussed and ‘fast-tracked’ this week.  Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), one of 22 Republican Senators who voted against the Reauthorization stated in a town hall meeting in Indianola last week  that he believes the legislation is not constitutional, concerned that white men who committed acts of violence against Native women would be deprived of their rights by having to appear in tribal courts.  He stated, “So, you get non- Indians, going into a reservation, and violating a woman.  They need to be prosecuted.  They aren’t prosecuted.  So the idea behind VAWA is that we’ll try them in tribal court.  But, under the laws of our land, you’ve got to have a jury that is a reflection of society as a whole, and on an Indian reservation, it’s going to be made up of Indians, right?  So, the non-Indian doesn’t get a fair trial.”  He also stated in a press conference that although he supports The Violence Against Women Act, “The only sticking point is this tribal courts issue, as far as most people are concerned.”  He wanted the tribal provision removed that would allow tribal courts jurisdiction over non-Indians who raped and committed acts of violence against Native women.

Last February when the Reauthorization Bill was blocked in a party line vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Grassley offered a substitute bill which also included closing the Office of Violence Against Women at the Department of Justice.  He made it clear at the time that he could not support language in the bill recognizing ‘the inherent power’ of Indian Tribes “to exercise special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction over all persons”, though he stated that he did recognize federal responsibility for law enforcement and social services for Tribes, and believed in tribal self- government.  He stated at the time that he did not believe the Tribes have the ‘inherent power’ to do what the bill says.  “Self-government is not government over all persons – including non-Indians”, he said, questioning the power of Congress to recognize and affirm something that he believes does not exist, concerned that a precedent would be created that might lead to other prosecutions of non-Indians in tribal courts.

  

 In each VAWA Reauthorization since The Violence Against Women Act was enacted in 1994, Congress has recognized the epidemic proportions and the urgent need to provide enhanced safety and protection for Native women, and has passed previous Reauthorization Bills without controversy until last April when the Bill stalled in the Republican dominated House because of their opposition to the Senate’s expanded version.

  

Tribal governments are the only governments in America without the jurisdiction needed to protect women from crimes of violence and assault.  In 1978 Tribes were stripped of the right to arrest and prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes within tribal jurisdiction in Oliphant v. Suquamish, resulting in a jurisdictional ‘quagmire’ where non-Indian offenders often go unprosecuted.  The Reauthorization Bill passed by the Senate addresses the jurisdictional gap, restoring ‘limited’ tribal criminal jurisdiction and according to the NCAI Report would provide long over-due justice to Native women and safety to tribal communities.  The Bill would authorize tribal governments to investigate and prosecute all crimes of domestic violence regardless of the race of the offender and would afford suspects of abuse a full array of constitutional protections.  The legislation only permits tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians with significant connections to the tribal community and only over a tightly defined set of crimes such as domestic violence, dating violence and violations of enforceable protection orders.

The statistics say it all.  The NCAI Report states that 52% of violent crimes that occur in Indian Country go unprosecuted despite the federal government’s primary law enforcement responsibility on Indian reservations, and 67% of these cases were sexual abuse related cases.  On some reservations, Native women are murdered at 10 times the national average.  61% of American Indian and Alaskan Native women have been assaulted at some point in their life and 34% or one in three will be raped, with 86% of these cases, non-Indian assailants. 

North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp traveled throughout the State last week speaking to constituents in Fargo, Grand Forks, Jamestown, Devils Lake and Bismarck, also stopping in the Turtle Mountains at the SkyDancer Casino on Friday, speaking about VAWA and how the Reauthorization Bill will improve the lives of North Dakota families.  As a former ND Attorney General, she saw first- hand the effectiveness of VAWA in reducing the incidences of domestic violence.  “VAWA is important for all North Dakotans, but particularly Native American women.  Women in Indian Country experience abuse at a very high rate and our bill includes specific provisions designed to make them safer,” Heitkamp stated.  A core principle of VAWA since its inception has been combating violence against Native women. “The Reauthorization will work to strengthen the existing programs addressing the continuing crisis of violence against women in tribal communities.  Women in tribal communities face domestic violence and sexual assault at a much higher rate than those faced by the general population. The bill includes language to provide tribal governments the force they need to prosecute non-Indian perpetrators who commit these crimes on tribal land”, she said.  Both ND Senators Heitkamp (Dem) and John Hoeven (Rep) voted for the Reauthorization.     

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ON THE REZ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_lHi9uUWWg

Radmilla Cody and Geraldine Laughter speak out on domestic violence

Read More:
http://www.ncai.org/news/articles/2013/02/22/ncai-opposes-new-house-vawa-legislation-bill-represents-step-back-on-tribal-provisions

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/21/1619501/chuck-grassley-native-americans/

http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2013/02/06/grassley-to-push-for-change-to-violence-against-women-act/article