Contents of legislative preamble

CASE STUDY:New Law passed following “Maze of Injustice” report on the inadequate state response to sexual violence against indigenous women in the United States, .

In 2007, Amnesty International published a report on the state response to sexual violence against indigenous women in the United States. The report found that legislation in the US does not protect indigenous women from domestic violence and sexual assault. The marginalization of indigenous women has resulted in a system that ignores their human rights. 

Indigenous women in the United States experience sexual violence at a much higher rate than other US women: more than one in three indigenous women will be raped during their lifetime, compared to one in five women in the US. The report found that this sexual violence is under-reported and when reported, is often not prosecuted. There is evidence that the majority of perpetrators are non-indigenous and that the assaults are committed with a high degree of violence. Victims do not receive adequate assistance, redress and reparations. The report noted that indigenous women experience this violence as a direct result of the discrimination and violence at the root of the indigenous experience in US history.

Indian tribal law is a separate system that interacts with US federal and state laws in a complex manner. These jurisdictional issues have been a substantial barrier to perpetrator prosecution and to an adequate response to victims of sexual assault. And, the US government has limited the effectiveness of the tribal government system by underfunding its operation, by not allowing non-Indian suspects to be prosecuted in the tribal system, and by limiting any sentence a perpetrator receives under the tribal system to one year. Thus indigenous victims of sexual assault do not achieve adequate redress in the US federal or state justice systems or the tribal law system. The report stated:

“Impunity for perpetrators and indifference toward survivors contribute to a climate where sexual violence is seen as normal and inescapable rather than criminal, and where women do not seek justice because they know they will be met with inaction.” p. 9

Key recommendations for the US government include: instituting plans of action to stop sexual violence against indigenous women; recognizing the jurisdiction of tribal courts on tribal land; supporting the development of the tribal courts; and improving the response of law enforcement to reports of sexual violence against indigenous women. (p.12-13)

Responding to the report and continued advocacy by tribal leaders and organizations, Native American and Alaska Native women, the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 was passed by Congress in July 2010. The Act includes measures aimed to improve division of responsibility, coordination and communication among Federal, State, tribal, and local law enforcement agencies. Sspecifically, tribal courts can now impose three year sentences, tribal authorities will have access to the federal criminal database, the federal government is now required to report the number of cases it declines, and records of tribal proceedings will now be documented.

See also: A report by Human Rights Watch which found that indigenous women were not only victims of domestic violence and random violence along Highway 16  in British Columbia, Canada, but also subjected to excessive force, strip searches by male officers, and sexual abuse by members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Recommendations included a national plan of action to address historical discrimination and inequalities, training of police, and elimination of protocols allowing searches in all but extraordinary circumstances. Rhoad and Msucati, Those Who Take Us Away: Abusive Policing and Failures in Protection of Indigenous Women in Northern British Columbia, Canada (2013).