American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls are more likely to be targeted by violence on tribal grounds and in Native Alaskan communities, according to a report by the Indian Law Resource Center (ILRC).
Statistics in the report indicate that Native women are murdered at a rate ten times higher than Native men and they are assaulted at a rate 12 times higher than that of the rest of the U.S. population.
"More than 4 in 5 indigenous women have been subjected to violence," the ILRC said in its report.
To address this violence, the Not Invisible Act, S.982, was introduced in April 2019 and signed into law on Oct. 10, 2020.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland sponsored the act during her tenure in Congress, saying that the "Interior and Justice Departments have a unique opportunity to marshal its resources to finally address the crisis of violence against Indigenous peoples," according to a press release from the U.S Department of the Interior.
“Doing this successfully means seeking active and ongoing engagement from experts both inside and outside of the government," Haaland stated in the press release.
The legislation strengthens intergovernmental cooperation to improve the detection and prevention of violent crime against Indians and on Indian lands; it also directs the Interior Department to coordinate preventive efforts, grants, and programs relating to indigenous peoples who are missing or killed.
"These new laws represent an overdue first step by the United States in responding to the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women," the ILRC said in its report.
Haaland is also coordinating the department's implementation of the legislation through the establishment of the "Not Invisible Act Commission," a multi-agency initiative comprised of at least 28 appointees, nine federal and 19 non-federal, according to a seperate press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The commission's duties include administrative improvements that enable it to efficiently detect, report, and react to cases of missing persons, homicide, and Indian human trafficking on Indian territory.
Law enforcement, tribal officials, government partners, service providers, and survivors will be represented on the commission.
