Wikipedia

Violence against indigenous women

Violence against indigenous women often has higher rates than violence against non‐indigenous women.[where?][citation needed]

Many indigenous communities are rural, with few resources and little help from the government or non-state actors. These groups also often have strained relationships with law enforcement, making prosecution difficult. Many indigenous societies also find themselves at the centre of land disputes between nations and ethnic groups, often resulting in these communities bearing the brunt of national and ethnic conflicts.[1]

By region

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Central America

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Guatemalan indigenous women have also faced extensive violence. Throughout over three decades of conflict, Maya women and girls have continued to be targeted.[citation needed] The Commission for Historical Clarification found that 88% of women affected by state-sponsored rape and sexual violence against women were indigenous.[citation needed]

North America

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Main articles: Violence against indigenous women in the United States and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

The concept of white dominion over indigenous women's bodies has been rooted in American history since the beginning of colonisation. The theory of manifest destiny went beyond simple land extension and into the belief that European settlers had the right to exploit Native women's bodies as a method of taming and "humanizing" them.[2][3]

Canada has an extensive problem with violence against indigenous women, by both indigenous men and non-aboriginals. "[I]t has been consistently found that Aboriginal women have a higher likelihood of being victimised compared to the rest of the female population."[4] While Canadian national averages of violence against women are falling, they have remained the same for aboriginal communities throughout the years. The history of residential schools and economic inequality of indigenous Canadians has resulted in communities facing violence, unemployment, drug use, alcoholism, political corruption, and high rates of suicide.[2] In addition, there has been clear and admitted racism towards indigenous people by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, making victims less likely to report cases of domestic violence.[5]

Many of the issues facing indigenous women in Canada have been addressed via the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) initiatives. Thousands of Native Canadian women have gone missing or been killed in the past 30 years, with little representation or attention from the government. Efforts to make the Canadian public aware of these women's disappearances have mostly been led by Aboriginal communities, who often reached across provinces to support one another. In 2015, prime minister Stephen Harper commented that the issue of murdered and missing indigenous women was "not high on our radar",[6] prompting outrage in already frustrated indigenous communities. A few months later, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau launched an official inquiry into the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women.[citation needed]

In the United States, Native American women are more than twice as likely to experience violence than any other demographic.[2] One in three Native women is sexually assaulted during her life, and 67% of these assaults are perpetrated by non-Natives,[7][2][8] with Native Americans constituting 0.7% of U.S. population in 2015.[9] The disproportionate rate of assault to indigenous women is due to a variety of causes, including but not limited to the historical legal inability of tribes to prosecute on their own on the reservation. The federal Violence Against Women Act was reauthorised in 2013, which for the first time gave tribes jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute felony domestic violence offenses involving Native American and non-Native offenders on the reservation,[10] as 26% of Natives live on reservations.[11][12] In 2019 the Democrat House passed H.R. 1585 (Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019) by a vote of 263–158, which increases tribes' prosecution rights much further. However, in the Republican Senate its progress has stalled.[13]

South America

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Main article: Violence against Indigenous peoples in Colombia

Violence against indigenous women is often perpetrated by the state, such as in Peru, in the 1990s. President Alberto Fujimori (in office from 1990 to 2000) has been accused of genocide and crimes against humanity as a result of a forced sterilisation program put in place by his administration.[14] During his presidency, Fujimori put in place a program of forced sterilizations against indigenous people (mainly the Quechuas and the Aymaras), in the name of a "public health plan", presented 28 July 1995.[citation needed]

Bolivia has the highest rate of domestic violence in Latin America.[15][16] Indigenous women self-report physical or sexual violence from a current or former partner at rates of twenty-nine percent, in comparison to the national average of twenty four percent.[17] Bolivia is largely indigenous in its ethnic demographics, and Quechua, Aymara, and Guarani women have been monumental in the nation's fight against violence against women.[18][19]

Oceania

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In New Zealand, Māori women are two times more likely to experience violence than other women.[20]

References

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  1. ^ UNFPA; UNICEF; UN Women; ILO; Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children (OSRSG/VAC) (May 2013). Breaking the silence on violence against indigenous girls, adolescents and young women: A call to action based on an overview of existing evidence from Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America. UNICEF. Retrieved 10 May 2016. Pdf.
  2. ^ a b c d Roe, Bubar; Jumper Thurman, Pamela (2004). "Violence against native women". Social Justice. 31 (4 [98]): 70–86. JSTOR 29768276.
  3. ^ Ramirez, Renya (2004). "Healing, violence, and Native American women". Social Justice. 31 (4 [98]): 103–116. JSTOR 29768279.
  4. ^ Sinha, Maire, ed. (2006). Measuring violence against women: statistical trends 2006 (85-570-XWE) (PDF). Juristat. Ottawa, Ontario: Statistics Canada. p. 19.
    Citing:
  5. ^ Jackson, Kenneth (9 December 2015). "Top Mountie Admits Racism in Ranks towards Indigenous People". Aboriginal People's Television Network. Archived from the original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  6. ^ "Full Text of Peter Mansbridge's interview with Stephen Harper". CBC News. 7 September 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  7. ^ Policy Insights - Brief Statistics on Violence Against Native Women (PDF). NCAI Policy Research Center. 2013. p. 4. A previously reported statistic that, "Among [American Indian and Alaska Native] victims of rape or sexual assault, 86 percent described the offender as non‐Indian" is accurate according to Perry's analysis (2004) in American Indians and Crime: A BJS Statistical Profile, 1992-2002. However, Perry's analysis includes reports by both Native men and women victims of rape or sexual assault. Given this brief's focus on violence against Native women, we include the updated rate of 67 percent reported by Native women victims of rape or sexual assault indicated in Bachman, et al., (2008).
  8. ^ Chekuru, Kavitha (6 March 2013). "Sexual violence scars Native American Women". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  9. ^ "ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates – 2011–2015". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  10. ^ Cook, Andrea J. (1 April 2015). "Tribal leaders urged to apply Violence Against Women Act". Rapid City Journal. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  11. ^ Milke, Mark (12 January 2013). "Increasing number of Aboriginals choose not to live on reserves". Calgary Herald and Regina Leader Post. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  12. ^ Bachman, Ronet; Zaykowski, Heather; Kallmyer, Rachel; Poteyeva, Margarita; Lanier, Christina (August 2008). Violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women and the criminal justice response: what is known (PDF). National Institute of Justice. Retrieved 10 May 2016. NCJ 245615
  13. ^ Willis, Jay (13 December 2019). "Why Can't the Senate Pass the Violence Against Women Act?". GQ. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  14. ^ "Mass sterilization scandal shocks Peru". BBC News. 24 July 2002. Retrieved 30 April 2006.
  15. ^ Dhillon, Jaskiran; Allooloo, Siku (14 December 2015). "Violence against indigenous women is woven into Canada's history". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  16. ^ Shiriari, Sara (30 April 2015). "Bolivia struggles with gender-based violence". Al Jazeera America. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  17. ^ UN (June 2014). Thematic paper on the elimination and responses to violence, exploitation and abuse of indigenous girls, adolescents and young women (PDF) (Report). Inter-agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples' Issues. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  18. ^ "Bolivian women battle against culture of harassment". BBC News. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  19. ^ Shahriari, Sara (6 March 2015). "Combating violence against women in Bolivia". Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  20. ^ "Wāhine Māori, Wāhine Ora, Wāhine Kaha: preventing violence against Māori women (2015) | Ministry for Women". women.govt.nz. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
 

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