HR 10: Urging the United States Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 without an exemption for tribal governments in the state and to support Savanna's Act and highlight the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
00 HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 10 01 Urging the United States Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act of 02 1994 without an exemption for tribal governments in the state and to support Savanna's 03 Act and highlight the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: 05 WHEREAS, compared to the national average, Indigenous women face the highest 06 rates of violence per capita of any group; and 07 WHEREAS the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that, 08 in 2016, homicide was the third leading cause of death among Indigenous girls and women 09 between the ages of 10 and 24; and 10 WHEREAS, in 2016, the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 11 funded by the National Institute of Justice, reported that more than four in five, or 84.3 12 percent, of Indigenous women experience violence in their lives; and 13 WHEREAS the 2016 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Survey reported that 56.1 14 percent of Alaska Native and American Indian women experience sexual violence, 55.5 15 percent experience physical violence by intimate partners, and 48 percent have been stalked in
01 their lifetime; and 02 WHEREAS the 2016 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Survey reported that 03 Alaska Native and American Indian women are almost twice as likely to experience violence 04 and face murder rates more than 10 times the national average; and 05 WHEREAS a November 2018 report by the Urban Indian Health Institute, titled 06 "Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls," found that there is a significant lack 07 of meaningful government data documenting the rates of missing and murdered Indigenous 08 women and girls in the United States; and 09 WHEREAS, according to the 2018 Urban Indian Health Institute report, the National 10 Crime Information Center reported that there were 5,712 reports of missing Alaska Native 11 and American Indian women in 2016, but only 116 of those reports were entered in the United 12 States Department of Justice's federal missing persons database that year; and 13 WHEREAS no database in the United States exists to track the number of Indigenous 14 women who have been abducted or murdered, creating gaps in reporting across the nation; 15 and 16 WHEREAS, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute report, Alaska has the 17 fourth-highest number of missing and murdered Indigenous women in the nation, despite the 18 state's small population; and 19 WHEREAS the report found that Anchorage ranks third highest in the nation for the 20 number of cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous women that are not included in 21 law enforcement records; and 22 WHEREAS efforts are underway throughout the state to raise public awareness of the 23 lack of information and resources available to support the families of missing or murdered 24 Indigenous women; and 25 WHEREAS multiple federal studies, including a 2013 report from the Indian Law and 26 Order Commission, have concluded that significant reform to tribal, state, and federal laws is 27 required to better protect families living in rural areas in the state by creating sufficient local 28 capacity for law enforcement and justice systems; and 29 WHEREAS, although the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act 30 included expanded jurisdictions and additional resources to address violence against 31 Indigenous women, tribal governments in the state cannot take advantage of these changes
01 because of existing jurisdictional complexities; and 02 WHEREAS the House of Representatives recognizes the current national and 03 statewide crisis regarding missing and murdered Indigenous women, which has debilitating 04 effects on both urban and rural communities, as the crisis normalizes violence against 05 Indigenous women in this country, and recognizes many of these women are invisible in data 06 and media; 07 BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives expresses its gratitude and 08 appreciation to the devoted members of the Indigenous community for their perseverance in 09 bringing attention to this crisis; and be it 10 FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives urges members of the 11 United States Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act without exemption 12 for Alaska and Alaska tribal governments; and be it 13 FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives urges members of the 14 United States Congress to pass Savanna's Act to address the need for tribal access to national 15 missing persons databases; and be it 16 FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives joins tribal and local 17 governments and all other interested stakeholders in raising awareness of the information 18 deficit and limited resources available for families of missing and murdered Indigenous 19 women. 20 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Mitch McConnell, Majority 21 Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Charles Schumer, Minority Leader of the U.S. 22 Senate; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the 23 Honorable Kevin McCarthy, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the 24 Honorable William Barr, Attorney General of the United States; and the Honorable Lisa 25 Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, 26 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.