- In comparison to other racial and ethnic groups, AIAN women remain the most frequent victims of physical and sexual violence in the United States and Canada.
- American Indians experience violence at a rate of more than twice that of all races in the United States and Canada.
- Studies indicate that AIAN youth experience bullying at rates higher than youth of other races.
- The risk factors for trafficking of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Pacific Islanders are the same for victims of trafficking in other parts of the world. Risk factors include poverty, poor education, inequality and the movement from rural to urban environments. Compounding these issues in the United States are the disproportionate number of American Indian Alaska Natives (AIAN) in the foster care system and an increased number of AIAN women who are victims of violent crimes, such as domestic abuse, rape, and generational violence.
- American Indian, Alaska Native and Pacific Islanders have a heightened risk for being victims of sex trafficking.
- Decades of official government exploitation have created a psychological, socio-economic and legal dynamic in American Indian communities that facilitates the sexual exploitation of AIAN women and girls at the hands of private actors. Unfortunately, current anti-trafficking efforts have been implemented in a way that overlooks this legacy and perpetuates the factors that make AIAN women vulnerable to sex trafficking.
- Aboriginal women are disproportionately represented among prostituted women.
- There are 225 unsolved cases of either missing or murdered Aboriginal females in Canada, a disproportionately high number among racial groups in the country.
Take Action: If you want to know more, learn how you may help these causes or seek assistance, comprehensive information and research are available at the following sites:
· OLWEUS BullyingPrevention
· Columbia Human Rights Law Review
· Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) database of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls