The Tribal Title of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

Sexual violence against women is not only a criminal or social issue; it is a human rights abuse.

More than one in three Native American or Alaska Native women will be raped at some point in their lives. Most do not seek justice because they know they will be met with inaction or indifference. Amnesty International's report Maze of Injustice: the failure to protect Indigenous women from sexual violence in the USA documents this critical human rights problem.

This report unravels some of the reasons why Indigenous women in the USA are at such risk of sexual violence and why survivors are so frequently denied justice. Chronic under-resourcing of law enforcement and health services, confusion over jurisdiction, erosion of tribal authority, discrimination in law and practice, and indifference – all these factors play a part. None of this is inevitable or irreversible. The voices of Indigenous women send a message of courage and hope that change can and will happen.

Campaigning by tribal governments and Native American and Alaska Native activists and organizations -- including Sacred Circle, Clan Star, National Congress of American Indians Task Force on Violence Against Women, and Mending the Sacred Hoop -- has encouraged the federal government to take important steps to address sexual violence against Native American and Alaska Native women.

Perhaps the most significant federal initiative to date is the 2005 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. The Act, first passed by Congress in 1994, is a collection of funding programs, initiatives and actions designed to improve criminal justice and community-based responses to violence against women, including sexual violence, in the USA. The expanded and reauthorized 2005 version of the Act contains, for the first time, a specific Tribal Title (Title IX), which seeks to improve safety and justice for Native American and Alaska Native women. The Tribal Title includes provisions for annual consultation sessions between the US Department of Justice and tribal governments regarding distribution of tribal funds; authorization for Indian law enforcement agencies to access national criminal information databases; and the creation of a national tribal sex offender registry and a national registry containing protection orders issued by Indian tribes. It also directs the Attorney General to conduct a national study to examine violence against Native American and Alaska Native women and to evaluate the effectiveness of tribal, federal, state and local responses. The Department of Health and Human Services is also directed to conduct a study on the number of cases involving violence against Native American and Alaska Native women and the cost of providing related health services.

The reauthorized Violence Against Women Act mandates that 10 per cent of funds allocated by the STOP (Services, Training, Officers, and Prosecutors) grant program be set aside for tribal programs. An additional 10 per cent of funding for direct services for victims of sexual violence is set aside for state, territorial and tribal coalitions. The method by which tribal nations apply for funding is to be streamlined. In addition, the 2005 reauthorization of the Act allows for increased punishment through federal prosecutions for repeat domestic violence offenders who have at least two tribal convictions.

While these measures are welcome, at the time of writing, President George W Bush had not requested any funding for new provisions of the reauthorized Violence Against Women Act. Inadequate funding, therefore, threatens to detract substantially from its effectiveness. Such an outcome would be emblematic of federal effort to address sexual violence against Native American and Alaska Native women, which has tended to be inconsistent in their funding levels, and lacking of comprehensive, uniform solutions.