Sex Trafficking At Issue

A member of the committee member Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-AK, said she is concerned about another form of abuse affecting women in her state: Sex trafficking of young Alaska Native women. “We have had some very frightening instances where young women come in from the villages, basically being picked up off the street, were gone forever in these sex traffic rings,” she said.

That concern was echoed by Sherry Sanchez Tibbetts, executive director of the American Indian Housing Community Organization, a nonprofit based in Northeast Minnesota. She said  46% of all Native women connected to an AICHO program in 2008 had been involved in trafficking or prostitution.

Committee chairman Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-HI, concluded the hearing by saying the committee would be examining the Violence Against Women Act and other federal laws to make sure the laws “are working as intended.”

 “From the testimony received, it is clear there is still, without question, much work to do to keep our sisters, daughters and mothers safe and secure,” he said.

Statistics Box:

• Nearly 3 out of 5 Native American women have been assaulted by their spouses or intimate partners.
• One-third of all American Indian women will be rapes during their lifetimes.
• On some reservations, Native women are murdered at a rate more than 10 times the national average.

Source: Department of Justice

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