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The Indian Law Resource Center, in coordination with the NCAI Task Force on Violence Against Native Women, announces the launch of new web pages on how to use international advocacy to end violence against Native women.
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:: Violence Against Native Women Violates Human Rights,
http://www.indianlaw.org/en/safewomen/humanrights:: How Can International Advocacy Reduce Violence Against Native Women?, http://www.indianlaw.org/en/safewomen/international
The web pages also provide three examples of how Native women's organizations and tribes have used international advocacy to end violence against Native women.
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:: Native Women Provide Testimony Before UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, http://www.indianlaw.org/en/safewomen/CERD :: Native Women and Tribes File Amicus Brief in Gonzales v. United States, http://www.indianlaw.org/en/safewomen/gonzales :: Educating Special Rapporteurs About Violence Against Native Women, http://www.indianlaw.org/en/safewomen/rapporteurs
While advocacy on the domestic level is vital, it is important to recognize that violence against Native American women also has implications in the international arena. The United States government's failure to respond to the epidemic of violence against Native American women is a human rights violation under international law. Advocacy at the international level can compliment and strengthen advocacy efforts on the domestic level. International advocacy can:
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:: raise awareness of and inform the international community about the epidemic of violence against Native women; :: educate legislators and policy makers in the United States about their international human rights obligations to Native women; :: provide new legal arguments for increasing protection of Native women from violence; :: mobilize other human rights groups to engage with the United States on this issue;
:: allow international human rights bodies to comment on United States' actions and whether they meet the United States' international obligations; and :: increase pressure on the United States by shaming it in the international arena.