TAKE ACTION!
July 19, 2011
URGENT: U.S. Senate Hearing on Violence Against Native Women is an Opportunity to Discuss Ending the Epidemic through Legislative and Policy Changes
On July 14, 2011, the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs held an oversight hearing, titled “Native Women: Protecting, Shielding, and Safeguarding Our Sisters, Mothers, and Daughters.” There is still time for tribal leaders and Native women’s advocates and advocacy groups to contribute to the dialogue and weigh in on how best to end the epidemic of domestic and sexual violence against Native women.
One in three Native women is raped in her lifetime. Six in ten experience domestic abuse. It is urgent that ways to stop the violence against Native women be identified and implemented. It is crucial that your voice be heard now to tell specific stories and to provide input on how best to make Native women safe, to increase advocacy and services designed by and for Native women, and to provide equal access to justice for Native women. Tribal leaders and Native women’s advocates and advocacy groups are especially encouraged to submit written testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs through July 28, 2011. Testimony should be submitted by email at the following address: testimony@indian.senate.gov.
GET INVOLVED!
Visit www.indianlaw.org/safewomen for more information on the Center’s Safe Women, Strong Nations project, which works to prevent violence against Native women by ensuring they receive equal access to justice. Click here to read a summary of the hearing, or, to read the full testimony from the witnesses at the hearing or to watch the hearing online, visit http://indian.senate.gov/
Now is the time to seek changes in order to end the epidemic of domestic and sexual violence against Native women.