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Native women are raped, battered, and stalked at epidemic levels that are disproportionately higher than any other group of women in the United States. The vast majority—some 86%-- of the perpetrators of these crimes are identified as non-Indians, over whom tribes lack criminal jurisdiction under current U.S. law. Two critical bills now pending in Congress offer promise in the battle...

Why we need an American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples This week, the Working Group in charge of drafting the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will hold its 14 th negotiation session in Washington, D.C. An American Declaration is greatly needed to address the particular regional issues in the Americas that are not dealt with...

Securing an approach to development which respects the rights and protects the livelihoods of the world’s indigenous peoples is one of the Center’s core goals. In March, Washington Office Director Armstrong Wiggins and staff members Gretchen Gordon and Karla General joined with indigenous peoples’ organizations at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) to advocate for indigenous rights protections...

On April 26, 2012, the U.S. Senate passed S. 1925, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2012, by a vote of 68-31. The legislation is an historic move forward in protecting Native women from epidemic levels of violence. The bill would restore concurrent tribal criminal jurisdiction over all non-Indians who commit misdemeanor domestic and dating violence, and violate protection...

Washington, D.C. -- Indigenous leaders and state representatives left the recent 14 th round of negotiations on the draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with a sense of both frustration and urgency. The negotiations within the Organization of American States (OAS) took place April 18-20, 2012 with participants from North America, Mexico, and Central and South America...

May 14, 2012 Helena, Mont. -- Dianne Millich, a member of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe in Colorado, already knows better than anyone about the importance of the tribal provisions in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, S. 1925, which was passed by the Senate with strong bipartisan support. She is a survivor of violent domestic abuse that has gone...

15 May 2012 New York, New York -- Today, the Indian Law Resource Center called on the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to engage with the World Bank regarding its impacts on indigenous peoples. The statement was delivered by Senior Staff Attorney Leonardo Crippa during the Permanent Forum’s 11th Session in New York City, and stresses the need...

Washington, D.C. -- The Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed on May 15, 2012 the efforts of the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe to stop the federal government from taking millions of dollars belonging to the Tribe. The fund had been awarded as compensation to the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and other Western Shoshone Tribes for the supposed...