US Indigenous women face high rates of sexual violence: media

LONDON, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Nearly one in three American Indian and Alaska Native women have been raped, more than twice the average for white women, The Guardian said in a recent report.

According to an international organization's study on sexual violence against American Native women, the rate of Indigenous women facing sexual violence is probably under-counted given gaps in data collection.

This organization has called on the US government to address the sexual assault epidemic against Indigenous women and restore tribal jurisdiction over crimes on Native lands, viewing several related federal policies are not enough to protect Indigenous women's safety.

"All these half measures are Band-Aids on a tumor," said Tarah Demant, leading author of this study.

"The tumor here is that the United States has stripped tribal governments of their sovereignty and their authority and their ability to protect their populations and prevent this type of violence," Demant said.

The authors also detailed how the high number of sexual assaults has been exacerbated by the US government under-resourcing tribal police, healthcare and other support services.

While the national average is one law enforcement officer for every 286 people, on Native lands the average is one officer for 524 people, according to the study.

Demant noted that sexual violence against Indigenous women is a human rights crisis, one that the entire US government needs to come together to address.

"The US government is obligated by its international human rights law obligations, and frankly its own treaties here in the United States with tribes, to do more to actually solve this problem," said Demant.