U.S. Attorney Trent Shores Gives Remarks on Social Protection Systems and Access to Public Services for Indigenous Women and Girls at the North America Leadership Summit, UN Commission on Women and Girls Side Event

It is truly an honor to be here, not only as a United States Attorney representing the Justice Department, but also as a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Access to social protection systems and public services, including public safety, law enforcement, and a fair and functioning justice system are essential to protecting indigenous women and girls from sexual assault, domestic violence, and human trafficking.

I would like to recognize my colleagues here from the United States. Michelle Bekkering, Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment at USAID concurrently serves as the Agency’s Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. Michelle has been instrumental in assisting Ivanka Kushner on creation and passage of the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative. We are all in her debt for the hard work and passion she brings to empowering women across the world.

Katie Sullivan, Acting Director Office on Violence Against Women and former judge and prosecutor is here. Katie is leading the way at the Department of Justice in fighting crimes against vulnerable women, including human trafficking and female genital mutilation/cutting.

Our partners from the Department of State Global Women’s Issue Office have also joined us today, including Acting Director, Rahima Kandahari, who will speak later today.

I would like to extend my deep appreciation to the Honourable Gina Wilson, Deputy Minister, Status of Women Canada. Her expertise and leadership addressing the needs of First Nations communities is essential to these conversations.

Finally, we are honored today by the presence of Ms. Anabel López Sánchez, Responsible for the General Coordination of Administration and Finances of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples in Mexico.

Violent crime occurs at higher rates in Indian country than anywhere else in the United States. That is unacceptable. There are not enough resources to cover all of the needs of law enforcement and victim service providers working in and around Indian country. We need better law enforcement tools and techniques to respond to cases of missing and murdered Native peoples, especially Native women.

As the United States Attorney in the Northern District of Oklahoma, and throughout my years of experience working on tribal justice issues, I have seen and heard from tribal leaders, law enforcement, social service providers, and victims about the challenges that exist on-the-ground in Native communities. There are 39 federally recognized tribes in Oklahoma, and 14 of those are in my District. We have large tribes like the Cherokee Nation and Muscogee (Creek) Nation and smaller tribes such as the Pawnee, Miami, or Delaware Tribes. We prosecute a diverse array of violent crimes and encounter too many victims who do not have the resources they so desperately need.

As a federal prosecutor, I have stood next to a hospital bed while a victim of domestic violence recounted the horrific details of how her lip was busted, her head concussed, her tooth knocked out, her arm broken, and her eye blackened. I listened to her cry as she explained that her boyfriend had flown into a fit of rage. I learned that her boyfriend had a history of domestic violence and that multiple women had sought protective orders against him.

In 2008, I sat on the floor of a doublewide trailer in rural Oklahoma with a Bureau of Indian Affairs investigator and Cherokee Nation Marshal as we tried to build rapport with a twelve-year-old girl who had been repeatedly raped by her father for a period of years. The victim had been so traumatized that she communicated by adopting the characteristics of horses, that is, she whinnied, snorted, and stamped her feet. You see, the horses in the field behind her house were the only thing in her life that had not hurt her. They were her friends. After months of intense work with our prosecution team and counselors, that same little girl—and two of her friends who had also been raped by her father—bravely testified in front of a jury and in front of her father. He was found guilty and is now spending life in a federal penitentiary.

There are many more cases like these—domestic violence, sexual assaults, child abuse—that require resources to be successfully investigated and prosecuted, and to help give a voice to victims. Thanks to the ongoing efforts of federal agencies and the Tribes, we are making progress in improving public safety in Native communities. We have expanded funding and training opportunities, established more productive protocols based on our government-to-government relationship with the Tribes, and have sought to be more clearly accountable for our efforts.

In the last two years, the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) has prioritized combatting sex trafficking in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. OVW’s broad range of grant programs support victims in their physical, psychological and social recovery. OVW grantees serve on the front lines of the fight against commercial sexual exploitation, and provide access to crucial public services like transitional housing to help victims rebuild their lives. Many victims are trafficked by boyfriends, spouses, parents, or other family members. OVW has funded a national conference, a resource manual, a model curriculum, and trainings across the country specifically to address sex trafficking in Indian Country. OVW is also training selected laypersons and traditional healthcare providers in tribal communities to deliver emergency first aid to sexual assault survivors, collect and preserve sexual assault forensic evidence, provide referrals for victims, and educate their communities about sexual assault prevention.

Around the world, indigenous peoples are marginalized, exploited, or threatened with death—denied basic human rights, women abused, indigenous cultures destroyed, languages lost. With your continued leadership, the United States, Canada, and Mexico can lead by example to promote and protect the inherent rights of indigenous people. Thank you all for the work you are doing across North America.