The Ongoing Erasure of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

Hannah Tiernan

From the 15th to 19th century, Indigenous peoples of North America faced steady religious discrimination and persecution, perpetrated by European colonists. In May of 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued the Inter Caetera papalbull, which confirmed the native lands claimed by the Kingdom of Spain and mandated the Indigenous peoples be converted to Catholic Christianity.

Still to this day, we are seeing a continuous number of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) in the USA and Canada. According to the National Crime Information Centre, there were 5712 cases of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls in 2016. Murder is the third leading cause of death for Indigenous women, 10x higher than all other ethnicities. When compared to caucasian women, Indigenous women are 1.7x more likely to experience violence, and 2x more likely to be raped in their lifetime. 

In 2023, a report on national statistics of MMIW was released by the The National Criminal Justice Training Centre of Fox Valley Technical University. They found that more than 4/5 (84.3%) of Indigenous women have experienced acts of violence against them. 55.5% have experienced physical abuse from an intimate partner. 56.1% have experienced sexual violence. And 48.5% have been stalked in their lifetime. The Bureau of Indian Affairs estimates that there are more than 4,000 unsolved cases of MMIW in America and Alaska. 

Human trafficking is another issue that contributes to the numbers of MMIW. According to Hopi trafficking expert Valaura Imus-Mahsonhoya, "The high rates of poverty and hardship in tribal communities... exposure to violence in the home or community… and low levels of law enforcement all add up to a community rich in targets for traffickers”. There may be hope yet, as nine in ten homicides of Indigenous women 2009 το 2021 were solved (that is, an accused person was identified in relation to the case). We have also seen immense amounts of support for organisations and charities (mmiwusa.org, niwrc.org, notournativedaughters.org) relating to MMIW and increased awareness due to social media. 

There are still Indigenous women and girls being reported missing every day. Violence against them is a massive issue that should not continue to be ignored by politicians, media outlets and law enforcement agencies. Keep these women in mind, considering the upcoming elections in the US. Native history is American history, and Indigenous peoples will not go quietly and will not continue to face erasure, socially and culturally. It seems hopeless, with the number of cases rising and disappointing statistics being released. Yet there are various charities and people dedicating their lives to solving these cases and eradicating violence against indigenous girls and women around the world, and hope is not a dangerous thing to have.