MISSING & MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN
Native women are facing a crisis of violence.
MMIW: Strength In Unity—this image is part of Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project series by Eugene Tapahe, Tapahe Photography. This image was captured at the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, native land of the Shoshone, Bannock, Gros Ventre, and Nez Perce people. Learn more about The Jingle Dress Project.
The DOJ recently launched the Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) webpage as part of the Department’s Tribal Justice and Safety website, which houses other Tribal initiatives at DOJ such as the Tribal Access Program, grant opportunities, Consultations, and several other resources for Tribes.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) of the Flathead Indian Reservation and the FBI today announced the completion of the nation’s first Tribal Community Response Plan (TCRP) as part of a pilot project to address cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons. Learn more >
National Missing and Unidentified Persons System is a national information clearinghouse and resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases across the United States. Collecting and having accurate data is critical to help move legislative protections forward. Learn more >
In this webinar by AKNWRC, learn from speakers from NamUs and the State of Alaska Missing Persons Clearinghouse on how to help strengthen the data for missing relatives. Learn more >
Savanna's Act requires the Department of Justice to review, revise, and develop law enforcement and justice protocols to address missing or murdered Native Americans. The bill is named after Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a member of the Spirit Lake Nation. In 2017, a group of kayakers found her body floating in the Red River near the North Dakota-Minnesota border. She was 22 years old and eight months pregnant when she was murdered by a neighbor. Learn more >
This toolkit is designed to assist families, communities and advocacy organizations in understanding and responding to a case of a missing or murdered Native woman. Access the resources and download the materials from NIWRC.
Learn more >
"Red is the official color of the #MMIW campaign, but it goes deep and has significant value. In various tribes, red is known to be the only color spirits see. It is hoped that by wearing red, we can call back the missing spirits of our women and children so we can lay them to rest."
​
Indigenous women are 10 times more likely to be killed than the average national murder rate.
Community leaders and activists emphasize that data does not accurately represent the true number of indigenous women who goes missing.
We have lost count.
More than half of AI/AN women (56.1 percent) have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime.