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Violence Against Indigenous Women and the Extractive Industry — PAVE [1]
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Date: 2023-03
When new projects and pipelines are built, the Man Camps cause a large influx of Non-Indigenous male workers entering Indigenous communities. In some cases, these camps can more than double the local community in which the local tribe has no legal control over. With such a large influx of working men, there is also a sharp rise in both physical and sexual violence against Indigenous women.
Take for example the Bakken oil region of Montana and North Dakota. Since the Bakken oil boom, Indigenous communities have faced higher rates of human trafficking, sex trafficking and MMIW. In 2019, the Department of Justice completed a study that showed a 70% increase in violent crimes and a 30% increase in rape and sexual assault between 2006-2012 in the Bakken region. Even more telling, these same crimes decreased in communities outside of the Bakken region.
An article written by the University of Colorado Boulder notes that “the potential for harm from the man camps is exacerbated when the locations of extractive projects are on or near Native communities, where already higher rates of violence against women and lower access to justice create a system ripe for the exploitation of Native women and children.
A report by the National Institute of Justice found that Native women are murdered at rates more than 10 times the national average. Moreover 96% of the Indigenous female survivors experienced violence from a non-Indigenous perpetrator. These crimes are largely unreported. Out of 105 cases of MMIW, 62% were unreported, 74% have no public documentation, and 56% don’t mention the victim’s tribal affiliation.
The correlation between the extractive oil industry and gender-based violence towards Indigenous women is clear. However, how can environmentalism help put an end to this issue? The Bakken Oil Region, along with all other regions with Man Camps, are inherently tied to the extractive industry. By focusing on non-renewable energy, Man Camps will continue to exist and pose a threat to Indigenous communities.
Advocating for clean, renewable energy sources in turn advocates for the wellbeing of Indigenous women. By using solar, wind, geothermal and hydroelectric energy over gas, coal and oil, we are voting to support a community in danger. Indigenous peoples have suffered in the interests of the Non-Indigenous for centuries and the extractive oil industry is only continuing this pattern of destruction.
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[1] Url:
https://www.shatteringthesilence.org/blog/violence-against-indigenous-women-and-the-extractive-industry
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