1 in 3 Campaign

Please sign the 1-in-3 Campaign's online petition
THE 1-IN-3 CAMPAIGN:
* More than 1 in 3 of Native American women will be raped in their lifetime.
* The rate of violent crime experienced by Native women is nearly 50% higher than that experienced by black males.
* Native American and Alaska Native women in the United States suffer disproportionately high levels of rape and sexual violence, yet the federal government has created substantial barriers to accessing justice.
* It appears that Indigenous women in the USA may be targeted for acts of violence and denied access to justice on the basis of their gender and Indigenous identity.
* Impunity for perpetrators and indifference towards survivors contribute to a climate where sexual violence is seen as normal and inescapable rather than criminal, and where women do not seek justice because they know they will be met with inaction.
* Justice Department figures indicate that American Indian and Alaska Native women are 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than women in the United States in general. (A US Department of Justice study on violence against women concluded that 34.1 per cent of American Indian and Alaska Native women – or more than one in three – will be raped during their lifetime; the comparable figure for the USA as a whole is less than one in five.)
* According to the US Department of Justice, in at least 86 per cent of reported cases of rape or sexual assault against American Indian and Alaska Native women, survivors report that the perpetrators are non-Native men… …The Department’s data on sexual violence against non-Native women, in contrast, shows that for non-Indigenous victims, sexual violence is usually committed within an individual’s own race. For example, in 2004, perpetrators in 65.1 per cent of rapes of white victims were white, and 89.8 per cent of perpetrators in rapes of African American victims were African American.
* According to American Indians and Crime, a study by the Department of Justice released in 1999, Native Americans are far more likely to be victims of violent crime than members of any other racial group.
* Amnesty International’s research suggests that there is a failure at federal level to pursue cases of sexual violence against Indigenous women. From 1 October 2002 to 30 September 2003, federal prosecutors declined to prosecute 60.3 per cent of the sexual violence cases filed. Only 27 of the 475 cases they declined were prosecuted in other courts… Significantly, between 2000 and 2003, the BIA was consistently among the investigating agencies with the highest percentage of cases declined by federal prosecutors. It is not possible to establish how many of these cases submitted by the BIA involved sexual violence.
*Over 80 per cent of those in Alaska who are not afforded trained and certified law enforcement protection are Alaska Native.
* According to US Department of Justice statistics, Alaska has the highest incidence of "forcible rapes" of women of any US state. Alaska Native women experience high levels of sexual violence in both urban and rural areas. For example, between 2000 and 2003, Alaska Native people in Anchorage were 9.7 times more likely to experience sexual assault than others living in the city.
* Rape is always an act of violence, but there is evidence to suggest that sexual violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women involves a higher level of additional physical violence. Fifty per cent of American Indian and Alaska Native women reported that they suffered physical injuries in addition to the rape; the comparable figure for women in general in the USA is 30 per cent.
* A report by the US Commission on Civil Rights in 2003 found federal spending on health services for Indigenous people via the IHS was far below spending on all other groups. It reported that national per capita health expenditure for the average person in the USA for that year would be US$5,775, while the IHS would spend a projected average of US$1,900 per person for all medical care. The study noted:
"This disparity in spending is amplified by the poorer health conditions of many in the Native American community and represents a direct affront to the legal and moral obligation the nation has to improve Indian health status."
US Commission on Civil Rights, A Quiet Crisis: Federal Funding and Unmet Needs in Indian Country, July 2003
* Shocking though these statistics are, it is widely believed that they do not accurately portray the extent of sexual violence against Native American and Alaska Native women... …For Native American and Alaska Native women, historical relations with federal and state government agencies also affect the level of reporting of sexual violence.
* The 1-in-3 campaign seeks to raise media awareness of these hate crimes & seeks justice for victims.
* The 1-in-3 art is of music icons lending support and is strictly non-profit.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE 1-IN-3 CAMPAIGN
* The most important aim is to raise awareness of Native American rapes to the media, politicians and the public at large, as only pressure will bring about the much needed changes.
* The 1-in-3 Campaign is ostensibly a grassroots campaign aimed at raising awareness with the UK media, politicians and public. However support from the USA and other nations is very helpful and much welcomed.
* It is hoped that the 1-in-3 Campaign not only raises awareness of Native American rapes but of ALL rapes (in the UK and worldwide as well as within the United States)…
…and so leads to the much-needed positive change in attitudes towards women in general.
* The 1-in-3 Campaign is non-profit and run entirely by volunteers.
* There will be an art exhibition of 1-in-3 Campaign posters, which Vlad Quigley and Poly Styrene are creating. The art officially features cherished icons of the music industry who support the 1-in-3 campaign.
* The exhibition will be in Whitechapel, London in 2008. Further media awareness events are in the pipeline.
* Furthermore there is the 1-in-3 Campaign’s online petition, which all contributors circulate to their fans.