Washington, DC – The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) called on the Senate to pass the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021 (H.R.1620) after the House passed it today. FCNL strongly supports the tribal provisions in the bill.
Contact Tim McHugh: media@fcnl.org, 202-903-2515
VAWA expired in 2018 and the House successfully voted to reauthorize it during the 116th Congress. However, it failed to move in the Senate. Congress has thrice reauthorized VAWA on a bipartisan basis since it was first approved in 1994.
“The Violence Against Women Act of 2021 is critical to protecting women, who are far too frequently victims of violence,” said Diane Randall, FCNL general secretary. “This is particularly significant to Native women and girls across the nation because for too long, they have been unprotected by the law.”
Native women experience violent crimes at disproportionately higher rates than other women in the United States. To protect Native American women, VAWA would expand tribes’ jurisdiction over certain crimes in Indian Country. It would extend their jurisdictions over non-Native perpetrators in such crimes as sexual assault, child abuse, stalking and sex trafficking.
For more information, please visit www.fcnl.org.
