Restoration Magazine

Indian tribes and advocacy organizations have steadily enhanced the awareness and response to the sex trafficking of Native women and girls in tribal communities. While victims of intimate partner sex trafficking can be protected under a number of federal, tribal, and state laws, one of the strongest responses is the immediate response from a woman’s local community.

The urgency of addressing this issue was specifically recognized by Congress when it reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 2013 and amended the Safety for Indian Women Title to include sex trafficking. Congress expanded the purpose areas and other provisions of the tribal title to increase resources and technical assistance to Indian tribes who are using these increased resources to address sex trafficking within their respective tribal nations. Indian tribes with sex trafficking codes, for example, include the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

Over the last 20 years, Congress has recognized the essential role
of Indian tribes in maintaining safe communities and responding to crimes. Congress has steadily clarified and strengthened the authority of Indian tribes under the VAWA, Tribal Law and Order Act and also increased appropriations to support the justice and related services of Indian tribes. As a result, Indian tribes are better situated to respond to crimes of sex trafficking occurring on tribal lands against Indian women and children.

Indian tribes as sovereigns have the inherent right to enact and enforce laws to govern their tribal nations and in this context to protect victims of human trafficking. Indian tribes have certain legal authorities not available to the federal and state governments, such as the authority to fine, banish, or disenroll the defendant if a tribal member, and restrict certain tribal rights. In the realm of western-based criminal law, tribes may prosecute certain non-Indians under VAWA 2013 if the trafficker, pimp, or john is in a domestic or intimate partner relationship with the victim.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) was passed by the U.S. Congress in 2000. It was the nation’s first comprehensive federal law to address human trafficking through prevention, protection of victims, and prosecution of traffickers. The Act established human trafficking and related offenses as federal crimes with severe penalties, and mandated that restitution be paid to victims. The TVPA makes it illegal to “recruit, entice, or obtain a person to engage in commercial sex acts, or to benefit from such activities.” Under federal law, a “commercial sex act” is defined broadly to include “any sex act, on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any person.” “Anything of value” includes money, goods, personal benefit, in-kind favors, or some other kind of benefit.