Since its introduction in 1994, the Violence Against Women Act has provided billions of dollars of funding to law enforcement, housing authorities, victim’s rights attorneys, counseling services and other resources that address the needs of those who have survived domestic violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking and other crimes against women.
What You Need To Know
The U.S. Senate voted unanimously to amend VAWA to allow Native Hawaiian survivors of gender-based violence to access programs and resources provided under the act
While the VAWA had gone unauthorized for the last four years because of partisan disagreement over proposed gun-control provisions, funding for most programs continued. The act was finally reauthorized as part of a $1.5 billion omnibus package Pres. Joe Biden signed in March
Indigenous women experience disproportionately high levels of sexual violence
Hirono has been advocating for a solution since she first learned of the de facto exclusion in 2016
That support, however, has not been directly available to women of Native Hawaiian ancestry — a decades-long oversight that may soon be rectified.
