The Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition and Prostitution Research & Education released a study today that looks at the trafficking of Indian women in Minnesota.

Researchers interviewed more than 105 Indian women in the Twin Cities, Duluth, and Bemidji. They found that 79 percent had been sexually abused as children, 92 percent had been raped and 98 percent were currently or previously homeless.

“Native women are at exceptionally high risk for poverty and sexual violence, which are both elements in the trafficking of women,” report co-author Nicole Matthews, the executive director of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition, said in a press release. “The specific needs of Native women are not being met. Our goal was to assess the life circumstances of Native women in prostitution in Minnesota, a group of women not previously studied in research such as this.”

According to the study, the overwhelming number of men who buy sex are European-American or African-American.

Get the Story:
'Violence is the norm' in sex trade (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 10/27)

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IACHR takes up violence against indigenous women in US (10/25)