Biden declares May 5 as awareness day for Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons

By Firdevs Bulut Kartal

TORONTO (AA) - President Joe Biden has declared May 5 as "Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day" in the US.

"I call on all Americans and ask all levels of government to support Tribal governments and Tribal communities’ efforts to increase awareness and address the issues of missing or murdered Indigenous persons through appropriate programs and activities," Biden said in a statement on Thursday.

"Our Government has a solemn obligation to ensure that every case of a missing or murdered Indigenous person is met with swift, effective action to finally bring justice and healing," he said.

Biden said their efforts are guided by Indigenous survivors and victims’ families.

"That is why we have convened Tribal leaders, law enforcement, service providers, survivors, and family members of missing and murdered people to work together to combat this epidemic and support paths to healing," he said.

The US is also working with Canada and Mexico, and with Indigenous leaders from these countries to better coordinate their response, while strengthening their nation-to-nation ties, said the president.

The murder rates of Indigenous women living on reservations are ten times higher than the national average, and the third leading cause of death of Native women, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Sovereign Bodies Institute's database of Missing or Murdered Indigenous women contained 4,754 cases in the US and Canada as of August 2021.

In total, the US Bureau of Indian Affairs estimates there are approximately 4,200 missing and murdered Indigenous person cases that have gone unsolved.