Invisible people, invisible issue, and the argument for international legal intervention

The purpose of this paper is to answer the following research question: Can the United States be held legally responsible through international human rights law and norms for the disproportionate rates of sexual and domestic violence against American Indian women residing on reservations? In order for this question to be answered successfully, it must address: (1) the (in)effectiveness of US sexual and domestic violence laws when applied to reservation-residing American Indian women; (2) tribes' (in)ability to confront domestic and sexual violence on reservations because of Federal Indian Law; and (3) unaddressed legal, structural, and social barriers that hinder these women from seeking protection from and prosecution against their batterers and/or sexual assailants. I argue that if the US government does not take steps to alleviate this violence, then international bodies can---and should---hold the US legally responsible for the violence through human rights law and norms.