Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons, a human rights priority for Alaska

The crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) in Alaska is not an isolated problem. It is a defining tragedy.

Alaska Native people represent about one-fifth of the state’s population, yet they account for more than 60 percent of recorded homicide victims. 

Four of the ten U.S. cities with the highest per-capita rates of missing and murdered Indigenous women are in Alaska, namely Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, and Nome, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute.

The rate of sexual assault here is four times the national average; for Alaska Native women, it is even higher. A national report found that over half of Alaska Native and Native American women will experience sexual violence in their lifetime.

These are not statistics, they are those we love and respect. Sisters, daughters, mothers, and neighbors whose stories are written in police reports that too often end in silence.

A failure of systems, not of people

The persistence of this violence reveals a breakdown in coordination among local, tribal, state, and federal authorities. 

Geography compounds it. In a territory larger than Western Europe, roughly one in three rural Alaskans lives in a place with no resident law enforcement of any kind. When violence occurs, days – or weeks – can pass before help arrives. Evidence disappears. Trust erodes.

The result is an enduring sense of abandonment and fear in communities that have every right to feel protected.

Progress, but not yet parity

Under the Trump administration, the creation of Operation Lady Justice marked the first national task force dedicated to the MMIP crisis, establishing data-sharing frameworks and national visibility. Alaska benefited from this focus through stronger collaboration among the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI, Alaska State Troopers, and tribal governments.

Building on that momentum, the state formed its own Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Council, which continues to coordinate with federal and tribal partners to identify the missing, reopen cold cases, and train investigators. 

These are meaningful advances, but the scale of the crisis still dwarfs the response.

Why this is an international concern

Some argue MMIP is a domestic matter. Geography says otherwise. Alaska is the crossroads of North America and the Pacific Rim, and let’s not forget our 250-kilometer border with Russia and nearly 2,500 kilometer border with Canada. 

Alaska’s remote ports, vast coastlines, and transient labor industries form a silent corridor for human trafficking.

Advocacy groups and federal task forces have documented patterns suggesting that some Alaska Native women vanish not only within the state but across international lines, moved through hubs that connect Alaska to Canada and Asia. Without coordinated data-sharing between nations, victims remain invisible and offenders untraceable.

By credible estimates drawn from law-enforcement trends and NGO testimony, as many as one in five Alaska MMIP cases may involve trafficking that extends beyond state or national boundaries. That makes this not only a national tragedy but an international human-rights crisis.

The role of the United Nations

This is where the United Nations can make a measurable difference. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights can help the United States and Alaska by promoting transparent national data standards on Indigenous safety, facilitating international exchanges on cross-border investigation and prevention and supporting trauma-informed, culturally grounded investigative practices designed with community consent.

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms that Indigenous peoples have the right to live free from violence and discrimination and to enjoy equal protection under the law. 

That standard is not abstract for Alaska, it is the measure of our progress. Alaska is committed to meeting that measure. 

Standing together

Alaska respects the White House’s call for fairness and believes a stronger Human Rights Council is how we stand together to solve crises that cross every border, like the disappearance of Alaska Native women. 

Every missing person deserves to be found. Every family deserves an answer. And every government – local, state, federal, and tribal – must be judged by how well it protects those who have, for too long, been left unseen.

Dorene Lorenz is chairman of the Alaska Commission on Human Rights. She recently testified in Geneva, Switzerland, on the United Nations side panel of State and Municipal Officials on Human Rights Crisis in the United States. A fourth generation Alaskan, Lorenz is a former news director, news anchor, and talk show host for ABC/FOX Alaska.