Report: Native Hawaiians hit by missing and murdered scourge

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) — A new report says the scourge of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada and the U.S. mainland also has been devastating for Native Hawaiian girls and women. Key findings of the report include that more than a quarter of missing girls in Hawaii are Native Hawaiian and that members of the U.S. military play an outsized role in the sexual exploitation of children in the state. Similar studies have shown that Indigenous women in Canada and the U.S. mainland are murdered or go missing at rates disproportionate to their size of the population. While the disturbing trend held for Native Hawaiian girls, a comparable, reliable statistic for Native Hawaiian women eluded the task force due lacking data.