A/HRC/30/41 48. The variety of forms of sexual violence reflects, to some extent, the different experiences of indigenous women and girls around the world. It also reflects the multidimensional ways in which indigenous women are vulnerable to violence and the severe threat of revictimization. Gender-based killings 49. Gender-based killings have been defined by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, in her 2012 report (A/HRC/20/16), as direct or indirect gender-motivated killings, which take place in the family, in communities and which are sometimes perpetrated or condoned by States through act and/or omission. She describes such killings as an extreme form of violence, which is part of a continuum of violence that is influenced by the sources of structural vulnerability in place in women’s lives. In her report, the Special Rapporteur described how the phenomenon can impact indigenous women, as a result of their social, cultural, economic and political marginalization and oppression that culminates in violence. Gender-based killings of indigenous women can take a variety of forms, including murder within communities; retaliation for defending their human rights; conflict-related; in the context of displacement from their communities due to dispossession of land; reports of “missing women” who are assumed to have been killed. 50. The Native Women’s Association of Canada and Amnesty International document and report cases of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in Canada. Those reports have been submitted to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, as well as to the previous and current Special Rapporteurs on the rights of indigenous peoples. Statistics from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, in 2014, indicate that indigenous women are four times more likely to be murdered than non-indigenous women. The report also states that 1,017 indigenous women and girls were murdered between 1980 and 2012.19 The bodies mentioned above have put forward several recommendations, including the following: (a) a national action plan to end violence against indigenous women, which addresses the root causes of violence and identifies holistic, culturally-appropriate ways to prevent violence and support those affected by violence; (b) a national public inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women, focusing on exposing the nature of that form of violence and on ensuring Government and police accountability for an effective and coordinated response; and (c) regular, comprehensive data collection on violence against indigenous women in official crime statistics. Unfortunately, the long-awaited national public inquiry has not yet taken place. As recommended by the previous Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Canadian Government should undertake a full, independent inquiry into the cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls. 20 Violence in the context of conflict 51. Indigenous women are often caught in the crossfire of conflict situations and subjected to militarized violence. Conflicts may be between different ethnic groups and may also involve government forces and business actors. Indigenous women and girls have 19 20 14 Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Missing and murdered aboriginal women: a national operational overview, 2014. See, for example, A/HRC/27/52/Add.2, para. 89; CEDAW/C/OP.8/CAN/1, recommendations, part D, p. 51.