(AP) — Hawaiʻi is forming a task force to study the issue of missing and murdered Native Hawaiian women and girls. The state House created the panel, which aims to gather data and identify the reasons behind the problem. Few figures currently exist, but those that do suggest Native Hawaiians are disproportionately represented among the state’s sex trafficking victims. The panel’s work comes amid renewed calls for people to pay more attention to missing and slain Indigenous women and girls after the disappearance of Gabby Petito, a white woman, triggered widespread media coverage.

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