Allison, Fiona, and Cunneen, Chris (2023) Rethinking Access to Justice for Indigenous Peoples. In: Newman, Daniel, and Gordon, Faith, (eds.) Access to Justice in Rural Communities: Global Perspectives. Bloomsbury Publishing, Oxford, United Kingdom, pp. 71-84.

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Abstract

[Extract] This chapter focuses on Indigenous peoples and access to justice. It shows that access to justice is particularly limited for Indigenous peoples living in rural and remote areas. Further, the chapter argues that access to justice must be conceptualised to incorporate Indigenous rights, most importantly the right to self-determination. Finally, we make some suggestions about improving access to justice for Indigenous peoples living in rural and remote areas. While the chapter concentrates in particular on First Nations peoples within Australia, we begin by drawing attention to the wider position of Indigenous peoples globally. According to the United Nations, there are over 476 million Indigenous peoples living in more than 90 countries and they comprise over 6 per cent of the world’s population. Not surprisingly, there is great diversity in languages, cultures and histories. There is also diversity in the legal, political and, in some cases, constitutional relationships with state entities. However, there are also commonalities. Across both urban and rural regions, Indigenous peoples are significantly more likely to be living in extreme poverty compared to non-Indigenous people. In particular the rural demographic is important because over 73 per cent of global Indigenous populations live in rural areas – here they comprise one-third of all people living in extreme poverty. More than 86 per cent of Indigenous peoples globally work in the informal economy, compared to 66 per cent of their non-Indigenous counterparts. Health, housing and other social outcomes show similar poorer trajectories....

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