Systematic Gender Violence and the Rule of Law: Aboriginal Communities in Australia and Post-War Liberia

Abstract

The gender-agenda is borderless. Arguably, legal justice for Indigenous girls and women survivors of violence is unfair, inequitable, and sometimes arbitrary. Systematic violence against girls and women pervades cultures and societies; operates at three main levels: institution and state, structural and cultural, and community and individual; and manifests in myriad shapes, forms and categories. Systematic violence in this research comprises historical, colonial and contemporary aspects of violence and its impact on Indigenous girls and women. Unlike comparative studies, this research is founded on heuristic arguments derived from validating the formation, establishment and continuity of the voices of Indigenous peoples in Liberia and Australia. While many studies isolate ‘gender-based violence’ and the ‘rule of law’ in separate contexts, none has explored the extent to which the Western concept of the rule of law impacts systematic violence against Indigenous girls and women in Australia and post-war Liberia. The research assesses the efficacy of the ‘rule of law’ in dispensing justice to Indigenous girls and women who have suffered systematic gender-based violence. The scope of the research demands a comprehensive and complex systematic empirical approach that draws on the principles of phenomenology, community-based participatory research, and feminist and Indigenous methods. The study adopts an interdisciplinary mixed-methods approach informed by theories of decolonization, feminist jurisprudence, intersectionality, critical legal/race studies, and social determinants of health. Data is drawn from case law, secondary data, empirical evidence, textual/content analysis, electronic mailing and informal participant observation. Over a period of two years, a survey of 231 social service providers working with Indigenous girls and women; in-depth interviews with 29 Indigenous Women Advocates; and 22 informal email exchanges with male colleagues were conducted in both Australia and Liberia. Statistical analyses were carried out on records of 127 708 convicts to Australia; 14 996 former slave returnees to Liberia; 2701 sexual and gender-based violence cases reported to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection in Liberia; seven case files from the Sexual and Gender-based Crimes Unit in Liberia; and 1200 interview entries from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children in Australia. This analysis of historical documents, jurisprudence and case studies triangulates a philosophical inquiry intended to migrate issues of violence against Indigenous girls and women from the margins of complex socio-legal structures towards the core of Western-centric perspectives, such as the rule of law. Situated between dominant academic conventions and resistance, the research provokes readers to consider ontological, epistemological and ethical arguments regarding access to justice outcomes for Indigenous girls and women. Contrary to the research hypothesis and despite socioeconomic differences between Australia and Liberia, findings show that: although the principle of the rule of law is an emancipatory tool for justice and redress generally, it can also be an apparatus for persistent systematic violence against Indigenous girls and women. Furthermore, the intersection of colonial history, race, gender, class and social status exacerbates the ongoing perpetration of institutional/state, structural/cultural and interpersonal/community violence against Indigenous girls and women. In conclusion, the research recommends adopting a holistic approach to educating girls and women and encouraging boys and men to participate equally in the gender justice agenda, to ensure justice for Indigenous girls and women. The research also suggests incorporating diverse and comprehensive conceptual and methodological frameworks into further research. Finally, throughout the work, this dissertation attempts to give agency to Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing justice.