Restorative Justice Among Indigenous Communities Worldwide

Restorative Justice is a powerful concept that focuses on repairing harm, healing relationships, and restoring social harmony. Many indigenous communities around the world have practiced restorative justice for millennia, emphasizing community involvement and reconciliation.

These traditional methods provide valuable insights into effective conflict resolution and highlight the enduring relevance of Restorative Justice Principles.

Indigenous Communities Practicing Restorative Justice

New Zealand (Māori)

In New Zealand, the Māori practice restorative justice through processes like whānau (extended family) meetings and hui (gatherings). These involve community discussions to address harm and find collaborative problem-solving. This approach focuses on collective responsibility and the restoration of relationships.

North America (Navajo, Sioux, Cree, Ojibwe)

In North America, the Navajo and Sioux use peacemaking circles and restorative council meetings to resolve conflicts, individual and communal; any conflict impacts the whole community. These processes emphasize healing relationships. They involve many community members, including elders, victims, offenders, and other members of the community. In Canada, the Cree, Ojibwe, and other First Nations groups practice similar methods of restorative justice through healing circles and community-based restorative circles, centering balance and harmony within the community.

Australia (Aboriginal Communities)

In Australia, Aboriginal Indigenous communities have used processes such as yarning circles and community gatherings to repair conflicts and restore communal harmony. These practices involve open dialogue and collaborative decision-making, highlighting the importance of creating communal consensus and healing.

Africa (Bantu, Acholi, Kikuyu, Shona, Xhosa)

In Africa, Bantu communities use practices such as barazas (council meetings), where elders facilitate conflicts and guide the community in repairing harm, with the goal of restoring harmony and ensuring well-being of the community. The Acholi people use a traditional process known as Mato Oput. This process includes ceremonies and rituals in order to reconcile parties impacted and empowers and centers truth-telling, forgiveness, and monetary restitution. The Kikuyu community uses a practice called kiama, in which a council of elders adjudicates harms and decides what justice looks like with communal consensus and restorative processes. The Shona people practice dare, a court-like system where elders address conflicts and encourage reconciliation through dialogue, restitution, and offender re-entry processes back into the community. The Xhosa community practice imbizo or lekhotla, processes where conflicts are shared with the community in a open setting. In this process, solutions are generated collectively with an aim to restore relationships and creating consensus.

Middle East (Bedouin, Palestinian Arabs, Druze, Yazidi, Kurdish)

In the Middle East, Bedouin tribes in the Arabian Peninsula and Levant practice sulha, a mediation-like process focused on resolving harm and restoring relationships. In Palestinian Arab communities, musalaha (reconciliation) involves community leaders, elders, and sometimes religious figures who facilitate dialogue between impacted parties, working toward a resolution that restores a community of harmony. In Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, the Druze is an ethno-religious group that use restorative justice through communal councils with the involvement of religious leaders, focusing on collaborative problem solving, repairing the harm and re-entry into the community. In Iraq, the Yazidi, practice restorative methods for resolving harm, involving religious and community leaders, centering reconciliation, forgiveness, and offender re-entry processes. Kurdish groups across Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria practice restorative justice through traditional councils called jirgahs or majlis, where elders facilitate conflict, stressing dialogue, restitution, and community consensus.

Asia (Igorot, Kalinga, Naga, Dayak, Hmong, Tibetan)

In Asia, the Igorot, Kalinga, and other indigenous groups in the Cordillera region of the Philippines use traditional conflict resolution practices such as bodong (peace pacts), involving community elders facilitating conflict and dialogue, and promoting communal harmony. In Northeast India, the Naga tribes, practice councils known as kebang or mora to address conflicts, with elders and community leaders facilitating conversations to address harm and create collaborative solutions. The Dayak people of Borneo practice adat (customary law) to resolve harm, with adat councils facilitating conflicts and determining appropriate solutions to repair harm in order to restore balance and harmony in the community. In areas around Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand, the Hmong people, practice restorative justice with clan leaders facilitating conflict, creating space for those impacted to share harms and move toward restoration of relationships and balance in the community. Tibetan communities practice restorative justice processes guided by lamas (spiritual leaders) and community elders, centering dialogue and working to the growth of the well-being of the whole community.

Restorative Justice Practices Around the World

Restorative justice practices are found all over the world and many have the same goals of creating or re-establishing communities of harmony. For thousands of years these indigenous practices demonstrate the universal appeal and efficacy of repairing harm over punitive measures.

By centering community, in voice and impact, and focusing on the person(s) harmed, harms are mitigated and communities are more resilient and interconnected. In order to understand restorative justice, it is critical to understand the indigenous nature and structure that informs the why, how and what for restorative cultural shifts and the capacity for them to adapt to meet the cultural needs of communities. This allows inspiration and creation of more inclusive spaces to repair harm and restore harmony globally.