A/HRC/27/65 promotion of all other human rights” (ibid., para. 3). The Expert Mechanism noted that access to justice is of particular importance “given the gravity of the issues facing indigenous peoples, including discrimination in criminal justice systems, particularly for indigenous women and youth” (A/HRC/21/52, p. 4). It also underlined the importance of examining the issue in a holistic manner, taking into account other human rights challenges faced by indigenous peoples, such as structural discrimination, poverty, lack of access to health and education, and lack of recognition of lands, territories and resources. In keeping with the Expert Mechanism’s broad understanding of access to justice, in addition to addressing formal State systems, the study will also examine the role of indigenous juridical systems in facilitating access to justice. III. Indigenous juridical systems 6. Indigenous peoples have always utilized their own framework of juridical systems and laws based on their conceptions of justice and as an inherent right.2 Despite the historical injustices that indigenous peoples have faced, the values and ideals of their legal systems have survived thanks to the resilience of the peoples themselves, and the close relationship between indigenous law and the land.3 Over centuries, these laws and norms have provided a context sufficient for creating and managing harmonious relationships among indigenous peoples and between indigenous peoples and their lands and territories. 7. Indigenous juridical systems often comprise both legislative and judicial aspects, usually maintained by traditional institutions. They can be exercised at local and subregional levels, or within a specific group of communities. Customary laws, which form the basis for indigenous juridical systems, are mostly handed down through oral tradition, but they may also be legislated through existing traditional institutions. 8. The traditional justice systems of indigenous peoples have largely been ignored, diminished or denied through colonial laws and policies and subordination to the formal justice systems of States. However, law is a complex notion arising in explicit and implicit ideas and practices. It is grounded in a people’s worldview and the lands they inhabit, and is inextricably linked to culture and tradition. As such, a narrow view of justice that excludes the traditions and customs of indigenous peoples violates the cultural base of all legal systems. Without the application and understanding of traditional indigenous conceptions of justice, a form of injustice emerges that creates inaccessibility and is based on unacceptable assumptions.4 9. The Expert Mechanism has therefore recognized the importance of giving due regard to the customary laws and traditions of indigenous peoples in its previous work. In its study on the right of indigenous peoples to education, the Expert Mechanism highlighted the link between traditional education and lands, territories and natural resources, calling for the legal recognition and protection of such lands “with due respect for indigenous peoples’ customs, customary law and traditions” (A/HRC/12/33, Annex, para. 11). In its study on the role of languages and culture in the promotion and protection of the rights and identity of indigenous peoples, the Expert Mechanism underlined that indigenous justice systems and their practice constitute a key element of the right to culture (A/HRC/21/53, para. 21) and called for the “recognition of indigenous peoples’ governance structures, 2 3 4 4 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, preambular para. 7. Expert Seminar on Restorative Justice, Indigenous Juridical Systems and Access to Justice for Indigenous Women, Children and Youth and Persons with Disabilities: Moana Jackson. John Borrows, Canada’s Indigenous Constitution (Toronto, University Press, 2010), pp. 6–9.