Racial and ethnic justice in rural spaces is not just an issue in the United States. People in rural areas across the world experience prejudice and discrimination based on their race, ethnicity, class, and even status as being from a rural location. For example, a 2020 study found that migrants in rural China were more likely to be arrested and convicted of “street crimes” such as robbery and aggravated assault. And compared to urban offenders committing similar crimes, they received harsher fixed-term sentences (Qi, 2020). Below are just a few other examples of rural crime and justice issues in countries outside of the United States.

Indigeneity in Rural Australia and Canada

Indigenous populations in Australia and Canada face similar challenges to those in the United States, as they are criminalized and overrepresented in all facets of the criminal justice system. Indigenous people have been sequestered in spaces such as reservations in all three nations, which kept many individuals contained in rural areas. Currently, approximately 60 percent or more of the Indigenous populations in Canada and Australia live in rural areas (Australian Human Rights Commission, n.d.; OECD, 2020). The same prejudice and racism impacting Native people in the United States can be found in other settler-colonial states. For example, in Nova Scotia, a province in Canada, a pulp and paper mill polluted a harbor with toxic chemicals. In this case of environmental racism, the waterways that were used by Indigenous peoples as a food source became so tainted that they killed marine life and led to high rates of cancer among the people. Additionally, high rates of violence and sexual abuse are present among Indigenous populations in rural Australia who face similar challenges regarding a lack of resources and support services.

Violence and Sexual Abuse in Rural India and Africa

In rural areas of India that are prone to drought, sugar cane cutting becomes the main source of income for many. In recent years, there have been reports of more than 4,500 women farmers having had unnecessary hysterectomies to improve their work productivity. Some of these women volunteer for the procedure while others are coerced by family or by doctors who exploit them for profit (Nighoskar, 2019). Additionally, many impoverished women who travel long distances between villages to work on farms experience sexual assault that goes unreported and unpunished. Class and geography are significant factors in this violent victimization.

Cattle rustling and banditry, terms referring to the raiding and theft of livestock that is usually accompanied by violence, is an issue faced by farmers in rural parts of many African countries. Kenya, for example, is home to more than 40 different ethnic groups, and in rural parts of the country, profit and ethnic tensions drive much of the farm victimization between the Pokot and Turkana communities. People living in small villages along county borders, particularly in northern Kenya, report experiences of being ambushed by groups who aim to steal animals and instill terror. Victims are often left without justice as police are far away and often unwilling to intervene in the conflicts (Cheng, 2023; Triche, 2014).

Licenses and Attributions for Issues of Racial and Ethnic Justice in Rural Spaces Across the Globe

“Issues of Racial and Ethnic Justice in a Rural Context Across the Globe” by Jessica René Peterson is licensed under CC BY 4.0.