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Summary
Ali Khan, Bushra. (2025) ‘Chapter 11. Feminist Peace-Building and Restorative Justice: Addressing the Gendered Dimensions of Refugee Governance for Rohingya Women in India’ in Vibhuti Patel, Nandita Baruah, Simi Mehta, Reet Lath eds. ‘Feminist Foreign Policy Fellowship. An Anthology of Essays. Volume 2’, IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi.
Abstract
Women and girls displaced by conflict and persecution often face acute vulnerabilities, including violence, exclusion, and limited access to resources. Despite growing recognition of refugee challenges in India, scholarly inquiry into applying restorative justice through a feminist lens remains sparse. This research explores this gap through an interdisciplinary review of literature, case studies, and policy documents, positioning restorative justice as a transformative mechanism to address harm, foster understanding, and counter systemic racism and societal antagonism. Key barriers to implementing restorative justice in women refugee contexts include linguistic hurdles, cultural differences, mistrust from marginalization, insecure immigration status, and resource limitations. These complexities highlight the structural inequalities that complicate the application of restorative justice. Moreover, its potential to address systemic determinants of refugee harm is underexplored, necessitating a comprehensive approach.
This study proposes a feminist peace-building framework tailored to the gendered realities of refugee challenges in India, focusing on Rohingya women and girls. Grounded in feminist and restorative justice theory, the framework critiques India’s exclusionary refugee governance and patriarchal structures while addressing the gender-specific vulnerabilities of displaced populations. It challenges dominant paradigms and centers the lived experiences of women and girls, offering durable recommendations to refugee crises.
