Constitutionalizing Protection for Refugee Women and Girls in South Asia

Development summary

The article examines legal strategies used by courts in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India to protect refugee women and girls and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. It explains that, amid limited ratification of the 1951 Refugee Convention and few domestic asylum laws, courts have developed layered refugee-law jurisprudence based on constitutional provisions, rule-of-law principles, executive orders and international human-rights treaties, complemented by legal-aid and community-based mechanisms.