Status of Women Refugees in South Asia: A Socio-Legal Analysis

Abstract

One of the largest and most vulnerable populations of refugees in the world live in South Asia, but not a single country in the region has ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Protocol. The increased vulnerability of women and girls, who make up about 50 percent of the world refugee population, is compounded in South Asian host countries such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Nepal. This article is a socio-legal study of the position of women refugees in South Asia, where statelessness, gender-based violence (GBV), denial of legal personhood, a lack of access to education and healthcare, and forced/child marriage have been combined. Based on UNHCR data (2024-2025), Cox’s Bazar GBVIMS quarterly reports, and primary legal documents, this paper lends the argument that the protection gap facing South Asian women refugees is structural and systems-based  founded in the lack of binding regional refugee framework and further exacerbated by patriarchal social cultural norms. The paper is concluded with policy recommendations on national, regional (SAARC) and global levels.