Yale Divinity School and Grace Initiative Global

UN CSW 70 Parallel Event:

Restorative Justice Strategies for Haitian Women Internally Displaced

17 March 2026 at the Scandinavia House, New York,

Restorative Justice Strategies for Internally Displaced Women -

A Transformative Path

Speakers inclued:

Dr. Gregory Sterling, Dean Yale Divinity School; Yvonne Lodico, Grace Initiative Global, Founder;

Nicole Hosein, Episcopal Relief and Development, Director, Violence Prevention, Protection and Resilience; Jason Pope, Ph.D. Acting UN Representative World Evangelical Alliance; Diego Osorio and Vivian Valencia, Ph.D. Université du Québec à Montréal; Ms. Esther Christin, Chair VT Women’s Commission and Lt. Governor Candidate in VT; Ambassador Isaac Chabala, former Permanent Representative of Zambia to the UN; Mr. Sunil Pal, Deputy Permanent Representative of International Development Law Organization.

As international and regional stakeholders intensify efforts to restore stability in Haiti, including the deployment of security operations to address armed violence, displacement patterns remain fluid and deeply gendered. Experience from comparable stabilization contexts indicates that enforcement measures—while necessary—can coincide with increased civilian displacement, often outpacing the development of adequate protection, justice, and accountability mechanisms.

This discussion envisaged restorative justice strategies as a complementary component of stabilization and humanitarian responses. It explores how survivor-centered, non-carceral approaches can mitigate harm, strengthen accountability, and preserve dignity for internally displaced women, particularly where formal judicial institutions are inaccessible, overwhelmed, or non-operational. Restorative justice is not proposed as a substitute for criminal accountability, but as a pragmatic and protective mechanism that can operate alongside security and humanitarian efforts to reduce cycles of violence and vulnerability.

While international security measures are essential to address urgent threats, durable peace requires systems that uphold dignity, rebuild relationships, and reinforce community-based protection mechanisms. This proposed project envisages:

Principles Survivor-Centered Approach: The project prioritizes victim healing over perpetrator rehabilitation (also very important), focusing on restoring dignity, agency, and economic empowerment for internally displaced Haitian women Holistic Integration. Successful humanitarian response must integrate four pillars: trauma healing, restorative justice, community dialogue, and food security through women-led agriculture Restorative Justice Framework. This is Distinguished from transitional justice (national-level Truth Commissions) and criminal justice (punishment-focused), restorative justice emphasizes personal and community healing, asking "who was harmed?" and "how can relationships be repaired?"

Food Systems as Social Infrastructure: Agriculture and food sovereignty serve as entry points for rebuilding social fabric, economic capacity, ecological stewardship, and community cohesion in fragile environments Trauma-Informed Justice: Recognition that trauma shapes how survivors remember, speak, and trust—requiring safe spaces, trauma narrative therapy, and do-no-harm approaches Faith-Based Community Support: Faith communities provide trusted structures that function during crisis, offering spaces for restorative circles, economic empowerment through savings groups, and intergenerational attitude change Bottom-Up Participation: Haitian voices, needs, and resilience must be centered in all project design through participatory mapping and partnership with local organizations. It incorporates an African Ubuntu Philosophy: Community-centered approaches rooted in "I am because we are" recognize that healing happens in relationship and that outside interventions must respect inherent dignity within affected communities