Feminist Dreams of Justice

Inspired by the symposium editors’ call to reclaim and reimagine some or all of the space that is currently populated by international criminal law (ICL), we take this opportunity to engage in what we are calling feminist dreaming—that is, we seek to reimagine accountability as it could be , viewed through a feminist lens. Drawing on the work of standpoint feminists, such as Nancy Hartsock, we examine how the punitive mindset has taken hold from the top down, with little regard for or consideration of what those most acutely harmed, who are often women, want. Instead, international actors, often elites educated in the West, have mandated a certain ideal of justice from above through legal principles like the duty to prosecute. This focus on punishment narrows the lens through which “justice” is perceived and administered. It imposes a single perspective—that of a supposedly uniform global community—on affected communities, preempting other forms of justice that may have greater healing potential, including those with restorative or redistributive aims. In this sense, ICL can be seen as inflicting a form of epistemic violence. 1 Instead of inquiring into, and respecting, the perspectives of victims, survivors, and their broader communities, it seeks to impose a viewpoint: only punishment will produce justice. This contribution takes a small step toward reimagining justice under the international legal order. 2 We employ a standpoint feminist lens to first surface some of the harms ICL inflicts and then suggest a course correction that centers the voices of the most marginalized—in other words, we begin feminist dreaming.