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In this newsletter:
- IDSN cited as example of obstruction against NGOs
- HRW urges India to stop treating critics as criminals
- UN Special Rapporteur criticises India's FCRA
- Global conference urged to discuss rights of Dalit women
- UN expert: India should legislate against housing discrimination
- AI Germany presents human rights award to Henri Tiphagne
- High Commissioner mentions caste in annual report
- Bonded labourers in brick kilns treated like slaves
- Case study: Dalits with disabilities in India
- Highlights - Dr. Ambedkar 125th anniversary celebrations
- Young Dalit woman brutally murdered in Kerala
- India: Violence against Dalits on the rise
- Severe Indian drought affects Dalits worse
- California textbooks will continue to include the caste issue
- Report: Dalits pay for the privileges of the few
- Pakistan: Dalit initiative to improve rights and welfare
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More than 230 NGOs have signed a joint letter calling on members of the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to reform the practice of the Committee of NGOs that prevents certain human rights organisations – including IDSN – from associating freely with the UN. After an eight-year wait, IDSN application for ECOSOC accreditation is still pending.
Read the IDSN news article
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A new report by Human Rights Watch examines how criminal law is used to limit peaceful expression in India, stifle political dissent and target religious minorities and marginalised communities, including Dalits.
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A controversial piece of Indian legislation - the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) - could be used to silence organisations that criticize the government. It contravenes the country’s international human rights obligations, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of assembly and association, Maina Kiai, says in a recently published legal analysis.
Read the IDSN news article
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Prior to the global Women Deliver Conference in Copenhagen in mid-May, IWGIA and IDSN called on the participants to address discrimination against hundreds of millions of Dalit and indigenous women.
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India needs legislation to combat all forms of “de facto housing discrimination” against any individual or groups, including Dalits, the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Leilani Farha, said at the conclusion of her visit to India from 11-22 April.
Read the IDSN news article
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The prominent Indian human rights campaigner, Director of People’s Watch and IDSN board member, Henri Tiphagne, received Amnesty International Germany’s Human Rights Award in Berlin on 25 April. He has been fighting caste discrimination for decades.
Read the IDSN news story here
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The UN High Commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, mentions caste discrimination on par with other forms of discrimination in the foreword to the OHCHR annual report for 2015. He pays tribute to the work of human rights defenders to advance the rights of “oppressed social groups, such as castes and sexual minorities.” The High Commissioner also notes that his office identifies key human rights gaps, including “discrimination by gender, ethnicity and caste”. The OHCHR has played an important role in recognising caste discrimination as an international human rights issue.
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Bonded labour is a form of contemporary slavery that violates that right to life, equality and individual dignity. In this harrowing and moving in-depth report by the Peoples’ Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), bonded labourers in India’s brick kilns tell their stories. They are usually Dalits or Adivasis and suffer terrible forms of discrimination. Their children die, women and girls are sexually exploited and men are beaten up if they ask for money. In a positive development, the Thomson Reuters Foundation reported that hundreds of female brick-kiln workers in Punjab had gathered to demand equal pay and better accommodation. The photo was taken by Jakob Carlsen at a brick kiln in Pakistan.
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Disability is more prevalent among India’s Dalits than among dominant castes. Due to poor living conditions, Dalits are also more likely to have severe forms of disabilities – and to acquire them at a young age. In a thought-provoking web piece, Minority Rights Group describes the intersectionality between disability and caste and notes that disabilities “reinforce disadvantage linked to Dalit identity and its consequent deprivation of rights, opportunities and resources.” The article adds that Dalit women and girls with disabilities are “especially vulnerable to abuse and exploitation”.
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Prominent UN officials took part in the commemorations of the 125th birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, linking the issue of caste discrimination to the Sustainable Development Goals.
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Public protests followed in the wake of the brutal murder of a 30-year old Dalit woman in Kerala. Her mutilated body was found in her home with numerous stab wounds, parts of her intestines had been pulled out, and there were signs of strangulation and rape. The brutality was so extreme that the case led to comparisons with the 2012 Delhi gang rape. The difference was that the Kerala victim was a Dalit, and the authorities have been accused of reacting slowly to the crime. Protesters have taken to the streets demanding a fast investigation.
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This well-researched article in The Diplomat magazine describes several cases of violence against Dalits in Rajastan, including the murder of Raju Bairwa, a father of three, who was presumably killed over a dispute on land rights. Quoting official crime statistics, it notes that crimes against Dalits in India have risen by 29 per cent from 2012 to 2014. The article concludes with a quote from Dalit activist P.L. Mimroth: “We were wrong to believe that education would eradicate untouchability,” he sighs. “The dominant mindset in Rajasthan is still guided by the caste system. It will take more than 100 years to change that.”
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India’s worst drought in decades is hurting women and Dalits disproportionately. In an article by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Rajesh Singh of National Dalit Watch notes that relief measures are not reaching landless Dalits. They are more vulnerable to disasters because of their marginal social standing and caste discrimination and also tend to live in settlements segregated from mainstream society.
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A controversy about the portrayal of Indian history in Californian schools was settled on 19 May as education officials approved a curriculum that includes teachings about the caste system. Hindu nationalist groups had argued that the caste issue was being overemphasised in the curriculum and was portrayed as being too closely linked with the Hindu religion. Dalit rights activists accused those groups of attempting to erase India’s history of caste discrimination from the textbooks.
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Global inequalities are on the rise. In a new report, The Price of Privilege, ActionAid analyses the issue of inequality and urges countries and the global community to combat the problem by adopting a number of measures – including a wealth tax and a maximum wage. Dalits are mentioned as examples of inequality – and the struggle against it. One such example is a Dalit woman from Pakistan who organised for the women of her village to get ID cards. The report calls for a “world free of patriarchy, racism, caste systems, and the rule of the hyper-elite.”
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At a recent meeting in Sindh province, Dalit activists decided to set up a number of committees under the auspices of Dalit Sujaag Thereek (DST), a movement for the social and political empowerment of Dalits in Pakistan. They plan to establish Dalit schools, disseminate information and organise demonstrations. Earlier in May, Dalit women rallied to condemn kidnappings and forced conversions of girls from their community.
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Latest media clippings by key issue:
Latest media clippings by country:
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