The United Nations and caste discrimination
- A Dalit girls sleeps next to her UNICEF backpack at Prerna Hostel in Bihar, India. Photo: Jakob Carlsen.
Caste discrimination is one of the biggest human rights violations facing the international community today; both in terms of the numbers affected and the severity of the human rights violations caused by this form of discrimination. IDSN therefore works for the promotion and protection of Dalit human rights through the UN human rights framework.
UN mechanisms
The UN human rights bodies have addressed the issue of caste discrimination in several reviews of caste-affected countries and relevant thematic UN studies, as documented by IDSN. Find more information on the links below:
- UN Human Rights Council
- Universal Periodic Review
- UN Treaty Bodies
- UN Special Procedures
- Principles and Guidelines for the Effective Elimination of Discrimination based on Work and Descent
- UN Sub-Commission study on discrimination based on work and descent
- List of UN parallel events
Country information
IDSN facilitates the submission of shadow reports and supports joint NGO statements to several UN human rights bodies. Below is a list of relevant publications, statements, reports and resolutions prepared in relation to different countries:
Database:
IDSN has created an extensive database on caste-based discrimination.
> Find all documents related to UN and caste in IDSN's database
> Link to UN-related news in IDSN's database
Other resources:
> Comprehensive compilation of UN references to caste-based discrimination by UN human rights bodies
> Draft UN Principles and Guidelines - a legal framework to eliminate caste discrimination
> What is discrimination based on work and descent?
> IDSN recommendations to the Human Rights Council
> Universal Periodic Review - NGO submissions on caste discrimination
> UN treaty body recommendations on caste-affected countries
