"According to a 2013 report (PDF) on forced labour in Nepal’s agriculture sector, published by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), an overwhelming 95 percent of households employed in the haruwa-charuwa system are victims of forced labour. Nepal’s Dalit community, the lowest group in the complex Hindu caste system, is the most exploited in the haruwa-charuwa system. Discriminated in every sphere of their lives, poor Dalits fall prey to debt traps laid by landlords belonging to the privileged castes. The haruwa-charuwa labourers often toil from morning to dusk during the peak agricultural season, but receive minimum compensation for their work."
Locals in Beni Municipality in Myagdi district have warned of social boycott and demanded resignation when a local people’s representatives sought legal recourse against the caste-based discrimination.
Collection of press clippings on rape cases in India and Nepal in September 2020.
“Social distancing also has a dark and ominous side. In South Asia, where it has unfurled into a spider’s web of practices, it also directs violence, exclusion and bigotry upon marginalised people whose only ‘sin’ is caste, occupation or descent.”
“Living in India and being a Dalit woman myself, I have always been exposed to Dalit literature, activism and everyday life discrimination. To find instances of transnational solidarities of India with its neighbouring country of Nepal, where Nepali Dalit women’s lives too are intertwined with gender roles, casteism and patriarchal subordination, startled me.” Pragya Roy takes a look at the status of Dalit women in India and Nepal and the bonds that join them together in solidarity.
Article by UN Women on Durga Sob, founder of IDSN’s member organization the Feminist Dalit Organization (FEDO). She is among the 500 activists meeting in Tunisia from 24-26 April for the Tunis Forum on Gender Equality to take stock of the progress made in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration, nearly 25 years on. Read the full article by UN Women
Founder President of Feminist Dalit Organisation Durga Sob today said that despite the promulgation of the new statute, women were still unable to exercise their rights.
Only 45 cases of caste discrimination have been registered in Nepal’s court system in the past four years, the Kathmandu Post writes. This low number does not correspond with regular media reports on the issue. According to Durga Sob of the Feminist Dalit Organisation, exclusion of Dalits is so deeply rooted in Nepal that victims of caste discrimination are unable to speak up for their rights.