Side-event at the UN Minority Forum coming up!

Join IDSN for Beyond borders: International solidarity giving Dalit voices agency, a side event at the 19th UN Forum on Minority Issues. Dalit human rights defenders from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan will join UN experts and international civil society to discuss how alliances across borders can strengthen collective advocacy, support defenders facing shrinking civic space and create opportunities for Dalit […]

|Categories: Bangladesh, Human Rights Defenders, India, Nepal, Pakistan, South Asia, United Nations|Tags: |

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Congratulations to Navi Pillay on the Nobel Peace Prize

IDSN warmly congratulates Navi Pillay on being awarded the 2026 The Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote peace and international law. For IDSN, this is also a moment to celebrate her longstanding support for the work to end caste discrimination. As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, she met with Dalit human rights defenders on several occasions […]

|Categories: Human Rights Defenders, India, Manual Scavenging, Political Participation, South Asia, United Nations, Violence and atrocities, Water and Sanitation|Tags: |

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UN side event highlights caste, gender and dignity in the right to sanitation

At the 63rd UN Human Rights Council the side event ‘Turning the Spotlight on the Right to Sanitation’ called for sanitation to be treated as a distinct human right. Held on 16 September 2026, this event was co-organized by the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to water and sanitation, Germany, Spain, the International Dalit Solidarity Network […]

|Categories: Dalit Women, India, South Asia, Uncategorized, United Nations, Water and Sanitation|Tags: |

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UN CERD review of India calls for stronger action to end caste discrimination

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has issued wide-ranging recommendations to India on segregation, caste-based violence, access to justice, bonded labour, manual scavenging, education and health. The Committee also reaffirmed that caste-based discrimination is fully covered by the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. CERD considered India’s […]

|Categories: Access to justice, Caste-based slavery, Caste-hate speech, Dalit Children, Dalit Women, Education, Health, India, Living conditions, Manual Scavenging, Political Participation, Poverty, United Nations, Violence and atrocities, Water and Sanitation|Tags: |

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Dalit human rights defenders urge EU decision-makers to strengthen work to end caste discrimination

A delegation of Dalit human rights defenders visited Brussels in July for a series of meetings with European Union institutions, Members of the European Parliament and civil society organisations to discuss how the EU can strengthen its engagement on caste-based discrimination in South Asia. The visit began with a meeting with Finland’s delegate to the Council […]

|Categories: Access to justice, Bangladesh, Dalit Children, Dalit Women, Education, European Union, Health, Human Rights Defenders, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Political Participation, South Asia, Violence and atrocities, Water and Sanitation|Tags: |

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European Parliament calls for action on forced conversion and child marriage in Pakistan, including caste discrimination

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution condemning the abduction, forced conversion and child marriage of Maria Shahbaz, while calling for stronger protection of girls from Pakistan’s religious and caste-marginalised communities. The resolution, adopted on 9 July 2026, concerns the case of Maria Shahbaz, a Christian girl from Lahore who was reportedly 13 when she […]

|Categories: Access to justice, Dalit Children, Dalit Women, European Union, Pakistan|Tags: |

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UN side-event highlights Dalit women’s leadership in the fight for justice

IDSN brought together #DalitVoicesForJustice, UN experts, civil society and Member States for our HRC62 side-event, Caste, Gender and Power: #DalitVoicesForJustice on 2 July at the UN Human Rights Council. The event highlighted the urgent need to explicitly address caste and gender discrimination as a root cause of widespread human rights violations across South Asia. This was underscored by powerful […]

|Categories: Access to justice, Bangladesh, Caste-hate speech, Dalit Women, Human Rights Defenders, India, Manual Scavenging, Nepal, Pakistan, Political Participation, South Asia, Sri Lanka, United Nations, Violence and atrocities, Water and Sanitation|Tags: |

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Dalit human rights defender Manjula Pradeep honoured with inclusive children’s park in Spain

The City Council of Alcorcón, Madrid, has named a new inclusive children’s park after Manjula Pradeep, a Dalit human rights defender and long-standing collaborator of  IDSN. The “Manjula Pradeep Children’s Park” was formally named by municipal decree on 25 February 2026. The decree recognises Manjula Pradeep’s lifelong work against discrimination based on caste and gender and her […]

|Categories: Dalit Women, Diaspora, Human Rights Defenders|Tags: |

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UN HRC62 side-event: Caste, Gender and Power — #DalitVoicesForJustice Invitation

IDSN is delighted to welcome two UN Special Rapporteurs, Ashwini K.P. and Prof. Nicolas Levrat, alongside a powerful panel of Dalit human rights defenders from across South Asia, for a UN Human Rights Council side-event in Geneva on caste, gender, power and justice. Caste, Gender and Power: #DalitVoicesForJustice will take place on 2 July at 14:00 CET in Room XI, […]

|Categories: Access to justice, Dalit Women, India, Nepal, Pakistan, South Asia, Sri Lanka, United Nations|Tags: |

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European Parliament hearing calls for stronger EU action on caste discrimination in South Asia

On 14 April 2026, the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights held a public hearing on caste discrimination in South Asia, bringing renewed attention to caste as a structural human rights issue and to the need for stronger and more explicit European Union action. The hearing brought together the United Nations, the European External Action Service (EEAS), […]

|Categories: Access to justice, Business, Dalit Children, Dalit Women, European Union, Political Participation, Violence and atrocities|Tags: |

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