MRG: End violence against Dalit women
It is time for comprehensive action to end violence against Dalit women and girls, says Minority Rights Group International on International Women’s Day. The full statement follows here.
It is time for comprehensive action to end violence against Dalit women and girls, says Minority Rights Group International on International Women’s Day. The full statement follows here.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has issued a strong statement in support of the movement to end manual scavenging in India. The OHCHR news release is copied below.
A new report documents the situation of Pakistan's Dalit women; one of the most socially excluded and impoverished sections of the population. The shadow report for a UN CEDAW review of Pakistan in February calls on the Government to focus on education, access to basic services, and laws and special programmes to protect the rights of Dalit women.
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on violence against women in India. The document contains several references to caste discrimination and the situation of Dalit women.
PRESS RELEASE: A strongly worded resolution on caste discrimination in India was debated and adopted today by the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The Parliament condemned the high number of atrocities committed against Dalits in India and the Indian government’s insufficient action on the issue of caste discrimination.
The European Parliament (EP) includes text on caste discrimination in the resolution adopted on the Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World 2011 and the European Union’s policy on the matter.
A Motion in the Dutch Parliament on full supply chain transparency in the garment industry in India has been adopted in the wake of the report ‘Maid in India’ by SOMO and the India Committee of the Netherlands
Navsarjan Trust have released the study 'Gender Violence and Access to Justice for Dalit Women in collaboration with Minority Rights Group International. The report finds Dalit women face severe difficulties in accessing justice and are extremely vulnerable to violence, sexual abuse and other atrocities.
Dalit human rights defenders from India, Nepal and Bangladesh voiced their concerns about effective political participation of Dalit women at the 4th session of the UN Forum on Minority Issues. The thematic focus of the session, which was held in Geneva on 29-30 November 2011, was “Guaranteeing the rights of minority women”.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) examined Nepal on 20 July, and recommended the Government to take specific measures to increase the “very low” political representation of Dalit and indigenous women at national and local level.