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Report finds entrenched caste discrimination in India’s criminal justice system

“Criminal Justice in the Shadow of Caste” is a pioneering report looking at the administration of criminal justice in India through a caste lens. The findings reveal discrimination at all levels, including within prisons. […]
January 18th, 2019|Access to justice, India|
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New IDSN strategy presented at the General Assembly 2018

Members and associates shared the latest updates from their respective countries and future plans were discussed. A new IDSN 5-year strategy was also adopted, which will be finalised and published in the beginning of […]
December 17th, 2018|Access to justice, Dalit Women, European Union, Human Rights Defenders, Political Participation, Solidarity Networks, United Nations, Violence and atrocities|
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We have a dream

In 1948, the year that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed, thousands of Dalits gathered outside a temple in India, from which they had been barred entry because of their caste. A […]
December 10th, 2018|Access to justice, Human Rights Defenders, South Asia, United Nations|
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UN Special Rapporteur asks Nepal to act on violence against Dalit women

The UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Dubravka Šimonović made a preliminary assessment on violence against women in Nepal, after her official visit to the country, which took place from the 19 to […]
December 3rd, 2018|Dalit Women, Nepal, United Nations, Violence and atrocities|
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EU encouraged to step up action on the issue of caste discrimination in global supply chains

The hearing was chaired by MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, Chair of the subcommittee on human rights. Ramesh Nathan focused his presentation on caste and contemporary slavery in supply chains with a specific focus on the […]
December 1st, 2018|Business, Caste-based slavery, European Union, Human Rights Defenders, India, South Asia|
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UN women’s committee makes recommendations to Nepal to address discrimination against Dalit women

The Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) has released its Concluding Observations, after the periodic review of Nepal. The CEDAW Committee took note of a number of […]
November 14th, 2018|Access to justice, Dalit Women, Education, Nepal, Political Participation, United Nations|
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UN CEDAW committee voices concern over difficulties faced by Dalit women in Nepal

UN experts on gender discrimination voiced concerns over the difficulties elected Dalit women face in Nepal, the need for proportional inclusion of Dalit women in the Judiciary, and extreme poverty faced by many Dalit […]
November 5th, 2018|Dalit Women, Nepal, United Nations|
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EU high-representative calls the UN NGO Committee “hostile to civil society interests, particularly … caste discrimination.”

In her answer to MEP Jean Lambert’s question, on what the EU were doing to support IDSN’s application for UN consultative status, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, stated that, “A critical […]
October 8th, 2018|Access to justice, Human Rights Defenders, Political Participation, United Nations|
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Sanitation worker deaths spark protests demanding an end to manual scavenging in India

The call to action has come from the Safai Kramchari Andolan (SKA), an organization that has been fighting for the rights of manual scavengers and helping them break out of the practice. The protesters […]
September 26th, 2018|Human Rights Defenders, India, Manual Scavenging|
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Senior UN official raises concern over the ‘de facto’ rejection of ECOSOC status for IDSN

In his address to the Human Rights Council, the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Andrew Gilmour, raised concern over the “repeated deferrals and apparent lack of transparency amounting to a de facto rejection on […]
September 20th, 2018|Human Rights Defenders, India, Political Participation, Uncategorized, United Nations|
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