Dalit and Adivasi activists protested in front of the Indian Parliament Tuesday, to convey their anger that India’s ruling parties have broken their promise to table important budget bills, meant to benefit Dalits and Adivasis (SCP TSP Legislation) and amendments to the act meant to prevent atrocities against Dalits and Adivasis (the SC/ST PoA act).
The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Rashida Manjoo called for the adoption of different norms and measures to fight violence against women around the world and a binding standard of accountability at the international level.
India is introducing new manual scavenging legislation meant to eradicate the humiliating practice of manual scavenging, which perseveres despite being outlawed for decades. Indian civil society are welcoming the initiative to introduce new legislation, but are flagging that the proposed draft legislation is missing critical necessary aspects that must be included before legislation is introduced on the 6th December.
Dalits in India have had enough of clever Government tricks to divert money meant for Dalits – under the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan – to other areas unrelated to them. They are demanding new legislation, to ensure that this practice, which has prevailed for years, is stopped and money is returned to the scheduled castes that were meant to benefit from them.
UN High Commissioner, Navi Pillay, delivers a powerful speech on the urgent need to wipe out the “insidious stain” of caste discrimination and urges the UK not to tarnish their excellent record on human rights, by delaying implementation of UK anti-caste discrimination legislation
Caste systems are present in four out of five countries ranked the worst slavery offenders, in the 2013 Global Slavery Index. India alone accounts for half of the people on the planet regarded as ’modern slaves’.
A new report reveals that Dalits are particularly vulnerable to disasters before and after they strike. Consequently, humanitarian actors must pay particular attention to their situation when preparing for and responding to emergencies.
Almost 16 years after the savage killings of 58 Dalits in a Bihar village, the survivors’ fight for justice has suffered a severe blow. On 9 October, the Patna High Court acquitted 26 men who were sentenced for the crime three years ago.
The National Tribunal on Violence Against Dalit Women, organised by AIDMAM, heard over 45 testimonies of Dalit women who had been subjected to kidnapping, murder, physical assault, sexual violence and other crimes against them, and have yet to obtain justice.
Next month, the European Parliament will express serious concern about caste discrimination and urge the EU to take action on this important human rights issue.
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