Asha Kowtal, General Secretary of the National Dalit Women’s movement in India (AIDMAM), and Dalit filmmaker Thenmozhi Soundararajan, brought the campaign to end violence against Dalit women to European decision-makers and public gathering in May. The two women spoke at a number of significant events in Europe to report back on the recent Self-respect march for Dalit women in India.
Dalit Human rights defenders and a team from the IDSN secretariat took part in The European Instrument on Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) 2014 Forum on Protecting Those Who Protect. Asha Kowtal, General Secretary of the National Dalit Women’s movement in India, spoke about Dalit women human rights defenders as part of a panel while Henri Tiphagne raised the issue of shrinking space for human rights defenders in India from the floor.
The European Parliament are urging EU member states to address caste discrimination at the March session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC25), currently underway. IDSN has issued recommendations for the HRC25 and Navi Pillay and Ban Ki-moon mention caste in their contributions to the council session.
The IDSN Annual Report sums up significant developments in the struggle against caste discrimination in 2013.
The Human Rights and Democracy Network has launched a campaign asking Members of the European Parliament and candidates for the EP to take 5 pledges to stand up for human rights.
Press release: The elected representatives of half a billion Europeans from 28 countries in the European Parliament (EP) today adopted a strongly worded resolution on caste discrimination.
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.
A discussion in the European Parliament’s Development Committee on 8 July focused on the need for an EU policy on caste discrimination. MEPs believe that this serious human rights problem warrants EU priority action and are preparing a resolution on the issue.
The violent assault on a Dalit village in Nepal has led to strong protests from Dalit civil society as well as international condemnation.
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