IDSN participated actively in the 51st session of the UN Human Rights Council, highlighting the need to tackle caste discrimination through participation at key events, interactive dialogues and oral statements.
At the 51st Regular Session of the Human Rights Council, Mr Tomoya Obokata, the Special Rapporteur on Slavery, will present his report focusing on the Contemporary forms of slavery affecting persons belonging to ethnic, religious and linguistic minority communities. Child labour and caste-based discrimination are closely interlinked alongside severe discrimination against Dalit women.
Despite being prohibited in many countries, slavery is widespread in South Asia. Forced and bonded labour, resulting in a loss of control over labour conditions and terms of work, is often interlinked with the caste system and related types of customary feudal agricultural relationships.
IDSN Response to EU Call for Evidence in the framework of the drafting of an EU forced labour Instrument
Tomoya Obokata, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, today welcomed progress in strengthening Mauritania’s legal framework and building the political will to combat slavery, but cautioned that much work still lay ahead.
Survey by the SR on contemporary forms of slavery
IDSN submission to the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary forms of Slavery for his study about slavery in the informal sector, to be presented at the 77th session of the UNGA.
Following his visit to Sri Lanka last week, the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Tomoya Obokata, raised concern over caste-based discrimination in Sri Lanka affecting the lives and opportunities for oppressed castes in the country.
Brief and recommendations in relation to the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights – 29 November- 1 December The rape and murder of a 20-year-old Dalit factory worker has attracted attention to poor working conditions and caste- and gender-based inequalities in India’s garment industry.
In connection with their participation in the 48 th Human Rights Council session, states are encouraged to consider the ongoing and systemic practice of discrimination based on work and descent, also known as caste-based discrimination, affecting more than 260 million people globally.
IDSN Executive Director, Meena Varma, spoke on the all-female panel of the live-streamed event organised by The Norwegian Church on July 31, to discuss the deep structural injustices characterising global production, consumption and trade, and what consequences these injustices have on the most vulnerable.
A Joint Civil Society* Contribution to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) for the adoption of the List of Issues Prior to Reporting on India has regretted that despite the abolition of untouchability enshrined in the Indian Constitution, and a constitutional formal prohibition of discrimination on the ground base of race or caste, under the Constitution, Dalits and other communities affected by discrimination based on descent, including Adivasis, still face de facto discrimination.
Minority Rights Group International (MRG) is deeply concerned about the arrests of a former slave, a journalist and two human rights defenders whose work is linked to the fight against descent-based slavery in Mauritania.
FBI agents were at a large Hindu temple in New Jersey on Tuesday as a new lawsuit claimed it was built by workers from marginalized communities in India who were lured to the U.S. and forced to work long hours for just a few dollars per day.
The Global Slavery Index estimates that 3,186,000 people are held in modern forms of slavery in Pakistan, ranking the country at 8th place among the world’s 167 nations with the highest prevalence of modern slavery. The most common form of modern slavery prevalent in Pakistan is bonded labour, mainly in agriculture and brick kilns sectors (production of bricks).
A report by Arisa and her Indian partner Centre for Labour Research and Action (CLRA) are releasing this week. The report highlights a slavery-like reality for many workers working in the seed industry sector. The abuses described in this report, such as forced labour, sexual exploitation, structural underpayment, and appalling working conditions, are still a daily reality in 2021. When these workers question their employers about facts, the narrative is quickly circulated that they are disobedient and this reduces their chances of future employment. If and when you buy cotton clothing ‘made in India’, these practices might be the hidden reality behind it.
Need and objectives for EU intervention on sustainable corporate governance
The Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development (EMRTD) has identified five themes on which it intends to submit studies to the Human Rights Council during its mandate term. One of these studies is on Racism, racial discrimination and the right to development. Article 5 of the Declaration on the Right to Development enjoinsstates to take resolute steps to eliminate the violations of the human rights of peoples affected by racism and racial discrimination. The elimination of racism is therefore recognized as essential to fulfilling the right to development.