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The situation regarding Dalits and modern forms of slavery

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.

Nepal: UN Poverty Expert says caste discrimination is “the single most important factor” explaining why Dalits are disproportionately affected by poverty – International Dalit Solidarity Network

Following his visit to Nepal that started on 29 November, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty, Olivier De Schutter, released a statement highlighting the persistent interconnections between caste and poverty in Nepal. The Rapporteur also raised issues of caste violence and the need to do more to ensure meaningful political representation of Dalit women in Nepal.

Dalit representatives complain of social discrimination

Most of the 100 Dalit representatives of the people in the three tiers of government, who have gathered in Kathmandu to share their four years of experience, have said that the discriminatory attitude towards the community still remains deeply rooted in society and this is affecting their performance.

A year on, India Dalit rape victim’s family waits for justice | News | Al Jazeera

The gang rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl in a village in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh last September had caused a public outcry and weeks of protests. But a year on, the family of the victim has told Al Jazeera that their hopes for justice are fading as the case has dragged on. Of the 104 witnesses only 15 have deposed in the court so far, said Seema Kushwaha, the victim’s lawyer.

Caste Is More Than a South Asian Problem — It Is a North American Issue | The Blueprint

Narendra Jadhav, author of Untouchables: My Family’s Triumphant Escape from India’s Caste System, observes that every sixth human is an Indian and every sixth Indian is a Dalit. The simple fact that over 16% of India’s population were historically excluded by caste-based cruelty — one of the world’s oldest forms of discrimination — from holding power in society and were cruelly called and treated as “untouchables” is sufficient to value the importance of taking a Dalit perspective today.

Input on Nepal in advance of the Visit of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights (2021)

Contribution by the International Dalit Solidarity Network The nature of poverty and inequality in Nepal, including how poverty is or should be defined and measured, its prevalence, and its distribution. In the specific context of Dalits, poverty walks hand in hand with the practice of untouchability, affecting access to work and meaningful income possibilities. Caste based discrimination affects 13.8% of the total population of Nepal,i comprised of seven Hill Dalit castes and 19 Madhesi Dalit castes. Caste based discrimination and untouchability (CBDU) continue to be deeply entrenched in Nepalese society.

Gang rape exposes caste violence in India and the limits of Me Too

After details of a violent gang rape in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, were released to the public last year, protests broke out all over India. The story of four upper-caste men brutalizing a 19-year old Dalit woman, and her subsequent death from injuries sent shock waves throughout the country. It set off new conversations about violence against marginalized women in India, challenging both traditional spaces and the urban middle- to upper-class Me Too movement.

How Dalit Women Are Fighting Back Against Rape, Assault

In India, women and girls from the Dalit community experience incredibly high rates of sexual violence. India’s caste system, which functions like a social hierarchy, imposes positionality at birth and has been in place for thousands of years. Dalits are at the bottom, outside the caste hierarchy, leading to discrimination at the intersections of caste, class, and gender.

India must consider untouchability as a form of racism: Civil society tells UN panel

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.