3159 entries found
The Human Rights Measurement Initiative’s (HRMI) 2026 India report highlights a range of human rights concerns affecting Dalits. Based on assessments from human rights experts and practitioners in India, the report identifies Dalit communities as particularly vulnerable to violations of physical integrity rights, while Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians are specifically identified as being at risk of arbitrary arrest. Hindu Dalits are also reported to face restrictions on freedom of religion and belief, including discrimination in places of worship. On economic and social rights, the report points to displacement, exclusion, residential discrimination and segregation, as well as people being forced into manual, caste-based work. The findings form part of HRMI’s broader assessment of continuing human rights concerns in India.
ALTERNATIVE REPORT TO THE COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION (CERD) CASTE-BASED DISCRIMINATION REVIEW OF THE COMBINED 20th AND 21st PERIODIC REPORTS OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDIA - MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP INTERNATIONAL (MRG) and INTERNATIONAL DALIT SOLIDARITY NETWORK (IDSN) 118th Session of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), 10 to 25 August 2026
The 2025 Institute of Public Enterprise study, supported by India’s National Human Rights Commission, examines girl child labour in textile and garment clusters in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and highlights caste as an important structural factor shaping vulnerability and working conditions. Drawing on earlier research, it specifically notes the recruitment of young Dalit girls, including migrants and girls from poor rural areas, into Tamil Nadu spinning mills under multi-year arrangements linked to wages and end-of-contract payments, where restrictions on movement and poor living and working conditions have been documented (p. 36). The study’s own survey data show that 33.6% of the 720 women workers surveyed in Tamil Nadu were recorded as Scheduled Caste (SC), while 13.9% of 790 respondents in Karnataka were SC; the analysis finds statistically significant relationships between caste and both duration of employment and daily income, including evidence in Tamil Nadu that workers classified as general or forward caste received higher daily incomes than other caste groups (pp. 60–61, 86, 104–105, 138). ([NHRC][1]) More broadly, the report concludes that the expansion of the textile industry has been accompanied by caste, gender, class, and religious discrimination, with marginalised communities excluded from higher-skilled opportunities, and argues that girl child labour cannot be understood solely as a consequence of poverty but must also be addressed in relation to deeper social hierarchies and discriminatory structures (p. 159).
At the Asia Pacific Social Forum, held in Bangkok from 1–5 November 2025, Nepali Dalit civil society organisations used the regional platform to strengthen advocacy against caste-based discrimination and build wider alliances across Asia Pacific and Europe. The report now published highlights the initiative The Roadmap to End Caste Discrimination in Asia Pacific Region, which brought together civil society leaders to discuss reducing inequality, strengthening social movements, promoting implementation of legal and constitutional protections, investing in education and expanding digital campaigning.
The report Dalit Women’s Long Road to Justice: Monitoring 10 Years of SDG 5 in India through Caste, Gender and SRHR Lens, by All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch - AIDMAM, offers an evidence-based assessment of progress and persistent gaps in achieving gender equality for Dalit women in India over the past decade. Drawing on official data, existing research and primary interviews conducted in 2025 in Bihar, Haryana, Maharashtra, and Telangana, the report shows how caste-based patriarchy continues to shape discrimination, violence, harmful practices, barriers to justice and unequal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
IDSN facilitated a series of advocacy meetings and outreach activities in Brussels involving Dalit human rights defenders that took place in December 2025. The visit created an important opportunity to bring first-hand perspectives from South Asia into exchanges with EU institutions on caste-based discrimination, human rights and democratic governance and contribute to ongoing strategy work on caste discrimination.
At an OECD side session on 10 February, speakers highlighted caste discrimination as a serious and often overlooked human rights risk in global supply chains and called for stronger action to address it through human rights due diligence. The virtual session, From Principles to Practice: Addressing Caste and Advancing Nondiscrimination in Supply Chains, was hosted by the Fair Labor Association in collaboration with Arisa, IDSN and the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights. The discussion focused on how caste-based discrimination continues to affect workers in supply chains and on what companies can do in practice to identify, prevent and address these harms.
The UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Professor Nicolas Levrat, has urged Nepal to take stronger action to ensure that Dalits and minority communities can fully enjoy their rights after meeting with several IDSN members in Nepal.
During Nepal’s fourth-cycle Universal Periodic Review (UPR), UN Member States’ recommendations called for stronger action against caste-based discrimination, “untouchability”, and related patterns of exclusion and violence affecting Dalits, including Dalit women and Dalit children.
The highlights of the report include: ✅ Dalit women human rights defenders addressed the UN CEDAW Committee, calling for action on caste and gender based discrimination in Nepal ✅ The UN Special Rapporteur on Racism issued a landmark report recognising caste and gender as intersecting forms of structural discrimination ✅ IDSN co organised a CSW69 parallel event centring lived intersectionality and the leadership of Dalit women from South Asia ✅ Dalit human rights defenders engaged directly with EU institutions during two IDSN organised advocacy missions to Brussels ✅ Dalit activists contribute to EU-NGO session on discrimination based on work and descent leading to proposal for EU Strategy on Caste ✅ Dalit activists from India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan took part in an IDSN delegation and gave statements at the UN Forum on Minority Issues ✅ IDSN supported a Dalit delegation to Nepal’s UPR Pre Session and submitted a joint shadow report by 36 Dalit led organisations ✅ IDSN submitted multiple inputs to UN Special Procedures, Treaty Bodies and the Human Rights Council ✅ IDSN co-organised a joint Ethical Trading Initiative webinar on ‘Women leading change in global supply chains’ ✅ IDSN submitted an evidence based report to the European Commission to inform the EU Forced Labour Regulation Risk Database ✅ IDSN co-organised a side-event at the OECD Forum and participated in the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights, highlighting caste based labour exploitation in global supply chains
Tamil Nadu State Assembly Election 2026 Dalit – Tribal Election Manifesto
With growing evidence of labour exploitation across South Asia—this report provides an evidence- based analysis to assist the European Commission in identifying high-risk sectors connected to EU supply chains and in enforcing due diligence in line with the EU Forced Labour Regulation.
New research on Migrant Bonded Labour in India, released by the National Campaign Committee for the Eradication of Bonded Labour (NCCEBL), reveals a stark caste pattern among rescued migrant bonded labourers. Based on testimonies from around 950 workers, the survey finds that all surveyed labourers belonged to marginalised caste groups, with 63% from Scheduled Castes (Dalits), 13% from Scheduled Tribes, and 24% from Other Backward Classes, and none from the general category. The report also documents serious gaps in State support following rescue, noting that 63% of workers rescued after 2016 did not receive the interim travel assistance mandated immediately upon release, and that many eligible workers, particularly women and children, received no compensation at all.
A new report by Amnesty International, South Asia: Stitched up – Denial of freedom of association for garment workers in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, documents widespread violations of garment workers’ rights to organise and bargain collectively, while highlighting how gender, caste, migrant status and other intersecting forms of discrimination deepen exploitation and exclusion from trade union activity. The report details patterns of intimidation, union repression and weak enforcement of labour laws across the region, leaving already marginalised workers particularly vulnerable within global supply chains. IDSN welcomes the inclusion in the report of the work of IDSN affiliate, the Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union (TTCU), and underscores the importance of caste- and gender-responsive approaches to freedom of association as a foundation for responsible supply chains.
From 24–28 November, IDSN facilitated a delegation of Dalit human rights defenders from Nepal to come to Geneva for advocacy meetings ahead of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) pre-session of Nepal, as well as participation in the pre-session meeting. The visit enabled key Dalit human rights defenders to brief recommending States on ongoing caste and intersectional discrimination and the urgent need for stronger protections before Nepal’s UPR in January 2026.
At the 14th UN Forum on Business and Human Rights, the IDSN #DalitVoicesUN delegation engagement underscored the urgent need to recognise caste discrimination in global supply chains and human-rights due diligence. Through active engagement in multiple sessions, the focus was on the importance of rights-based, people-centred frameworks aligned with international standards.
On 4 December 2025, the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) joined global human rights leaders at United Nations HQ in Geneva for the High-Level Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). IDSN Executive Director, Meena Varma, spoke on Panel 2: “Realizing the Promise of Equality Without Distinction as to Race, Colour, Descent, or National or Ethnic Origin.” She underscored that caste discrimination — recognised by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) as falling under “descent” — must be treated as a priority under ICERD’s mandate. Speaking about the millions affected globally by caste and analogous systems of inherited inequality, she highlighted that caste discrimination remains one of the most entrenched and intersectional forms of human rights abuse today and called for action.
