819 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).
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.
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.
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.
At the Eighteenth session of the UN Forum on Minority Issues in 2025, IDSN delegates highlighted the urgent need to address caste discrimination, violence and exclusion across South Asia. Dalit delegates from South Asia raised concerns around institutional impunity, structural marginalisation of Dalit women and the shrinking civic space for human rights defenders. They also emphasised the vital contributions of Dalit women workers and activists in fostering accountability, dignity and social cohesion at local and global levels
This briefing highlights the responsibilities of fashion companies in relation to the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework (UN Guiding Principles), and assesses the key ways in which fashion companies compound the failure of states and factory employers to protect workers and respect freedom of association. In this briefing, Amnesty International analyses the areas where fashion companies can work harder to promote freedom of association and decent working conditions across their supply chain in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. We identify how the current model of complex supply chains and privatized auditing in the industry diffuses responsibility and places a low value on the labour of the predominantly female garment workers, solidifying an exploitative business model which fashion companies need to address at its core. We make recommendations for how these companies can play a much larger role in promoting freedom of association for workers in their supply chain. This briefing is designed to be read alongside Amnesty International’s Stitched Up: Denial of Freedom of Association for Garment Workers in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka which looks in more detail at the human rights violations in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and the role of states and employers (supplier factories).
In January 2025, Ethical Trade Norway convened a seminar titled “Responsible Trade with India – What Must You Know?” to explore the complexities of engaging with India’s vast and diverse market. The event underscored the critical importance of understanding caste-based discrimination, particularly against Dalits and Adivasis, within global supply chains. The Dalit Solidarity Network Norway also played an active role in the Seminar.
On 14 February 2025, IDSN, Arisa and Homeworkers Worldwide hosted a side-session at the OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector. The discussion addressed the exploitation of Dalit workers in South Asia’s garment and leather industries that form part of global supply chains. The panel featured voices from the frontlines of labour rights, each offering insights into caste discrimination, forced and bonded labour and caste and gender-based violence at work.
This is a guest post written by Priyanka Samy from IDSN member organization National Federation of Dalit Women (NFDW) – July 2025 On March 3, 2025, the National Federation of Dalit Women (NFDW) and Women’s Voice convened, “Commemorating Beijing+30: Reflections and Forward-Looking Strategies – A National Assembly of Women from Marginalised Communities” in Bangalore, India. This historic convening brought together 250 feminist leaders from the Dalit, Adivasi, Bahujan, Muslim, LBTIQA+, persons with disabilities, and working-class communities from across 20 states in India. The aim of the meeting was to reflect on three decades of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), assess progress, and co-create strategies for a just, inclusive and intersectional future.
Cottonseed survey found ” 87% of the families of working children came from lower castes such as tribal people and dalits … Cotton seed producers usually employed children on a long-term contract basis by paying advances or loans to their parents. A survey of 320 chil- dren working on cotton seed farms revealed that about 95% of the children were in debt bondage: the children were effectively working off their parents’ debts in conditions of near slavery”
This report by SOMO and Arisa, supported by Mondiaal FNV, includes a detailed description and analysis of the human rights situation in the textile mills of Tamil Nadu where workers’ rights are being violated, workers are too afraid to object to sub-standard working conditions and excessive overtime for fear of losing their jobs, women are suffering harassment on the factory floor and in the hostels where they are obliged to live, and workers are not being paid a proper wage. This report makes painfully clear that there is a dire need for all corporate actors along the apparel supply chain to commit to heightened Human Rights Due Diligence in all phases of product development, also in the upstream supply chain. It includes clear recommendations to brands on what action they should take, and where their focus should lie. One such recommendation is engaging in rigorous supply chain mapping, along with, and this recommendation is close to my heart, actively committing to furthering freedom of association and collective bargaining. Facilitating the establishment and functioning of democratically elected, independent, factory-level trade unions that give workers a voice in improving their working conditions is essential to finally creating supply chains.
factsheet on Caste-based Gender Violence against Dalit Women and Girls in India. The factsheet is based on data analysis of the National Crime Records Bureau of India. The analysis concludes that the rise in atrocities against Dalit women and minor girls indicates that the existing laws are not effectively or appropriately enforced.The data that is caste disaggregated reflects this grim reality, while there is still much crime data that remains to be disaggregated - masking even bigger issues. Additionally low conviction, lesser punishment and higher disposal of cases related to Dalit women and girls, are found to be important factors to consider while working for prevention of violence against Dalit women and girls. The report also highlights several concrete cases of violations and the miscarriage of justice.
In the context of the reports presented at the 58th Council session, IDSN recommends States to pay particular attention to caste-based discrimination to ensure it is included on par with other forms of discrimination in thematic Human Rights Council resolutions.
Global Forum of Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent (GFoD) Submission to Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls to the UN General Assembly on violence against women andgirls in sport - includes information on Dalit women and girls in Nepal and India
