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ADRF: 260 million Dalits appeal for inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals
Reducing inequality and ’leaving no one behind” are paramount within the SDG framework.The zero draft outcome document of the Post 2015 SDG however gives no recognition to more than a quarter of a billion people discriminated and marginalised on the basis of caste. An SDG appeal has been launched by the Asian Dalit Rights Forum (ADRF) and co-signed by IDSN and dozens of other organisations, urging that caste discrimination be noted as a major cause of poverty and inquality, which must be taken into account in the outcome document.
ILO Resource Handbook for ending manual scavenging
The International Labour Organisation have now released the ILO Resource Handbook, a very useful tool in combating caste-based forced labour, and have also made a short summary of the handbook.
Report from IDSN UN side event: Caste and Gender-Based Forced and Bonded Labour
REPORT - Caste and Gender-Based Forced and Bonded Labour from UN HRC29 IDSN SIDE-EVENT 18th June 2015, 17.00-18.30
Caste, Gender and Forced and Bonded Labour (IDSN briefing note)
Briefing note including cases and quotes.
IDSN input on Dalit women in relation to the 59th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women
When the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) convenes to discuss challenges that affect the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women at its 59th session in March 2015, there is an urgent need to address the link between caste and the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence faced by Dalit women.
World Bank President and UN Secretary-General: Ending India’s caste-based exclusion is key to shared prosperity
Speaking at the Indian Council of World Affairs UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the need for inclusive growth for shared prosperity saying that, “millions of Dalits, Tribals and others still face discrimination, especially the women and girls.” On a visit to Gujarat the World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, similarly cautioned that while India was an accelerating economy, “Indian society has an enduring exclusion that is based, among other things, on caste identities. This bias can impede shared prosperity, serving as a basis for discrimination in many spheres, including in employment and other markets, as well as in public services.”
India’s blocking of IDSN’s UN consultative status continues
Despite serious concern raised by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of assembly and association, the International Service on Human Rights and others, over the 8-year deferral of the International Dalit Solidarity Network’s (IDSN) application for UN consultative (ECOSOC) status, the unjust questioning of IDSN continues and the application is again deferred.
India denies ‘caste’ as factor of gender inequality – The Hindu: Mobile Edition
India on Tuesday changed the word caste to “social origin” in the draft Asian and Pacific ministerial declaration on advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment at the conference under way here to review the goals of the Beijing platform for action 20 years later.
Govt team insisted not to use the word ‘caste’, say activists (The Indian Express)
Members of Indian civil society participating in the United Nations-Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) conference in Bangkok have alleged that the official delegation from India insisted that the word ‘caste’ not be mentioned in the outcome document of the meet. The conference, centred around womens’ issues in Asia and the Pacific, was aimed at setting out a fresh agenda for the 20-year anniversary of the Beijing Conference (Beijing 20+) in 2015.
India called out at UN General Assembly for blocking IDSN’s UN consultative status
At the UN General Assembly meeting on the 28th October, The UN Special Rapporteur on the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, criticised India for arbitrarily blocking the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) from obtaining UN consultative status calling it “clearly unacceptable, wrong and unfair.”
Breaking Free: Life After Manual Scavenging by UN India – Exposure
“I used to throw up all the time because I could not take the smell,” says Sevanti Bai, recalling the many decades she worked as a manual scavenger in Dewas district in Madhya Pradesh. Convinced by others in her community and the law which prohibits manual scavenging, she quit in 2007. Since then, she and her family have struggled, making ends meet, through odd jobs, working in the fields and cleaning grains.
Breaking Free: From Manual Scavenging to Fish Farming by UN India – Exposure
Manual scavenging refers to the practice of manually cleaning, carrying, disposing or handling in any manner, human excreta from dry latrines and sewers. Since 1993, key legislations have been enacted prohibiting employment of people as manual scavengers, banning the construction of dry latrines and providing rehabilitation. Yet, a significant proportion of an estimated 2.6 million dry latrines in India continue to be cleaned manually.
Breaking Free: Women champions end manual scavenging by UN India – Exposure
Breaking Free: Women Champions End Manual Scavenging Despite legislation that prohibits manual scavenging, it is estimated that a significant proportion of the country’s 2.6 million dry latrines are cleaned manually. Women comprise the vast majority of manual scavengers. Community advocates are playing an important role in ending the practice.
Breaking Free: Rehabilitating Former Manual Scavengers (UN India)
UN agencies in India team up to focus on fighting caste discrimination
Convened by the United Nations Development Programme, six UN agencies including IFAD, ILO, UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women are working together to help accelerate inclusion of Dalit and Adivasi issues and access to rights in national and state policy and planning processes.
Caste-based discrimination highlighted at the UN Human Rights Council – HRC27
The reports and statements of the new High Commissioner for Human Rights, Special Rapporteur on Slavery and Special Rapporteur on Water and Sanitation at the HRC27 session offered general, thematic as well as state specific observations and recommendations on caste-based discrimination.
‘India not willing to accept failure in providing safety measures to women’ (The Hindu)
"Referring to India’s opening statement at CEDAW, senior advocate Vrinda Grover noted that “seriousness of engagement was lacking on many issues and basic understanding was lacking in responses”. By Sowmiya Ashok
UN CEDAW Committee raises serious concern for Dalit women and the lack of implementation of laws
In the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), review of India on 2 July 2014, the issues of Dalit women and girls were brought up by several experts of the Committee and the Committee noted that Dalit women and the lack of implementation of laws were matters of serious concern.
Caste-references in the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child 2014 Review of India
References to caste issues UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) review of India (2-3 June 2014) in the 66th session of the Committee