Links: bangladesh
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Are we still in dark age? Children of cobblers treated like dirt (The Daily Star – Bangladesh)
Dalit Children in Bangladesh (Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2015)
The report examines the current situation of Dalit children and provides information about the implementation gaps in the enforcement of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, and makes recommendations for the Committee’s examination. The observations are based on independent studies and reports, case documentation, and recommendations by other UN human rights bodies.
IDSN briefing note on Bangladesh
Are we still in dark age? Children of cobblers treated like dirt in Magura school (Parittran)
Ten-year-olds are made to clean their school toilets by the teachers. The elders in their families cannot have tea at local stalls or a haircut at the barber’s, and they are not invited to any social event. All these because they are from a caste considered low in the local Hindu community.
Bangladesh ‘untouchables’ demand equal rights (Andalou Agency)
Ashok Das, the secretary of Bangladesh Dalit Parishad, which represents Dalits in Bangladesh, said: "We are submitting a 10-point memorandum to the government which includes passing an act to eliminate racial discrimination, to have quotas for their representation in all elected bodies including the National Parliament and to have quota in the higher education institutions."
‘A Tragedy of Dignity’: Life as One of Bangladesh’s ‘Untouchables’ (VICE News)
By Sally Hayden. "There is no future for us here," Ratan Basfur says angrily. Basfur is an "untouchable," a member of one of Bangladesh's lowest castes, and his surname cements it. The Basfurs are part of the "sweeper class" that live in Horijon Polli, a densely packed slum in Mymensingh District that contains 1,200 households, with an average of five inhabitants in each. unni Basfur works three cleaning jobs. She wakes at 4am to clean the street, employed casually by the city government. Then she moves on to a pharmaceutical company to do a two-hour cleaning shift, and does another half an hour's work in a store. She spoke about one of the biggest concerns of the sweeper class — the fact that they've condemned their offspring to a life in the lowest caste. There have even been reports of untouchables sending their children away and encouraging them to change their names, in the hopes that the next generation can escape the stigma that has plagued their parents.
Ensure basic human rights of Dalits (The Daily Star)
Several Dalit organisations in Bangladesh including BDERM and FAIR held rallys and other events to spread awareness of discrimination against Dalits in Bangladesh on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Plight of Dalits: Discrimination against them needs redressing (Daily Star – Bangladesh)
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.
Dalits demand education quota, separate budget (The Independent)
Seminar organised by Bangladesh Dalit Parishad and NGO Parittran
Public Hearing: Discrimination and Atrocity on Dalit and Excluded Community in Bangladesh
The hearing was held by the Bangladesh Dalit and Excluded Rights Movement.
Modern Slavery in Bangladesh (NYTimes, 2014)
Kabir Akon, a child rights campaigner who works for Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, says that the complexity of class and caste is one of the main reasons it is so hard to improve labor conditions.
A Summary Report on the Bangladesh Dalit and Exluded Rights Movement (BDERM) 2014 National Council
Short Profile of Bangladesh Dalit and Excluded Women’s Federation
BDEWF has been fighting against the work and descent based discrimination, working in building leadership within Dalit women community, providing organizational capacity & professional skill training and organizing awareness activities along with taking existence principles in national and international level to eliminating the discrimination practices to Dalits and working for effective implementation of those.
IDSN overview – UN on caste in Bangladesh
IDSN overview of references to caste-based discrimination in Bangladesh in reviews and reports of UN human rights mechanisms (Treaty Bodies, Universal Periodic Review, Special Procedures). The Treaty Bodies section contains a thematic overview of issues and recommendations from treaty body reviews of Bangladesh on caste-based discrimination. The UPR section contains an overview of recommendations made on caste-based discrimination and the government’s response. And the Special Procedures section contains extracts on caste-based discrimination from the reports of the four Special Rapporteurs who have addressed the issue. The overview also includes a list of relevant upcoming UN reviews of Bangladesh
South Asian Parliamentarians meet to discuss strategies for ending caste discrimination
Thirty-one parliamentarians from India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh gathered for a meeting of the Asian Parliamentarians’ Forum on Dalit Concerns in Kathmandu, at the fringes of the 2014 SAARC meeting. The former Prime Minister of Nepal, Baburam Bhatttarai, delivered a remarkable keynote speech, calling for an international framework and a regional thematic approach to eliminate caste discrimination, and cooperation between South Asian parliamentarians for a common agenda.
Dalit women fight for their rights with marches and mass events in Nepal and India
Dalit women from Nepal, India and Bangladesh joined hands to assert their rights at a rally in Kathmandu, at the fringes of the people’s SAARC meeting. Hundreds of Dalit women from across Nepal gathered at the FEDO National Dalit Women conference, to put Dalit women’s rights on the agenda and In India several long marches and mass gatherings of Dalit women took place throughout November and December.
Bangladesh Dalit protest – demand dignity (DalitBangladesh)
On the occasion of World Dignity Day, Bangladesh Dalit rights organisations arranged a colourful rally, human chain, road strikes, street gathering and mass mobilization to protest against caste discrimination highlighting the demand of immediate enactment of anti-discrimination act.