Ambassadors join the fight to end caste discrimination
PRESS RELEASE
5 February 2019
“The fight to end caste discrimination is at the root of some of the most horrendous human rights violations facing the world today including modern slavery, violence against women, extreme poverty and grave failures of the justice system in affected countries across the world,” said one of the new IDSN Ambassador, Professor Gay McDougall, Member the UN […]
Report finds entrenched caste discrimination in India’s criminal justice system
“Criminal Justice in the Shadow of Caste” is a pioneering report looking at the administration of criminal justice in India through a caste lens. The findings reveal discrimination at all levels, including within prisons. The report has been released by IDSN member, the National Dalit Movement for Justice (NDMJ-NCDHR), in collaboration with the National Centre for Dalit Human […]
‘Statelessness’ of Dalit communities raised at the UN Forum on Minority Issues
Renu Sijapati from the Feminist Dalit Organization of Nepal (FEDO Nepal), gave a statement at the Forum underscoring the many obstacles faced by Dalits in Nepal in obtaining citizenship certificates, which would enable them to register on the voter’s list, register marriages or births, buy or sell land, appear in professional exams, open bank accounts or have […]
New IDSN strategy presented at the General Assembly 2018
Members and associates shared the latest updates from their respective countries and future plans were discussed. A new IDSN 5-year strategy was also adopted, which will be finalised and published in the beginning of 2019. The assembly provided a good platform to network and learn from each other […]
European Parliament calls on the EU to step up action at the UN and delegation levels to eliminate caste-based discrimination
PRESS RELEASE
December 12th 2018
The International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) welcomes today’s adoption of the European Parliament’s annual report on human rights and democracy in the world 2017 and the European Union’s policy on the matter.
Once again Members of the European Parliament have condemned, “the continuing human rights violations committed against people suffering from caste hierarchies and caste-based discrimination, […]
We have a dream
In 1948, the year that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed, thousands of Dalits gathered outside a temple in India, from which they had been barred entry because of their caste. A bill had been passed making it illegal to forbid entry to temples on the grounds of caste, but as the group approached, the temple priests […]
UN Special Rapporteur asks Nepal to act on violence against Dalit women
The UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Dubravka Šimonović made a preliminary assessment on violence against women in Nepal, after her official visit to the country, which took place from the 19 to the 29 November. On the same occasion, she released an urgent appeal for the Nepalese State to step up efforts to […]
EU encouraged to step up action on the issue of caste discrimination in global supply chains
The hearing was chaired by MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, Chair of the subcommittee on human rights. Ramesh Nathan focused his presentation on caste and contemporary slavery in supply chains with a specific focus on the Sumangali system in Tamil Nadu.
During his intervention, he acknowledged that the European Parliament has been at the forefront of the international community in addressing caste discrimination […]
Dalit human rights defenders attend the EU-NGO Forum
The overarching theme for the 2018 Forum was “Defending universality – Making Human Rights Reality”. 2018 marked the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration, the 25th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action as well as the 20th anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and the Rome Statute.
In the margins of the Forum, the IDSN delegation […]
UN women’s committee makes recommendations to Nepal to address discrimination against Dalit women
The Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) has released its Concluding Observations, after the periodic review of Nepal. The CEDAW Committee took note of a number of concerns regarding Dalit women and made relevant recommendations.
Below is a summary of the recommendations – for more information on IDSN’s participation in the […]