Joint Statement: EU Should Speak Out Against India’s Rights Violations
Bilateral Human Rights Dialogue Scheduled for January 12
(Brussels,January 11, 2021) — The EU should take a strong stand and press India to immediately end systemic human rights violations, seven organizations said today, ahead of the European Union-India human rights dialogue scheduled for January 12, 2021. India should also free all detained […]
Ethical Trade Norway event highlights the need to tackle caste discrimination in global supply chains
IDSN presented on the panel of the event “Modern Slavery: Stakeholder dialogue on Caste in Global Supply Chains” organised by Ethical Trade Norway on 14 December, to discuss ways to tackle caste discrimination in global supply chains and the need for global companies to act on this.
Kicking off the event the Executive Director of Ethical Trade Norway, Heidi Furustøl, […]
IDSN speaks out about caste-hate speech at EU NGO Forum keynote panel
IDSN highlighted the need for urgent action to curb caste-hate speech “spreading like wildfire”, speaking at the EU NGO Human Rights Forum keynote panel on ‘Fundamental Rights and Freedoms in the Digital Sphere’.
Speaking on behalf of IDSN, Ritwajit Das, explained to the Forum participants that while social media has […]
UN experts raise concern over caste-based slavery
UN experts spoke out about the links between discrimination and slavery at the webinar “Contemporary Slavery & Racial Discrimination: Civil Society Support to Survivors during the Pandemic” organised by the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, the UN Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, the Geneva Human Rights Platform and the UK Mission in Geneva, on […]
Report: Justice is denied in caste-based sexual violence cases
The report ‘Justice Denied: Sexual Violence and Intersectional Discrimination’ just released by Equality Now in collaboration with Swabhiman Society, looks at barriers to accessing justice for Dalit women and girls in Haryana, India. The report analyses 40 cases of sexual violence in Haryana and highlights their journey through the criminal justice system. It describes the specific […]
EU Human Rights chief discusses caste violence with Dalit women activists
EU Special Representative for Human Rights, Eamon Gilmore and India and Nepal desk representatives of the European External Action Service (EEAS) met with IDSN and Dalit women activists from the Feminist Dalit Organisation – Nepal (FEDO) and All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch (AIDMAM-NCDHR) to discuss caste-based violence against Dalit women in their respective countries. The meeting was held […]
Caste-hate speech highlighted at the 2020 UN Minority Forum
IDSN delivered strong statements at the UN Forum on Minority Issues on the theme “Hate Speech, Social Media and Minorities” highlighting the need to address caste-hate speech. The Forum was held in Geneva and virtually from 19-20 November 2020.
UN Special Rapporteur, Fernand De Varennes, opened the Forum stating,
“In many countries, more than 80% of hate speech targets minorities, […]
Angela Davis speaks up about #DalitLivesMatter
Veteran civil rights and #BlackLivesMatter campaigner Professor Angela Davis has given a video statement about the need for increased solidarity with the #DalitLivesMatter movement.
The statement can be viewed on YouTube and as a text transcription below:
Transcription of Professor Angela Davis statement (uploaded on 27th October 2020)
Greetings. It is a major honor to be able to participate in this […]
Petition: UN – Act now and hold member states accountable for elimination of caste-based discrimination
The Dalit Human Rights Defenders Network has launched a petition to call for the United Nations to build forward better on descent and caste-based discrimination. The petition includes concrete recommendations for civil society, UN human rights council members and UN members states, UN special procedures mandate holders and treaty bodies.
The petition can be signed here >>
The petition […]
The Dalit Solidarity Network Finland celebrates its 10th anniversary
The Dalit Solidarity Network – Finland (DSNFi) celebrated its tenth anniversary as an online celebration on 16 November 2020. The celebration brought together more than thirty participants from Nepal, India, UK and many parts of Finland.
In her keynote address, Heidi Hautala, Finnish MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament, emphasized human rights for Dalits including the need for clean […]