UN Deputy High Commissioner gravely concerned about caste discrimination

The UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kate Gilmore, has reiterated her office’s strong commitment to addressing caste discrimination as an important priority in its work. In a meeting in Geneva on 16 March with Dalit human rights campaigners from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal as well as other members of the International Dalit Solidarity Network, Ms Gilmore described […]

|Categories: Bangladesh, Human Rights Defenders, India, Nepal, Pakistan, United Nations|Tags: |

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UN expert calls on states to end caste discrimination

GENEVA, 17 MARCH 2016 — Caste-affected countries should take urgent and comprehensive action to combat caste discrimination, the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Rita Izsàk-Ndiaye, says in a new report on the issue published this week. The report was presented and discussed in the Human Rights Council on 15th March. “The issue of caste discrimination has touched me since the beginning […]

|Categories: Access to justice, Africa, Dalit Women, Human Rights Defenders, India, South Asia, United Nations, Violence and atrocities, Yemen|Tags: |

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HRW/IDSN: Ending discrimination based on caste and descent

The UN Human Rights Council, its member states and UN bodies should work much harder to eliminate one of the world’s worst forms of discrimination. This is the overall message from Human Rights Watch and IDSN in their joint statement titled Ending discrimination based on caste and descent. The statement includes a number of important recommendations. HRW and IDSN […]

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Indian budget fails to deliver for Dalits

Approximately one fourth of India’s population consists of Dalits and Adivasis, and they are supposed to receive budget allocations according to their numbers. But yet again, these groups have been let down by the country’s government in the 2016 budget. Allocations for Scheduled Castes (Dalits) under the new budget is only 7.6 per cent when the due amount should actually […]

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UN expert urges states to combat caste discrimination

Caste-affected countries must take urgent and comprehensive action to combat caste discrimination, the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues says in a new, strongly worded report on one of the world’s most serious human rights issues that affects more than 250 million people. In her report on ‘Minorities and discrimination based on caste and analogous systems of inherited status’, Ms […]

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Bangladesh: Millions of Dalits need water and sanitation

Clean water is a luxury for the Dalits of Dhaka. While members of the Bangladeshi capital’s non-Dalit population mostly boil or filter their water, the economically deprived and discriminated Dalits often have to make do with unsafe water sources. “We are lucky to have some source of water; hygienic […]

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Dalit student suicide – the last drop in a cauldron of injustice

His is not the first Dalit student suicide, there have been many before him who have found no alternatives to the exclusion and ostracism they faced, as was also documented in the 2011 documentary on Dalit student suicides “The Death of Merit”. In 2007, the Professor Thorat Committee also presented a report on caste discrimination in the […]

|Categories: Access to justice, Education, Human Rights Defenders, India|Tags: |

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Report: “Even war discriminates’: Yemen’s minorities, exiled at home”

The report examines how minorities in Yemen are coping, as war continues to ravage the country, exacerbated by countless airstrikes and import embargoes. MRG writes that as of December 2015, the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that 21.2 million Yemenis, around 82 per cent of the country’s population, were in need of humanitarian assistance: […]

|Categories: Humanitarian Aid, Violence and atrocities, Yemen|Tags: |

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Dalits fight for a fair share of the budget in India

In a press release issued by the NACSTL on 12 January 2016 the coalition writes: The National Coalition on SCP TSP Legislation (NACSTL) today as part of pre-budget consultation of the Finance Ministry has submitted memorandum of Schemes for the due amount that the Government has an obligation to allocate towards the development of SCs and STs in the country. Recently, Comptroller and Auditor General […]

|Categories: Access to justice, India|Tags: |

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Milestone act amending India’s caste atrocity legislation passed

In a victory for the Dalit movement in India and for all committed to justice and equality, a historic act amending the ‘Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) legislation has been passed by the upper house of parliament December 21st 2015, after the lower house passed it in August, 2015. The National Coalition on Strengthening PoA Act (NCSPA) […]

|Categories: Access to justice, India, Violence and atrocities|Tags: |

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