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 […]

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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: […]

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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 […]

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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) […]

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Report: Atrocities against Dalits rising, access to justice is not

According to National Crimes Statistics presented in the report there has been a 19,4% increase in crimes against Dalits from the previous year. The number of cases registered under the Scheduled Caste (Dalits) and Scheduled Tribes (Adivasis) Prevention of Atrocities act has also risen every year since […]

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Bangladesh: Human chain to end violence against women

In a news release on the human chain the Bangladesh Dalit and Excluded Rights Movement (BDERM) writes: “Dalit women and girls are often become the victim of violence and atrocity. They are discriminated and abused in the family, society and state. Insecurity, uncertainity, deprivation, rape, murder, physical torture and abduction are the cruel destiny for many of the Dalit women […]

|Categories: Bangladesh, Dalit Women|Tags: |

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