Read the IDSN February newsletter
The latest IDSN newsletter once again underlines that caste discrimination is a serious international human rights issue.
The latest IDSN newsletter once again underlines that caste discrimination is a serious international human rights issue.
In the run up to human rights day 2010 Dalit activists have been mobilising through marches and awareness raising activities from activism in Nepal, a march in India, and human chains in Bangladesh to an exhibition in the UK to highlight the plight of Dalits. These are great initiatives, but the battle for securing human rights for more that 260 million Dalits, discriminated against on the basis of their caste, is fought every day in the communities by Dalit men, women and children who speak up to stop discrimination against them despite the risk of violence, rape, public humiliation, destruction of property and other acts of reprisal.
This month's IDSN newsletter features information on Dalit issues from several caste-affected countries, including India, Bangladesh and Nigeria, as well as numerous stories with an international perspective.
Two Independent Experts - on water and sanitation and on human rights and extreme poverty - expressed serious concern about the human rights situation of Dalits during their visit to Bangladesh earlier this month.
The Dalit community in Bangladesh has urged the government to enact a special law that makes caste discrimination a punishable offence.
The Guardian has published an investigation into the lives of Dalit women in Bangladesh. The author of the article, Mary Griffin, came second in the British newspaper’s International Development Journalism Competition.
Read the May newsletter here with all the latest news on caste-based discrimination from the IDSN network.
The first Dalit National Human Rights Conference and the Universal Periodic Review sheds light on Dalit issues in Bangladesh.