Read the IDSN February newsletter
The latest IDSN newsletter once again underlines that caste discrimination is a serious international human rights issue.
Archive | Nepal
UPR: Many caste references in Nepal review
More than 20 states referred to caste discrimination in their interventions during the Universal Periodic Review of Nepal. The Nepali government has expressed its support for a number of the recommendations made on 25 January in Geneva.
Read the IDSN January Newsletter
The IDSN January 2011 newsletter includes news that: Campaigners for Dalit rights finished 2010 on a strong note with lots of activities around Human Rights Day on 10 December and participation in various international events. In India, terrible atrocities against Dalits continued to make headlines, and in Nepal, the efforts to include strong provisions against caste discrimination in the constitution gained further momentum. The United Kingdom move closer to making caste discrimination illegal, as government commissioned research provided evidence of this form of discrimination in British society.
GalleryNepal: NDC and OHCHR analyse Untouchability Bill
The National Dalit Commission of Nepal (NDC) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal (OHCHR-Nepal) have called for improvements in a draft bill on caste discrimination.
Nepal urged to include measures to combat caste discrimination in constitution
The International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN), Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University School of Law (CHRGJ), Lawyers’ National Campaign for Elimination of Caste Discrimination (LANCAU), Dalit Studies and Development Centre (DSDC), Feminist Dalit Organization (FEDO) have today, on the occasion of Human Rights Day, issued a letter to the Constitutional Committee and the High Level Taskforce in Nepal urging that they include measures to combat caste discrimination in the constitution.
GalleryHuman Rights Day: Speak up! Stop Caste Discrimination
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.
GalleryNepal government urged to ensure justice for victims of caste discrimination
A monitoring mission in Siraha district of Eastern Nepal has prompted human rights monitors to urge the government to act immediately to ensure access to justice for victims of caste and gender discrimination.
GalleryIDSN group meets Minister
Three Dalit veterans of the international struggle against caste discrimination were part of an IDSN delegation that met the Danish Minister for Development, Søren Pind, in Copenhagen on 8 September.
GalleryNGOs call for ban on Haliya system
The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) and the Jagaran Media Center, a Nepalese NGO, are urging the UN Human Rights Council to ensure that Nepal ends the Haliya system of bonded labour. Most Haliyas are Dalits.
GalleryConference on Dalit issues in Nepal
The international conference “Envisioning New Nepal: Dynamics of Caste, Identity and Inclusion of Dalits” covered a number of important issues.