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UN: Plight of Dalit women highlighted by the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women

“The intergenerational nature of caste-based discrimination condemns women to a life of exclusion, marginalization and disadvantage in every sphere of life. Many of those women are denied an education and economic opportunities, and perform dangerous and unprotected work, including … modern forms of slavery,” stated the SR on Violence against Women, Ms. Rashida Manjoo, in her report following her mission to India.

May 5th, 2014|Bangladesh, Dalit Women, India, United Nations|
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Human Rights Watch Report: India’s marginalized denied education

Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims are most at risk of dropping out of school and being denied an education in India – states the comprehensive report “They say we’re dirty” – Denying an Education to India’s Marginalised, just released by Human Rights Watch.

April 30th, 2014|Dalit Children, Dalit Women, Education, India|
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Dalit girls exploited in India’s garment industry

A new report finds that Dalit girls in India's garment industry live in hostels, with little freedom of movement, are underpaid for long working-days and working under hazardous conditions.

April 20th, 2014|Business, Caste-based slavery, Dalit Children, Dalit Women|
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Groundbreaking Report on Claiming Justice for Dalits in India

Told directly from victims, witnesses, community members, human rights defenders and public officials, the report analyzes over 400 atrocity cases, with 20 in-depth case studies covering atrocities such as murder, rape, mass attack, and land grabbing.

April 18th, 2014|Access to justice, India|
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Dalit women ignite the audience at the Women in The World Summit in New York

“Even if no one else recognizes us as human, we will shout it from the rooftops. … The shame is not on the women, the shame is on India,” said US Dalit woman filmmaker Thenmozhi Soundararajan in the talk she gave together with Asha Kowtal from AIDMAM, at the high profile Women in The World Summit in New York**. Uma Thurman introduced the talk by playing the part of a Dalit woman rape victim and NBC anchor Cynthia McFadden moderated the discussion.

April 9th, 2014|Dalit Women, Diaspora, India|
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A landmark judgement in the fight to eradicate manual scavenging

The Indian Supreme Court has ruled that the continuance of manual scavenging in the country is in blatant violation of Article 17 of the Constitution of India by which, “untouchability is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden”. The court was emphatic about the duty cast on all states and union territories “to fully implement the law and to take action against the violators”.

March 31st, 2014|Access to justice, Caste-based slavery, Manual Scavenging|
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Dalit women in India stage month-long march for justice

For a full month Dalit women have marched in India to fight the vicious cycle of caste and gender discrimination that severely restricts the lives of Dalit women and subjects them to violence, rape and violations of their basic human rights in almost every sphere. They are marching to empower other Dalit women to stand up for themselves and join in the fight and they are demanding justice.

March 19th, 2014|Access to justice, Dalit Women, India|
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Drought in Pakistan kills over 100 children – many are Dalits

Urgent and sustainable relief is needed for Dalits residing in the Thar desert who are repeatedly struck by drought. Over 100 children have died in this last drought and the Pakistan Dalit Solidarity Network have issued a press release calling for action to address the cause of these humanitarian catastrophes in Thar and find sustainable solutions to protect Dalits from droughts in future.

March 10th, 2014|Dalit Children, Humanitarian Aid, Pakistan|
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South Asian parliamentarians join together to fight caste discrimination

Parliamentarians from India, Nepal and Bangladesh have formed the ‘South Asian Parliamentary Forum’ (SAPF) to combat caste discrimination, at the historic ‘South Asia Parliamentarians Conference on Dalit Concerns’ in Kathmandu 8-9th December.

February 4th, 2014|Political Participation, South Asia|
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UNICEF: Dalit girls most excluded from primary education in India

A report just released by UNICEF and UNESCO on out of school children in India highlights that Dalit girls have the highest primary school exclusion rate in India. The report also finds that half of the Pre-School age Dalit children are not attending school.

January 30th, 2014|Dalit Children, Dalit Women, Education, India|
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