March was a very active month for Dalit women in Nepal who have been busy with activities to mark the International Women’s Day, the Social Women’s Forum and the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The many active participants at the events confirmed that there are plenty of women ready to ensure discrimination against women in Nepal is a thing of the past.
The IDSN 2010 Annual Report is now published and ready for download.
In a statement concluding her January visit to India, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, raised particular concern for the situation of Dalit human rights defenders and noted widespread deficiencies in implementation of laws to protect human rights defenders.
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.
The issue of caste discrimination is receiving welcome and significant international attention in a number of places. The IDSN November newsletter is reflecting this trend.
On the United Nations Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, 25th of November, Dalit women activists are urging the world to pay attention to the plight of women subjected to horrific acts of violence because of their caste and gender.
Manual scavengers from across India gathered at a mass rally in New Delhi Monday 1 November and demanded immediate government action to end manual scavenging once and for all, rehabilitate former manual scavengers and apologise for decades of suffering imposed on this group.
A march – or ‘yatra’ - for the eradication of manual scavenging in India was launched on 29 September. During the next few weeks, buses will carry campaigners from five different corners of India to the capital.
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.
Thousands of Dalit families in Pakistan’s Sindh province are thought to be affected by flooding and now face discrimination during relief efforts.
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