153 entries found
New research on Migrant Bonded Labour in India, released by the National Campaign Committee for the Eradication of Bonded Labour (NCCEBL), reveals a stark caste pattern among rescued migrant bonded labourers. Based on testimonies from around 950 workers, the survey finds that all surveyed labourers belonged to marginalised caste groups, with 63% from Scheduled Castes (Dalits), 13% from Scheduled Tribes, and 24% from Other Backward Classes, and none from the general category. The report also documents serious gaps in State support following rescue, noting that 63% of workers rescued after 2016 did not receive the interim travel assistance mandated immediately upon release, and that many eligible workers, particularly women and children, received no compensation at all.
A new report by Amnesty International, South Asia: Stitched up – Denial of freedom of association for garment workers in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, documents widespread violations of garment workers’ rights to organise and bargain collectively, while highlighting how gender, caste, migrant status and other intersecting forms of discrimination deepen exploitation and exclusion from trade union activity. The report details patterns of intimidation, union repression and weak enforcement of labour laws across the region, leaving already marginalised workers particularly vulnerable within global supply chains. IDSN welcomes the inclusion in the report of the work of IDSN affiliate, the Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union (TTCU), and underscores the importance of caste- and gender-responsive approaches to freedom of association as a foundation for responsible supply chains.
At the 14th UN Forum on Business and Human Rights, the IDSN #DalitVoicesUN delegation engagement underscored the urgent need to recognise caste discrimination in global supply chains and human-rights due diligence. Through active engagement in multiple sessions, the focus was on the importance of rights-based, people-centred frameworks aligned with international standards.
Recycling sector workers are frequently exposed to dust, chemicals and dangerous machinery without proper protective gear. Evidence collected so far also suggests that this workforce’s proportion of child and migrant labourers, who are most prone to exploitation and abuse, is alarmingly high. The sector operates with little to no governmental regulatory oversight and is entirely non-unionised, meaning that risks and violations often go unaddressed. Other investigations of the textile recycling industry in Panipat came to the same conclusions, highlighting especially the severe health issues.7
This briefing highlights the responsibilities of fashion companies in relation to the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework (UN Guiding Principles), and assesses the key ways in which fashion companies compound the failure of states and factory employers to protect workers and respect freedom of association. In this briefing, Amnesty International analyses the areas where fashion companies can work harder to promote freedom of association and decent working conditions across their supply chain in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. We identify how the current model of complex supply chains and privatized auditing in the industry diffuses responsibility and places a low value on the labour of the predominantly female garment workers, solidifying an exploitative business model which fashion companies need to address at its core. We make recommendations for how these companies can play a much larger role in promoting freedom of association for workers in their supply chain. This briefing is designed to be read alongside Amnesty International’s Stitched Up: Denial of Freedom of Association for Garment Workers in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka which looks in more detail at the human rights violations in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and the role of states and employers (supplier factories).
The Overworked and Underpaid (2025) report by Arisa examines labour rights violations in Pakistan’s garment industry, revealing systemic exploitation and precarity. From a caste perspective, it highlights how caste-affected and scheduled caste communities, often migrating from rural Sindh and southern Punjab, are funnelled into the most insecure, lowest-paid jobs in urban factories. Dalit Christians, in particular, are frequently relegated to cleaning and sanitation work, reflecting entrenched caste hierarchies even within urban industrial settings. These workers face compounded discrimination, invisibility in official data, and minimal access to unions or grievance mechanisms. Their marginalised social status intensifies vulnerability to wage theft, forced overtime, and retaliation for speaking up. The report underscores the need for brands and policymakers to integrate a caste lens into supply-chain due diligence and labour reforms to ensure meaningful inclusion and redress for caste-affected workers. The report is also available in Urdu here https://lnkd.in/eBqGke-3
The policy paper details how women from communities discriminated on the basis of work and descent (e.g. Dalit, Haratine etc.) suffer overlapping, structural discrimination combining gender, caste or descent, and socio-economic marginalization. It shows that these women face exclusion from basic services, disproportionate poverty, unsafe and informal employment, violence and harmful traditional norms, lack of political voice, and barriers in education and health. The report underscores that existing laws and policies often fail to reach them, either through weak implementation or because they are not designed with descent- and gender-sensitive lenses. It offers examples of promising practices and calls for state and UN actors to adopt intersectional approaches: data disaggregation, legal recognition of descent-based discrimination, targeted policy action, meaningful participation of affected women, and stronger accountability mechanisms.
In January 2025, Ethical Trade Norway convened a seminar titled “Responsible Trade with India – What Must You Know?” to explore the complexities of engaging with India’s vast and diverse market. The event underscored the critical importance of understanding caste-based discrimination, particularly against Dalits and Adivasis, within global supply chains. The Dalit Solidarity Network Norway also played an active role in the Seminar.
This report explores caste-based discrimination and challenges that Scheduled Caste workers face in Karachi’s export-oriented textiles and garment industry. While previous research has examined informality and marginalisation in the sector, there have been no previous studies of factors like race and ethnicity, religion and caste, beyond gender.
On 14 February 2025, IDSN, Arisa and Homeworkers Worldwide hosted a side-session at the OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector. The discussion addressed the exploitation of Dalit workers in South Asia’s garment and leather industries that form part of global supply chains. The panel featured voices from the frontlines of labour rights, each offering insights into caste discrimination, forced and bonded labour and caste and gender-based violence at work.
This IDSN submission highlights the pervasive issue of child labour among Dalit children in South Asia, particularly in India, where caste-based discrimination and systemic poverty exacerbate their vulnerability. Children as young as five are subjected to bonded labour in brick kilns, hazardous work in agriculture, forced labour in the textile industry, and domestic servitude, often under exploitative schemes like the “Sumangali” system. The IDSN underscores that these children, especially girls, face compounded risks of trafficking, sexual violence, and early marriage, which further entrench their marginalisation. To address these issues, the IDSN calls for the strict enforcement of existing laws, the elimination of caste-based discrimination in education and public services, and the implementation of comprehensive social protection measures to support vulnerable families and prevent child labour.
Video documentary - Protecting children from Pesticides in Pakistan
Vulnerable workers include Dalits and low-caste Hindus in India - most bonded laborers in the silk industry in India are from lower castes.
This report by SOMO and Arisa, supported by Mondiaal FNV, includes a detailed description and analysis of the human rights situation in the textile mills of Tamil Nadu where workers’ rights are being violated, workers are too afraid to object to sub-standard working conditions and excessive overtime for fear of losing their jobs, women are suffering harassment on the factory floor and in the hostels where they are obliged to live, and workers are not being paid a proper wage. This report makes painfully clear that there is a dire need for all corporate actors along the apparel supply chain to commit to heightened Human Rights Due Diligence in all phases of product development, also in the upstream supply chain. It includes clear recommendations to brands on what action they should take, and where their focus should lie. One such recommendation is engaging in rigorous supply chain mapping, along with, and this recommendation is close to my heart, actively committing to furthering freedom of association and collective bargaining. Facilitating the establishment and functioning of democratically elected, independent, factory-level trade unions that give workers a voice in improving their working conditions is essential to finally creating supply chains.
Background: In April 2022, Indian women- and Dalit-worker led union TTCU signed a historic agreement with clothing and textile manufacturer Eastman Exports to end gender-based violence and harassment at Eastman factories in Dindigul, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, India. TTCU, GLJ-ILRF, and AFWA also signed a legally binding agreement, subject to arbitration, with multinational fashion company H&M, which has an ongoing business relationship with Eastman Exports. This agreement requires H&M to support and enforce the TTCU-Eastman Exports agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, if Eastman Exports violates its commitments, H&M is obligated to impose business consequences on Eastman Exports until Eastman comes into compliance.
A recent OECD side-event, co-organised by Arisa and IDSN, delved into caste discrimination within global garment and footwear supply chains, offering practical insights for companies seeking to address this pervasive problem. Led by a panel of experts, the session provided actionable strategies tailored to the challenges posed by caste discrimination.
All speakers emphasized the need to educate all workers on their rights, the policies in place and how to access grievance and complaints mechanisms. It was also stressed that a closer examination of the social and cultural power dynamics at play and the staff composition may be needed in order to ensure this is done in a fully inclusive way. Participants were referred to the ETI-UK’s Base Code guidance: caste in global supply chains, for further information on caste discrimination and how to begin to address this in your supply chain. Ahead of the event Ethical Trade Norway published an article, in Norwegian, on caste discrimination in supply chains, by Maya Sunde Singh, who is also the Coordinator of the Dalit Solidarity Network Norway.
Dalit activists forming part of the IDSN delegation made their presence felt at the 25th EU-NGO Forum on Human Rights in Brussels, Belgium held from 4-6 December, 2023. Sunil Kumar Pariyar from Nepal and Prameela KP from India joined the forum to highlight the challenges faced by Dalit communities in their respective countries and beyond.
