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Seen as polluted or dirty, Dalits face socialand often violent sanction if they touch a water
tap, drink from a cup or enter into an area of
town that is used by dominant castes. Their
access to food, water, housing, market outlets,
employment opportunities as well as health and
education services is limited by the surrounding
society.
International human rights conventions oblige
state parties regardless of political, economic
and cultural systems to promote and protect
all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Governments of caste-affected countries have
a duty to effectively put an end to caste-based
discrimination, but are not living up to their
obligations.
The continued non-implementation of human
rights standards and national legal provisionsfor the protection and non-discrimination of
Dalits in a number of South Asian countries
has consistently been raised in several United
Nations forums.
Untouchables:Separate andUnequal
...caste determines what one is allowed to be, what one is forced to,
and denies ones ability to live a life of human dignity. Caste is an all
encompassing frame of barriers and violations for those of us the
Dalits at the bottom of the caste system. VI NCE NT MA NO H A R A N, I ND I A
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Pangu PWD Sweeper Colony,Agargoan, Dhaka, Bangladesh
SEPTEMBER 2007
Sweeping the streets is a dirty job and Dhakas
sweepers are mainly Dalits. They are confined
to live in slums this one set up by their
employer, the Power Works Department (PWD).
500 people live in 98 shacks under unsanitary
conditions. Each shack is extremely small, onlya few square meters. The authorities provide
no safe drinking water, no electricity and no
special health facilities. There are no schools in
the vicinity.
Pangu PWD Sweeper Colony,Agargoan, Dhaka, Bangladesh
SEPTEMBER 2007
Dalits walk the line, because the sweeper
colony is built in a drainage area. Houses
are on poles and pathways above ground
are necessary since floods occur every year
in the rainy season. Still, houses are often
under water. Waterborne diseases such as
cholera and diarrhea flourish. For children, thedisabled and elderly it is risky to move around
on wet bamboo poles.
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Dhangadi, Far Western Province, Nepal
NOVEMBER 2007
Non-Dalits consider Dalits to be impure and polluted, so intercaste
marriage is often perceived as a sin. Living only 200 meters apart,
Jhakondra, 21, and Manisha, 19, did the unthinkable and fell i n love.
Following years of arguments and attacks by Manishas non-Dalit
family, the couple ran away to India and got married shortly before
this picture was taken. But they are lucky young mixed couples
often pay with their lives since non-Dalit families sometimes resort
to murder to avoid the shame and pollution of the family.
Dhangadi, Far Western Province, Nepal
NOVEMBER 2007
Happy wedding memories live on, but reality is harsh.
Today Jhakondra and Manisha cannot visit any of
their families. Manisha became a Dalit when marrying
Jhakondra, so she has now been rejected by her family.
Jhakondras family lives so close to Manishas family that
quarrels are unavoidable if they come to visit.
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Madurai, India
OCTOBER 2007
No one wants to buy polluted milk from a cow owned by a Dalit.
Exclusion from society makes it almost impossible to overcome poverty
in the slums of Madurai and elsewhere. Unless caste-affected countries
make specific measures for including Dalits in development processes,
they will fail to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
Kotri, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
APRIL 2008
The segregation of the so-called Scheduled Castes is
complete in this tea shop in Karachi. Men from the Kolhi
caste are not allowed into tea shops owned by Muslims or
dominant castes. Similarly, no other men than Kolhi men
can enter a Kolhi tea shop.
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D13-3 railway crossing, Hassan Square,Karachi, Pakistan
APRIL 2008
It is painful to live here. Where do we go? We face problems
everywhere, says Sehto, 55.
Sehto is the leader of the Bagri Dalit community who live next
to the railway tracks as many Dalits do all over South Asia. The
rent for one little hut is five euros per month which is paid
to the railway company employees as bribe. The communitycame from an area close to the Indian border 40 years ago, but
still cannot own the land. There is no electricity, no education
or health facilities and no water. Water is fetched from a
mosque nearby, but again a bribe has to be paid.
Dal Potti, Dhaka, Bangladesh
SEPTEMBER 2007
Forcibly removed from their homes time and time again, this
Dalit community is now living on the roof of a market place.
Largely without land themselves, Dalits are forced to live
on public land. When that land becomes valuable, Dalits are
moved to yet another place without access to public facilities.
They are constantly on the move.
Tikapir Kailali, Far Western Province, Nepal
NOVEMBER 2007
Water tap for Dalits only. Dominant castes in the village
of Tikapir Kailali demanded separate water taps to avoid
contamination from Dalits. T he Tikapir Kailali municipality
institutionalised the discriminatory belief that Dalits are dirty
when they decided to make two separate water taps. In other
villages Dalits are dependent on the good will of non-Dalits
to pour them some water without any form of physical
contact. Unless development actors, including the European
Commission, proactively take measures to ensure that funds
are not used to reinforce caste-based discrimination, studies
show that such discrimination will happen by default.
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When Dalits challenge the unjust practicesimposed on them, dominant castes often use
violent means to reinforce their own dominant
position and keep Dalits in their place.
Every hour in India two Dalits are assaulted,
every day three Dalit women are raped, every
day two Dalits are murdered and two Dalit
homes are burnt (Government statistics from
the Ministry of Welfare).
Impunity for the perpetrators permeates
the justice and law enforcement systems.
Crimes against Dalits are often not reported,
investigated or prosecuted properly. Policemen,
lawyers and judges often belong to dominant
castes and they are unwilling to investigate,
prosecute and hear cases of crimes against
Dalits. Very few cases lead to conviction.
Dalits continue to assert their rights and to hold
the state accountable for crimes committed
against them.
The United Nations Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination
recommends with specific reference to caste-
affected communities that all states take
the necessary steps to ensure equal access
to the justice system for all members ofdescent-based communities as well as ensure
the prosecution of persons who commit
crimes against members of descent-based
communities and the provision of adequate
compensation for the victims of such crimes.
FreedomComes ata Cost
Any small assertion of Dalits in raising their voice against inhuman untouchability
practices or their legitimate demands for their share in the Indias resources and
wealth is seen as an act of disobedience and revolt. The Caste Hindus unleash all
crude forms of violence on Dalits which ranges from social boycott, to mass
killings, raping and naked parading of Dalit women. VI NCE NT MA NO H A R A N, I ND I A
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Shaileshwori Temple,Silgadhi, Nepal
NOVEMBER 2007
Dalit women worshipping at the Shaileswori
Temple. Nepalese Dalits have fought against
discrimination and made great leaps forward
in recent years. The Temple Movement
protests against dominant castes who
prevent Dalits from accessing public spacessuch as temples, restaurants and markets.
In the Dalit Rights Kathmandu Charter from
2007, Dalit representatives call for an end
to discrimination of Dalits in the political,
economic, social and cultural spheres and
for the inclusion of Dalits in the current
restructuring of the state and decision making
processes.
Lucknow,Uttar Pradesh, India
OCTOBER 2007
On 25 March 2007, Awadkesh Kumar, 24, was
hit by gunshots fired by members of the
dominant caste in his community. In the days
leading up to the incident, members of the
dominant caste had verbally abused Dalits by
calling them degrading caste names. Awadkesh
had tried to mediate and did manage to settle
the immediate dispute. But on the day of the
incident a group of men were waiting for him
and fired their guns as soon as they saw him.
Awadkesh was semi-unconscious for five days
and lost both eyes. Four arrests were made, but
the accused were released on bail. The court
case is still pending. Meanwhile, Awadkesh is
unable to feed his family and relies on the help
of neighbours.
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Dhaka Lahan, Bihar, India
OCTOBER 2007
Captured, stripped naked, beaten and slashed
with a knife under both eyes, Sunita Devi, a 35
year old Dalit woman, has paid a heavy price
for living in the centre of her town on land
wanted by dominant castes. After ten years
the court case is still pending. Sunita thinks the
perpetrators are paying off the courts to stall
her case until it is too old to process. Impunity
for caste-related crimes remains an enormous
problem.
Freed Hari Camp(Human Rights Commissionof Pakistans camp for freedbonded labourers),Sindh, Pakistan
APRIL 2008
Manu Bheel has become a symbol for the
struggle against forced labour in Pakistan.
Manu is a Dalit belonging to the Bheel sub-
caste. He and his family were freed in 1996
from forced labour when the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan found them in chains.
Two years later, in May 1998, nine of Manu
Bheels family members were kidnapped
allegedly on orders from the landlord from
whom they had been rescued. Manus family
members have still not been found.
Arrests were not made until eight years later,
and the suspects were released on bail the
case is not yet settled. Over the years, Manu
has been tortured by people who wanted
him to withdraw the case. International
organisations have criticised the government
for denying Manu and his family access to
justice and basic human rights protection.
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On 26 December 2004, the Tsunami claimedmore than 200,000 lives and affected the
livelihoods of more than one million people
primarily in South and South-East Asia.
While natural disasters are caste-neutral, the
ensuing relief and reconstruction efforts are
not. In the weeks, months and years after
the Tsunami hit, discrimination by default
continued to take place in the Indian state of
Tamil Nadu.
Despite unprecedented levels of relief and
reconstruction aid, many Indian Dalits living on
the fringe of coastal fishing communities are
now worse off than before the Tsunami. Relief
was mainly given to the directly affected fishing
communities of dominant castes, which Dalits
both depend on and are oppressed by. Since
those dominant caste fishing communities arenow better off, Dalits are no longer needed for
manual labour.
As heavy rainfall caused floods in South Asia in
the summer of 2007 the scene was set for more
discriminatory relief efforts.
When disaster hits, EU institutions, member
state governments, relief agencies and NGOs
must act proactively to overcome casteblindness and confront caste discrimination in
all relief operations. If caste barriers in society
are not taken into account, relief efforts will
continue to be caste-biased.
WhenDisasterHits
Dalits have faced a unique discrimination in our society that is
fundamentally different from the problems of minority groups in general.
Untouchability is not just social discrimination. It is a blot on humanity.
D R . MA NMO H A N S I NG H , P R I ME MI NI S T E R O F I ND I A
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Dilahi, Bihar, India
OCTOBER 2007
A meagre income. Dalits suffer double
when natural disasters hit, as happened
in South Asia in June 2007. Heavy rainfall
caused the river Gandak t o overflow,
leaving millions of people in the state of
Bihar displaced and without food and
shelter. Even if the government dispatches
help, discrimination often happens when
dominant castes are responsible for the
distribution of relief items.
Road next to the village
of Ramdas Ghosai MasaliKonnare, Bihar, India
OCTOBER 2007
This old woman and her community of 80
Dalit families have been living along the
road for more than three months after
the floods in Bihar. They are unaware of
any right to emergency help. Continued
rain and low nightly temperatures take
its deadly toll on the community. Some
road workers gave her the black sheet of
plastic, but she sleeps on the cold and wet
concrete.
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Displaced girl from Aladane village, Bihar, India
OCTOBER 2007
The road is her home now she is wearing all her clothes and has received
no help. Dalit children and women are particularly vulnerable in times of
crisis. Levels of violence and cases of rape increase as Dalits are forced into
new areas where their presence tests the unjust power hierarchies of the
caste system.
Birari, Bihar, India
OCTOBER 2007
Dalits from the flooded areas of Bihar are questioning a local government
official about why they have received little or no help. The Dalit river
communities in Bihar are forced to live in separate settlements, so their
problems and needs are often overlooked in times of disaster. Government
officials rarely come to do needs assessments.
Vincent Manoharan from India was part of a NGO survey team that went to
Bihar to investigate caste discrimination in relief distribution:
Most Dalit communities were left with no relief aid from the government
or NGOs. We wrote to the governor and asked for equity and inclusion in the
humanitarian aid to those affected by the floods.
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Displaced people from Alardane village, Bihar, India
OCTOBER 2007
On the road to nowhere. The Dalit communities in Bihar live in low-lying areas
more prone to flooding and are worst affected. Their mud houses are of poorer
quality and easily destroyed by rains and floods. Government aid often consists
of compensation for lost assets, but Dalits rarely have any. Instead they need
help to re-establish their livelihood, but it is not forthcoming.
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The Son ofa Sweeperis a Sweeper
Seen as polluted, Dalits are assigned workconsidered to be humiliating and dirty, such
as removing human waste, sweeping, cleaning
sewers or handling dead bodies and carcasses.
Once covered in dirt, they are marginalized
even more. Pay is lousy or in kind, if at all.
Manual scavenging is the task of cleaning
human excrement from roads, railway tracks
and dry latrines. Using little more than a broom,
a tin plate, and a basket, Dalits are made to
clear faeces from public and private latrines
and carry it to dumping grounds. This is mainly
a hereditary occupation reserved for Dalits,
and manual scavengers are among the worst
affected victims of untouchability. The work is
extremely hazardous.
In India, the practice of manual scavenging has
been outlawed since 1993. But the legislation isfar from implemented. An estimated 1.3 million
people are employed as manual scavengers
most of them women. Many are employed by
the authorities themselves.
No political will to eradicate the degrading
occupation of manual scavenging seems to
exist on the part of either the Central or State
Governments. A Supreme Court case has been
pending for years and the Court has recentlyasked several states to explain why they have
not met their responsibilities.
The United Nations Committee for the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination
recommends that all states take resolute
measures to eliminate degrading conditions
of labour associated with descent-based
discrimination.
The caste system is a multi floored building with neither ladders nor windows. Unlike a
club, the membership of a caste is not open to all and sundry. The law of Caste confines
its membership to persons born in the caste. Castes are autonomous, and there is no
authority anywhere to compel a caste to admit a new-comer to its social life.
Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, India (1891-1956). Indian scholar, political leader and chief architect of the Constitution.
Born into an untouchable community, he spent his life fighting against the Indian caste system.
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Bihar, India
OCTOBER 2007
Dalits preparing a deceased man for burial.
Everything associated with death is considered
polluted, so the tasks of preparing the dead
for burial is forced on to Dalits as an unpaid job
by dominant castes.
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
OCTOBER 2007
Occupation: Cleaner of dry latrines. Niita
Tank, 35, cleans the dry latrines of 25 houses
and gets 43 eurocents per house per month.
According to beliefs, Dalits are unclean, so
treating human waste is left for Dalits such as
Niita. The pollution that comes with her job
adds to the notion of untouchability.
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Dhaka, Bangladesh
SEPTEMBER 2007
Celebrate death and mourn the newborn!
The lives of Dhakas Dalit sweepers are so poor
that they have reversed their social functions.
Chances of moving up in life are few.
The sweeping makes them sick. Again, with noprotective gear sweepers often suffer from skin
diseases, cholera, tuberculosis and asthma.
Dhaka, Bangladesh
SEPTEMBER 2007
Dalit sweepers contribute to Dhakas production
of public goods by removing garbage. Although
all citizens are equal under the constitution,
few Dalits get any public goods and services in
return. Still many sweepers struggle to hold on
to their jobs as they have very few alternatives.
The Dhaka City Corporation is privatizing the
process and many Dalit sweepers are now losing
the very low income that sustain their families
approximately 28 euros per month.
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Men and women in chains and private jails is nota thing of the past. Most Dalits in South Asia are
in practice excluded from accessing reasonably
paid jobs and owning land. Many rely on private
loans to simply sustain life. Often, the loan is
paid back with bonded labour from themselves
or their children. If a loan-taker dies, the debt is
passed on to children or other family members,
through the generations.
Discriminatingly high interest rates often makes
it impossible to repay the loans and many Dalits
end up owing their lives to the loan-giver. Very
often illiterate Dalits are made victims of false
accounting. Kept in chains or locked up at
night in private jails, many Dalits are modern
day slaves. In the Sindh province of Pakistan,
raids are sometimes conducted to free forced
labourers kept against their will. They are the
disenfranchised slaves of abusive landlords.
According to a 2005 report by the United
Nations International Labour Organisation there
is no greater challenge than bonded or forced
labour in the world today for those national
and international agencies concerned with the
eradication of extreme poverty by the year
2015.
Bonded or forced labour is a form of slaveryaccording to the United Nations. All forms of
slavery are prohibited by international law and
seen as a crime against humanity. However,
bonded labour continues to keep generations
enslaved in the agricultural and industrial
sectors in caste-affected countries. By far the
greatest numbers of bonded labour victims are
Dalits, lower castes and tribal people.
Modern DaySlavery
Bonded labour is a system of debt bondage enslaving Dalit and other marginalized
castes to grossly underpaid and un-free jobs. This system of employment is yet
another form of economic exclusion of Dalits and other caste-based discriminated
communities from economic growth. PAUL DIVAKAR, INDIA
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Pachnali,Far WesternProvince,Nepal
NOVEMBER 2007
Caught in a bondage system
that defies logic, Gore Sunar,
55, has worked for 25 yearsbecause of loans. With no
agreement on interest rates,
Gore gets no salary and works
just to keep his four landlords
happy so that they wont
ask for repayment. In this
respect, Dalits like Gore are
kept in a situation whereby
they reinforce and perpetuate
the unequal caste system.
The Dalit Rights Kathmandu
Charter 2007 calls for all
kinds of bonded labour and
exploitation of labour as
determined by the feudal land
production system to be ended
and provisions be made for
rehabilitation of the affected
Dalits. Until then, Gore keeps
working.
Pachnali, Far Western Province, Nepal
NOVEMBER 2007
Debt bondage is outlawed, yet Gores nephew (in grey shirt) inherits the loan
when Gore dies as Gore himself does not have a son. With no clear agreement
on interest rates and repayment, the two younger brothers of one of the
landlords (both with hands in their pockets) will come out on top.
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Litani, Haryana, India
OCTOBER 2007
14 year old Sukhwinder Singhs father was an alcoholic and a gambler. At the
age of 35, Balwan Singh saw suicide as the only way out of a loan of 474 euros
he took from his landlord to sustain his drinking habit as well as buy medicinefor his sick mother. For the past six years his son, Sukhwinder, has been
working for an average wage of 63 euros per year to repay the loan while at the
same time supporting his three siblings and his mother. Luckily Sukhwinder
and others are able to keep track of the repayment he still needs to repay
79 euros before he is free.
Freed Hari Camp(Human RightsCommission ofPakistans camp forfreed bondedlabourers),Sindh, Pakistan
APRIL 2008
Bonded labour in Pakistan
among lower caste Hindus,
some of whom have converted
to Christianity or Islam, is
widespread. In the provinces
of Sindh and Punjab an
estimated 0.75 to 1.5 million
people are bonded labourers.
Debt bondage is fuelled
by the absence of a formal
credit system, as well as the
availability of a vulnerable and
poor labour force.
A few years ago, the police
conducted missions to free
bonded labourers. Many of
them settled in the Freed Hari
Camp a camp near a stone
quarry in the Sikanderabad
Kotri, Sindh province. Men and
women in the camp earn a
living by making stone a team
of workers get ten euros per
truckload.
In recent years, Government
commitment to abolish
bonded labour has slowed
down, although raids to free
bonded labourers still occur.
Even though the official
Human Rights Commission of
Pakistan established the camp,
it is often under attack from
government forces who want
the land.
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Umerkot, Sindh, Pakistan
APRIL 2008
40 families of the Oad caste in Pakistans Sindh
province work at this brick factory. Among them
is Phoolan, her three children and husband.
Whether they borrowed money from the owners,
also of the Oad caste, is not clear, but very likely.
They get two euros per 1000 bricks which is the
amount they can produce in one day.
Sindh, Pakistan
APRIL 2008
The girl in the red dress is 12 years old and a child
labourer caught in debt bondage. She belongs
to the Meghwar caste of the Hindu minority in
Pakistan. Her father has borrowed money from
the carpet factory owner. She earns a little over
11 euros working 40 days to make one carpet. If
she is sick she gets no pay. Over time, she might
lose her eyesight as many child carpets labourers
do. She is not going to school.
Her instructor, Loono, 27, tells her how the
patterns of the carpet should look. Loono owes
the carpet factory owner close to 400 euros.
He earns 35 euros per 40 days with which he
repays his loan.
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At the bottom of South Asias caste, class andgender hierarchies, are Dalit women. They
suffer triple discrimination as Dalits, as
members of an impoverished underclass and
as women. The endemic gender-and-caste
discrimination and violence Dalit women face
is the outcome of severely imbalanced social,
economic and political power equations.
Violence, such as indecent and inhuman
treatment, including sexual assault, and being
paraded naked serves as a social mechanism to
maintain Dalit womens subordinate position in
society. Dalit women are targeted as a way of
humiliating entire Dalit communities.
In January 2007, the United Nations Committee
on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women in its observations on India noted
concern about the ongoing atrocitiescommitted against Dalit women and the culture
of impunity for perpetrators of such atrocities
as well as concern that despite a law banning
manual scavenging, this degrading practice
continues with grave implications for the
dignity and health of the Dalit women who are
engaged in this activity.
In November 2007, Dalit women gathered in
the Hague called on the United Nations, theEuropean Union and the community of states to
raise the issues and concerns of Dalit women
at all levels and to involve and introduce all
necessary measures, and to support and secure
the implementation of the recommendations of
this Declaration with a sense of great urgency.
A Dalit WomanSuffers Triple
Women have visions of peace, justice and equality, and of freedom from all
forms of violence. We aspire for the right to live as full and respected citizens of
this nation. We demand the enjoyment of this right as our birth-right and call
upon all right-thinking persons to join hands with us in achieving these
legitimate goals R U T H MA NO R A MA , I ND I A
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Pangu PWD Sweeper Colony,Agargoan, Dhaka, Bangladesh
SEPTEMBER 2007
On an empty stomach, learning how to read and write is
difficult. Five times a week the Dalit Women Forum provides
education for Dalit women from the sweepers colony.
Brought in from India by the British colonial power to take
menial jobs such as sweeping, the Dalit community speaks
Telugu or Hindi while the official language in Bangladesh is
Bengali. The women learn Bengali so they can function in
everyday life and pass on their knowledge to their children
who are often excluded from normal schools.
Prerna Hostel,Bihar, India
OCTOBER 2007
Dalit children are often prevented from exercising
their right to education due to harassment by
teachers and dominant caste children. They are
routinely seated at the back of classrooms and
separately during meal times. Dalit girls from the
Musahar community in Bihar were only helped when
a Catholic nun, Sister Sudha Varghese, set up schools
with hostels. UNICEF and the Indian government
support her work.
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Mura, Far WesternProvince, Nepal
NOVEMBER 2007
The Badi caste in Nepal is a Dalit
sub-caste. Many Badi women
are forced into prostitution
and end up being trafficked
to Mumbais sex industry. Soni
Badi, 25, is a sex worker. As a
Badi Dalit she is prevented from
owning land, has little access to
education and other services
crucial to sustain life and avoid
lifelong poverty.
Soni with her son in her
bedroom. Children of Badi sex
workers often have unknown
fathers. Until recently,
citizenship in Nepal was given
according to the fathers
name. Badi children were
therefore unable to obtain
citizenship in their own country.
After protesting outside the
parliament in Kathmandu,
Badi rights activists ensured
that Badis can now use their
mothers name and gain
citizenship.
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Mura, Nepal, November
2007
A sex worker, mother of three and community leader involved in improving
the lives of the Badi community, Gomati Badi, 28, is busy. Poverty makes
Nepali Dalit women easy targets for trafficking along the Nepalese-Indian
border, so Gomati fights for equal access to land, Dalit participation in the
constitutional assembly and better education.
Freed Hari Camp (Human Rights Commission ofPakistans camp for freed bonded labourers),Sindh, Pakistan
APRIL 2008
These girls are free to practice their dancing skills for an upcoming wedding. They
are lucky. Their parents were freed from forced or bonded labour and now they livein a camp that has been established for former bonded labourers. Had their parents
not been freed, these girls would have grown up in slavery. As a signatory to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, Pakistan has a duty to ensure that children
are not subjected to economic exploitation and that their fundamental rights are
respected. Thousands of other girls are waiting to be freed, so they can dance too.
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We are notuntouchable
International Dalit Solidarity NetworkThis exhibition is kindly sponsored by Ms Margrete AUKEN (Greens, DK).
Co-sponsors: Ms Maria MARTENS (PPE, NL), Ms Jean LAMBERT (Greens, UK) and Mr Claude MORAES (PSE, UK).
The exhibition is produced by IDSN The International Dalit Solidarity Network. IDSN works on a global level against caste discrimination.
All photographs by Jakob Carlsen. Design by Sren Maarbjerg.
For more information visit www idsn org or www idsn org/wearenotuntouchable
India167 million or
15-20 percent of
the total population
PakistanBetween 330,000 and 2 million or
between 0,25 and 1,20 percent of
the total population.
Bangladesh
4,5 million or3-4 percent of
the total population
Nepal4,5 million or
15-20 percent of
the total population.
Sri Lanka4-5 million or
20-30 percent of
the total population
Untouchable:Separate and Unequal
Segregation in housing, schools and cremation grounds
Limitation or prohibition of access to public places such as roads, temples
and tea houses
Denial or limitation of access to public services such as water taps, health
care and education
De facto prohibition of inter-caste marriage
Untouchable:Denied Civil and Political Rights
Subjection to extreme forms of violence and humiliation as part of caste
oppression
Harassment and discrimination to prevent Dalits from participating in
political processes
Use of sexual violence against Dalit women as a way to suppress an entire
community
Denial of access to justice; caste bias in the police and judiciary means virtual
impunity for crimes against Dalits
Untouchable:Denied Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Restrictions on occupation; assignment of the most menial, dirty and
dangerous jobs as defined by the caste hierarchy
Forced and bonded labour; a high number of Dalits enslaved
De facto prohibition of access to and ownership of land
Widespread poverty
Limited access to and poor quality of education.
Caste can be defined as a hereditary andhierarchic system of social grouping disting-
uished by degrees of purity, social status, and
exclusiveness. Those who fall outside the caste
system are considered impure and thus
polluting to other caste groups. They are seen
as untouchables.
Dalit means broken people. This is the name
the untouchables have chosen for themselves
to signify a growing movement of empower-
ment.
Caste-based discrimination is one of the most
serious human rights problems in the world
today, affecting approximately 260 million1
people worldwide; the majority live in South
Asia with 167 million in India alone.
Caste discrimination takes many forms and often involves untouchability
practices. Caste-based discrimination and related practices constitute a gross
violation of fundamental human rights, denying victims their human dignity
and equality.
1. Human Rights Watch, Caste Discrimination, a Global Concern, 2001
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