Caste-based discrimination

Avinash Pandey Samar* On 23 May 2010, police officers, including a woman police constable reportedly tortured and abused a mother and her 12-year-old son in Rajouri Garden Police Outpost in Delhi. It is reported that the officers forced Mala (name changed) to strip naked in front of her minor son and demanded her to have […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following article from Sri Lanka Guardian. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- An article from Sri Lanka Guardian forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA: Caste origins of Sri Lankan Authoritarianism- Part 6 SUDRA ORIGIN OF ALL SRI LANKANS (Editor’s Note: An interview […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following article from Sri Lanka Guardian. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- An article from Sri Lanka Guardian forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA: Caste Origins of Sri Lankan Authoritarianism — Part 5 (Editor’s Note: An interview with Mr. Basil Fernando of […]

The stoning to death of 22-year-old Swapna and her husband 28-year-old Sunkari Sriniwas on 23 May by Swapna’s family near Krishnajiwadi village, Nizamabad, Andhra Pradesh state is one more proof to the stark reality of the continuing practice of caste based discrimination and caste prejudices in India. Swapna belongs to a Hindu upper caste family. […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following article from the Sri Lanka Guardian. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-FAT-024-2010 May 27, 2010 An article from Sri Lanka Guardian forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA: Caste Origins of Authoritarianism in Sri Lanka — Part 4 […]

Basil Fernando Over the years, Sri Lankan Tamils have had leaders such as J.V. Chelvanayagam, G.G. Ponnambalam, Appapillai Amirthalingam, Velupillai Prabhakaran and Karuna Amman to name a few. The first three names belong to a group of elite Tamil leaders who were, in essence, Democrats. But their idea of democracy was limited, similar to the […]

An interview with Mr. Basil Fernando of the Asian Human Rights Commission by Nilantha Ilangamuwa of the Sri Lanka Guardian (April 24, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) In the last discussion, we examined the inequalities which are inherent in the caste system. Q: How does caste affect the social aspects of Sri Lankan society? A: […]

Thursday, April 15, 2010Caste origins of authoritarianism in Sri Lanka–Part 2 An interview with Mr. Basil Fernando of the Asian Human Rights Commission by Nilantha Ilangamuwa of the Sri Lanka Guardian (April 15, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) We talked about the linkage between the collapse of the rule of law, democracy and human rights violations […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following article from the Sri Lanka Guardian. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- An article from the Sri Lanka Guardian forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA: Caste origins of Sri Lanka’s authoritarianism An interview with Mr. Basil Fernando of the Asian Human […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received new information about an extreme case of rape, attempted murder, corruption and impunity that took place in 2008 and 2009. The incident involved members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a ruling partner of the Zardari government, but police have failed to protect the victims […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that four men who allegedly assisted in the rape of a young Hindu girl have been granted pre-arrest bail by a session court. Rape is a non-bailable offense in Pakistan and this is against criminal procedure and the law. Attempts by the family to file […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that an 8-year-old Dalit girl has been assassinated, in what could be a sacrifice for good omen on December 4, 2009 in Maryadpur, Rupandehi District, Nepal. The AHRC is concerned that the case may not receive appropriate attention from the local police who have […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned about the eviction risk faced by around 300 people of a lower caste Hindu community in Chittagong, without adequate compensation or rehabilitation being arranged. The land will be seized for the government-led Patiya Bypass project, yet the community is very poor and residents have not […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that police are pressuring a low-caste woman to withdraw a case against a group of people who accused her of being a witch, beat her, and forced her to eat human excreta. There are currently no laws in Nepal designed to protect religious minorities or […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that police in Nakatajhij, Dhanusa, have been negligent in investigating the double rape and murder of an eleven-year-old Dalit girl. Though there is strong evidence against two non-Dalit youths, the victim’s family reports resistance from police in filing and investigating the case, which has […]

A group of representatives from caste-affected communities in Asia recently gave me a piece of brick from the wall of a torn-down latrine. The brick symbolized the global struggle against the degrading practice of making members of a “lower caste” clean public toilets with their bare hands. This practice, which persists in many places despite […]

Human rights organisations working against caste based discrimination in the region must engage in debates on the need for a comprehensive UN framework to tackle caste based discrimination and should encourage affected governments to support such initiative at the UN level. This is the response from the Asian Human Rights Commission and The International Dalit […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a teacher was harassed and fired from her job at a segregated secondary school after she spoke out about discrimination against her Dalit students. She was then prevented from taking up a job by colleagues at another secondary school, and now receives regular […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received the information regarding the deaths of five villagers of hunger from the Hunger Free Bihar Campaign, a human rights group working on right to food in Bihar. According to the report, three of the deceased villagers had not received benefits from the public services to […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that a senior anchorperson at Dunya TV News is being pressured to keep silent about being sexually harassed by the company’s managing director. After the news director and chief executive officer (CEO) of the company were informed the journalist started to experience serious professional setbacks, […]