Caste-based discrimination

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Navsarjan, a human rights organisation based in Gujarat that the only Valmiki (lowest Dalit sub-caste) family living in Shampara (also known as Khodiyar) village is in danger of being forced out from their home. This action is due to a boycott imposed on […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Navsarjan Trust, a Gujarat-based human rights NGO, that there has been a social boycott put into place by the entire non-Dalit community against the Dalits of Nesda village. This was in response to the Dalits’ refusal to dispose of dead animals, a […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that all the lowest caste (Dalit) families in a Bhavnagar District village are living under boycott conditions, which deny them employment, access to water, the use of village shops or public roads, and any contact with non-Dalits. The boycott was started by Brahmins after Dalits […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that 125 Dalit families have been forced to leave their village after they voted in the lower house parliament election. Earlier in the year upper-caste members had assaulted the village council head, a Dalit, when he refused to vote for their favoured candidate.  He registered […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a Dalit community has been living under a complete economic and social boycott levied against them by their village since May 1, 2009. Dalits from 163 households in an Ahmedabad village cannot find employment, or sell or purchase anything in the village, ever […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a local feudal leader and his family, the Khans, who control affairs in Ingoli village, Gujarat, are behind the social ostracism of three Dalit families. After a young Dalit man complained to the police of being beaten by a group of Khans, his […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Navsarjan, a human rights organisation based in Gujarat, that an entire Dalit community is being punished for the crime of one Dalit. Twelve households have been living under a social and economic boycott which denies them employment, the use of village shops, social […]

Basil Fernando B.R. Ambedkar was a man whose work unraveled the unique nature of the master-servant relationship in South Asia. Today is the anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar’s birth. Born to the family of an untouchable on April 14th 1891, Dr. Ambedkar was destined to reveal the central mystery of the South Asian social relationship which, […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Jagaran Media Center (JMC), a human rights organisation in Nepal concerning the case of a Dalit woman who was assaulted, publically humiliated and forced to eat her own excreta by the villagers. It is reported that Mrs. Kalli Kumari was accused of practising […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from local human rights organisations, the People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) and Savitri Bhai Phule Womens’ Forum, that a poor, other backward class (OBC) family had their hut destroyed by the village head and a lower authority accomplice. This left them homeless […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a local human rights organisation, the People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) that Vishal, a three and a half-year-old boy, is suffering from severe malnutrition.  He was examined by an Auxiliary Nursing Mother (ANM) and diagnosed as suffering from Grade IV malnourishment. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the death of hundreds of people in the Dogiyai District in Papua, Indonesia, due to a cholera epidemic. Despite requests to local and national authorities, the epidemic has not yet been prevented from spreading into neighbouring provinces. Local organisations report that 239 people […]

The current wave of violence in Orissa, India is not surprising. After all, Orissa is a state in India ruled by the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). The BJD has remained in power with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Hindu fundamentalist political force operating in India. As a result, the BJD has […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) and the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) hasten to bring to your urgent attention the ongoing violence reported from the state of Orissa, India. It is reported that as of now in Orissa, particularly in parts of the state […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the local human rights organisation, the People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), regarding the poor living conditions of a Dalit community in Varanasi. Due to utter neglect of the government and caste based discrimination this community suffers from lack of food, adequate […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Navsarjan, a human rights organisation working on Dalit rights in Gujarat, regarding the rape and subsequent trafficking of a 15-year-old Dalit girl. Four non-Dalit villagers, including a village head are accused of the crime. The victim though had filed a complaint to the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information from the Jagaran Media Center (JMC), a local media group fighting against caste discrimination, regarding a recent case of caste discrimination against a Dalit family in Siraha district, Nepal. According to the JMC, a Dalit family has been subject to arbitrary, illegal punishment, and has […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Navsarjan, a human rights organisation working on Dalit rights in Gujarat, regarding the caste discrimination practiced by the Vice Chancellor of Gujarat University. The AHRC strongly condemns this behavior by the Vice-Chancellor, a person who can influence public opinion. The practice of caste […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the police allegedly ordered parents to pay a bribe of 150000 riels (US$37.5) each if their sons were not to be arrested after these youths had damaged a party sign in Soeung commune, Bor Keo district, Rattankiri province. On 2 July 2008, they arrested […]

This story is not only my story. Many other Dalit human rights activists have the same experience as me. When I talked about my life with other Dalits human rights defenders in Gujarat, we realised that we all had the same experience in our life. This is the first time I am sharing the experiences […]