WSF Event: Combating Caste and Descent-Based Discrimination in Africa and Asia

IMADR cordially invites you to its Round-table at the World Social Forum 2007, Nairobi, on:
Combating Caste and Descent-Based Discrimination in Africa and Asia

Venue: Access Gate 7 IN - Lower, World Social Forum 2007
Date & Time: 8:30-11:00am, January 22, 2007 (Mon)

Chair: Nimalka Fernando, President, IMADR (Sri Lanka)

Speakers:
Penda Mbow, Professor, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar (Senegal)
Burnad Fatima Natesan, IMADR, SRED (India)
Magimai Appakuttai, Tamil Nadu Dalit Women’s Movement (India)
Seiro Ikeda, Buraku Liberation League (Japan)
Peter Prove, The Lutheran World Federation (Switzerland)

Outline and Objectives:
The International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), an international non-governmental human rights organization based in Japan, will hold a round-table discussion on the struggle against caste and descent-based discrimination in Africa and Asia.

The event will bring together prominent activists from the field from different countries and regions with different backgrounds and experiences. Rather than focusing on presenting the current situation and its history, the Round-table aims to share experiences, successes and challenges in a process of fighting this discrimination which IMADR believes will materialize future joint work.

Discrimination based on "work and descent" continues to be experienced by more than 260 million people worldwide. The key features or bases of this form of discrimination are descent (i.e. group membership by birth), work (i.e. occupational specialization or other connection with type of work or functional role in society), and concepts of purity and pollution.

Among the communities severely affected are the Dalits (known as the "untouchables") of South Asia, in Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, an estimated three million Burakumin in Japan, "caste people" in West Africa and various communities in other African countries. Caste discrimination can also be found among the widespread Indian Diasporas.

A few governments - notably those of India and Japan - have taken important constitutional, legislative and administrative measures to address this form of discrimination. However, many of these measures are still waiting for implementation and practical impact, and discrimination and exclusion continues to be experienced in the daily lives of many members of these communities.

For further information please contact:
Nozomi Bando, Program Officer, IMADR
In Nairobi, Kenya: SIRONA HOTEL (Between January 20-24, 2007)
P.O. Box 30425, 00100 Nairobi GPO Phone: +254-20-675-2686 Fax: +254-20-374-2730
E-mail: imadrwsf[at]hotmail.co.jp / nbando[at]imadr.org (please send to both accounts)

IMADR International Secretariat
Phone: +81-(0)3-3586-7447 Fax: +81-(0)3-3586-7462 E-mail: imadris[at]imadr.org

2007.01.18