tag:www.imadr.org,2008:/descent//31 2008-02-13T06:52:45Z Movable Type 3.33 tag:www.imadr.org,2007:/dev/july2007/descent//31.359 2008-02-13T08:47:03Z 2008-02-13T06:52:45Z

tag:www.imadr.org,2008:/descent//31.609 2008-01-11T05:20:14Z 2008-02-13T06:37:30Z

Tamil Nadu Dalit Women’s Movement (TNDWM...

Tamil Nadu Dalit Women’s Movement (TNDWM), an IMADR partner organization based in Chennai, India, has released an urgent appeal on a case of human rights violations against a Dalit woman in September 2007. Join Action You can join this action by sending a letter to authorities concerned. Here (PDF14KB) is the sample letter which you could revise as you would like. Fill your name and the date in the blanks and send it to below authority whether by fax or by post. M. Karunanidhi Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu St. George Fort, Chennai – 600 009 INDIA FAX： + 91(44)2567 2304]]> tag:www.imadr.org,2007:/dev/july2007/descent//31.429 2007-10-05T11:09:03Z 2007-12-10T05:20:24Z

IMADR is calling for your support to ena...

IMADR is calling for your support to enable more Dalit people to benefit from Dalit childrens’ daycare centers in their communities. ]]> tag:www.imadr.org,2007:/descent//31.358 2007-08-30T08:42:15Z 2008-04-07T11:40:32Z

Until recently, caste discrimination and Buraku discrimination have been dealt with only within their respective countries; international society, exemplified by such organizations as the United Nations, has done little to resolve these issues on an international level. IMADR has partnered with Buraku and Dalit people, with researchers, and with domestic and international organizations to raise awareness of this type of discrimination as a phenomenon shared across the globe and has introduced the category of discrimination based on “work and descent” as a means of organizing together around shared experiences of discrimination.

Until recently, caste discrimination and Buraku discrimination have been dealt with only within their respective countries; international society, exemplified by such organizations as the United Nations, has done little to resolve these issues on an international level. IMADR has partnered with Buraku and Dalit people, with researchers, and with domestic and international organizations to raise awareness of this type of discrimination as a phenomenon shared across the globe and has introduced the category of discrimination based on “work and descent” as a means of organizing together around shared experiences of discrimination. As a result, the United Nations has recognized discrimination based on “descent” and “work and descent” as an issue that must be dealt with on an international level, and has started to assemble a set of standards and principles aimed at its resolution. Specifically, on the level of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), this type of discrimination has been dealt with since the latter half of the 90’s as discrimination based on “descent” as stipulated in the first article of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). In August of 2000, CERD held a thematic discussion on “descent” as stipulated in article one of the Convention and adopted the “General Recommendation 29 on Descent.” This General Recommendation re-confirms that discrimination based on a caste or other similar social status system is included in the term “descent” and produced basic measures that each country must undertake for the elimination of this form of discrimination. This was the first international human rights standard aimed at the elimination of descent based discrimination. Additionally, the former UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights has been conducting research on discrimination based on work and descent since 2000, and in 2004 appointed two Special Rapporteurs, Professors Yokota and Chung, to work on this issue. It was decided that, over the course of three years, they generate a report bringing together a set of “Guidelines and Principles” aimed at the resolution of this issue. Presently, as part of the restructuring of the UN, the Human Rights Sub-Commission has been abolished and restarted as an Advisory Committee to the Human Rights Council IMADR, alongside the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN), is urging the UN and governments to secure that the “principles and guidelines” drafted by the Special Rapporteurs do not simply drift away but rather that they are formally adopted at the UN. IMADR is mobilizing publicity and providing support in order for this human rights standard to have beneficial effect on the lives of people such as the Buraku and the Dalit who face discrimination based on work and descent. tag:www.imadr.org,2007:/dev/july2007/descent//31.357 2007-08-30T08:40:31Z 2007-11-16T00:01:22Z

Since 2004 IMADR has worked with its South Indian Tamil Nadu partner, the Society for Rural Education and Development (SRED) for the establishment of “Dalit Children’s Day Care Centers.” These efforts are born out of joint activities between Dalit and Buraku people in their efforts to exchange experiences and learn of each other’s situations.

Since 2004 IMADR has worked with its South Indian Tamil Nadu partner, the Society for Rural Education and Development (SRED) for the establishment of “Dalit Children’s Day Care Centers.” These efforts are born out of joint activities between Dalit and Buraku people in their efforts to exchange experiences and learn of each other’s situations. SRED, in cooperation with the Buraku Liberation League, became involved with the movement to set up preschools, liberation centers, and community centers, and holding to that image, expanded the project in an effort to establish a center in a large number of villages that could serve as a focal point for community activities. This is a project born of the interaction of domestic and international organizations such as the Buraku Liberation League, which organizes around similar experiences. This program is not mere ‘assistance’ but rather gives fuller meaning to the idea of a ‘network’ that transcends national boundaries. This project aims to establish community centers in 17 villages throughout Tamil Nadu for children who, due to poverty or discrimination, have been unable to attend school and for Dalit and Irular indigenous peoples who face severe discrimination and oppression. The primary objective is to provide peace of mind and confidence to children, provide them with a place for basic education, as well as to foster the courage and strength to organize against the discrimination they do and will face. Young women leaders from the area will provide for the care of children at the center, and residents of the village will provide for the centers’ functioning and management. Furthermore, these centers are not solely for the education and care of children, they are also intended to function as community centers for the strengthening of a Dalit liberation movement led primarily by children and women. As a result of donations and support, we have so far been able to establish centers in seven villages. Starting with the children who come to these centers, and including the instructors, the parents, and village members, large changes are already in progress. Parents, who now have a safe place to send their children while they work, have large hopes for the impact the centers will have on their children and strongly support the continued operation of these facilities. However, SRED is very much aware that it takes time and effort to raise and maintain the funds and skills necessary to keep the centers in operation, particularly in a situation where the users and administrators of the facilities live in an environment of severe social discrimination. Present issues include securing the financial support necessary for the continuation of the centers and developing an economic environment in which villagers can self-sufficiently run the centers. We ask for whatever assistance you might be able to provide to help develop this transnational, person to person network. tag:www.imadr.org,2007:/dev/july2007/descent//31.356 2007-08-30T08:34:48Z 2008-04-07T11:36:33Z

In India there are approximately 16 million Dalit (which means “oppressed people”). They are defined as “untouchables” by the caste system and occupy the lowest level of society. Dalit people’s use of water wells is limited, they face restrictions on entering temples or residences of higher caste people, their ability to own land is limited, and their residences are frequently isolated and sequestered from the rest of the population.

In India there are approximately 16 million Dalit (which means “oppressed people”). They are defined as “untouchables” by the caste system and occupy the lowest level of society. Dalit people’s use of water wells is limited, they face restrictions on entering temples or residences of higher caste people, their ability to own land is limited, and their residences are frequently isolated and sequestered from the rest of the population. In addition to this social discrimination, Dalit people also face physical violence and murder. Dalit live in abject poverty and are forced into such jobs as street cleaning, disposal of excrement and animal carcasses, and leather tanning; sometimes they are also forced to work as indentured servants. Within the group, Dalit women occupy the lowest caste, class, and gender position, and have long been the object of oppression and violence in all parts of their daily lives. The Constitution of India formally abolished “untouchability” when it went into effect in 1950 and there have been subsequent laws prohibiting brutality and protecting civil rights, which was to function as a Dalit protection law. However, due to resistance on the part of higher castes these laws do not function as they were intended. IMADR has focused its activities on the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and along with its partner organization, the Tamil Nadu Dalit Women’s Movement (TNDWM), has worked to let Dalit women know that a lifetime of oppression and violence need not be their fate, that they can join their voices together and organize. In order to strengthen and institutionalize the movement to establish the rights of Dalit women, IMADR and TNDWM conduct the following activities: 1. Legal training and support; 2. Surveys of physical violence and discrimination; 3. Cultural festivals; 4. Seminars and meetings to raise consciousness on the state level; and 5. Expressing concerns based on experience resisting human rights violations. Also, one of IMADR’s directors is a representative to the Society for Rural Education and Development (SRED), which engages in a wide variety of activities, including working to change customs that allow for the sexual exploitation of women and supporting a Dalit women-led project to eliminate violence and human rights violations of Dalit sex workers. In addition to providing continued support to these projects, IMADR has promoted mutual visits between Dalit organizations and the Buraku Liberation League, which has fought against a similar form of discrimination in Japan, in hopes of fostering the exchange of experiences. The establishment of the “Dalit Children’s Day Care Center” has, as an extension of this effort, provided a concrete basis for international networking activities. tag:www.imadr.org,2007:/dev/july2007/descent//31.355 2007-08-30T08:13:42Z 2008-04-03T03:21:26Z

There are approximately 260 million peop...

There are approximately 260 million people worldwide who are discriminated against on the basis of work or descent (i.e. familial lineage or social origin). This type of discrimination is primarily characterized by one’s lineage (a type of group membership decided by birth), occupation (associated with the characteristics of one’s job or labor specialization and its functional role within society), and notions of purity and impurity (defilement). Those suffering most from this kind of discrimination include the Dalit (frequently referred to as “untouchables”) of South Asian countries such as India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, the Buraku people of Japan, “the caste people” of west Africa, as well as a variety of other communities throughout other African countries. This type of caste discrimination also exists among diasporic Indian communities in Europe and other locations. Several governments, particularly those of India and Japan, have established administrative mechanisms, in general or constitutional law, aimed at resolving this discrimination. However, the majority of these mechanisms are insufficiently enforced or insufficiently address the effects of custom in perpetuating discrimination, and many of the people belonging to these groups continue to experience discrimination and social exclusion in their daily lives. IMADR has teamed up with a variety of researchers, NGOs and other organizing groups, primarily those led by Dalit or Buraku people, to bring discrimination based on “work and descent” to the attention of international society. Also, working toward the elimination of discrimination, IMADR supports the organizing of those who face discrimination; IMADR is working to strengthen an international network focused on the elimination of discrimination by fostering exchange between Buraku and Dalit people. The establishment of daycare centers for Dalit children is one activity resulting from this international exchange. IMADR is also actively working to establish international human rights standards in the field of work and descent.