http://www.imadr.org/descent/ ja Copyright 2008 Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:47:03 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.imadr.org/descent/dalit/news/ http://www.imadr.org/descent/dalit/news/ 01)Empowerment of Dalits 03)Work and descent-based discrimination at the UN CategoryNews ThemeNews Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:47:03 +0000 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. http://www.imadr.org/descent/dalit/urgent_appeal_unlawful_punishm/ http://www.imadr.org/descent/dalit/urgent_appeal_unlawful_punishm/ 01)Empowerment of Dalits CategoryNews ThemeNews Fri, 11 Jan 2008 05:20:14 +0000 IMADR is calling for your support to enable more Dalit people to benefit from Dalit childrens’ daycare centers in their communities. http://www.imadr.org/descent/children/new_dalit_daycare_center_compl/ http://www.imadr.org/descent/children/new_dalit_daycare_center_compl/ 02)Dalit children’s daycare centers CategoryNews ThemeNews Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:09:03 +0000 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.” http://www.imadr.org/descent/un/sectiondescription_2/post_5/ http://www.imadr.org/descent/un/sectiondescription_2/post_5/ 03)Work and descent-based discrimination at the UN SectionDescription SectionDescription Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:42:15 +0000 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. http://www.imadr.org/descent/children/sectiondescription_1/post_4/ http://www.imadr.org/descent/children/sectiondescription_1/post_4/ 02)Dalit children’s daycare centers SectionDescription SectionDescription Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:40:31 +0000 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. http://www.imadr.org/descent/dalit/sectiondescription/post_3/ http://www.imadr.org/descent/dalit/sectiondescription/post_3/ 01)Empowerment of Dalits SectionDescription SectionDescription Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:34:48 +0000 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. http://www.imadr.org/descent/description/imadr/ http://www.imadr.org/descent/description/imadr/ Description Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:13:42 +0000