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United Nations Human Rights 

READ THE STORY OF 27 YEARS OLD PRAKASH MOHARA

A member of Nepal’s minority Dalit community, Mohara was one of nine participants in the 2011 UN Human Rights Office Minorities Fellowship Programme. Twenty seven year old Prakash Mohara, a member of Nepal’s minority Dalit community, was one of nine participants in the 2011 UN Human Rights office Minorities Fellowship Programme. According to Mohara, there are 4.5 million Dalits in Nepal, about 20% of the total population. Campaigning against caste-based discrimination in Nepal

Dalit is a designation for a group of people traditionally regarded as „untouchable„. Dalits are a mixed population, consisting of numerous castes from all over South Asia; they speak a variety of languages and practice a multitude of religions.

While the discrimination based on caste system (not the caste system itself) has been abolished under the Indian constitution, a New York University School of Law based group claimed in a 2007 shadow report to the United Nations that there still is discrimination and prejudice against Dalits in South Asia. Since India’s independence, significant steps have been taken to provide opportunities in jobs and education. Many social organisations too have proactively promoted better conditions for Dalits through improved education, health and employment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit

Varna (Hinduism) Opposition within Hinduism

Critics point that the effect of communities (jatis) inheriting varna was to bind certain communities to sources of influence, power and economy while locking out others and thus create more affluence for jatis in higher classes and severe poverty for jatis in lower classes and the outcaste Dalit. In the last 150 years Indian movements arose to throw off the economic and political yoke of an inherited class system that emerged over time, and replace it with what they believed to be true Varnashrama dharma as described in the Vedas. *HERE

In 2008, Nepal completed an extraordinary journey from dictatorship to democracy. Nepal was declared a republic, bringing the autocratic rule of King Gyanendra to an end. Elections were held and the leader of the Maoist rebels, Prachanda, emerged as head of the government. It was an extraordinary achievement, led by civil society.

But the success is not yet complete. Caste has been officially abolished in Nepal, but it remains a fact of life particularly in villages. The result has been deep discrimination against Dalit, who used to be described as “untouchables.” Caste condemns Dalit to poverty, illiteracy and ill health.


These pages are intended to support a campaign by the Jagaran Media Center (JMC), a leading advocate for Dalit rights, to reduce caste discrimination.

JMC has exposed caste discrimination for two years through an e-bulletin, which now goes out to almost 10,000 subscribers. At the suggestion of its partners, JMC has decided to expand and deepen this coverage, starting in 2009. Every three months, Dalit journalists throughout Nepal will collect information from their district and submit it to the JMC office in Kathmandu, for editing and dissemination. Each thematic e-bulletin will investigate and expose a practice which results in caste discrimination.

The information will be posted on the JMC website; broadcast on JMC’s radio station (Radio Jagaran) from Butwal in Nepal; sent out to subscribers of the JMC e-bulletin; distributed by diaspora listservs in Europe and North America; and re-distributed by The Advocacy Project (AP) in Washington.

JMC and its partners will then use the information to launch a series of actions and campaigns, in Nepal and internationally, to reduce and eliminate caste discrimination in a significant number of Nepal’s districts.

On these pages:

Asia indigenous body calls for social justice

Posted on 2012-05-25

“The government has recently agreed to enlist Khas-Arya (including Chhetri, Brahmin, Thakuri, Dasnami and Dalit) under category of ‘indigenous (Aadivasi) against internationally accepted standards set out by ILO Convention 169 that Nepal has ratified,” the pact said in a statement.

“This agreement is clearly aimed at allowing certain groups to continue to dominate and muddle and diffuse the rightful entitlement of indigenous peoples to self-determination in the new constitution,” said Joan Carling, secretary general of the body. “We call for the withdrawal of this irrational agreement as it only serves to exacerbate the existing social and political conflicts.”

http://www.lahurnip.org/index.php

The pact has expressed solidarity with Nepal’s indigenous people in their demands for legal recognition of their distinct collective identities and cultures, right to self-determination under a federal setup of autonomous units, the right to their lands, territories and resources, the right to political participation and the requirement for their free, prior and informed consent on matters that concerns them – those are in line with the international human rights obligations of Nepal under ILO Convention 169 and UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Following protracted protests from indigenous groups, the government yesterday signed an agreement with indigenous representatives to present their demands, mostly similar to those in the petition, in the CA. “We call on all political parties and CA members to adhere to the demands of indigenous peoples and marginalised groups so as to ensure inclusive democracy in the new constitution,” added Carling.

Further, in light of reports of many incidents of excesses by police forces during peaceful protests of indigenous peoples, particularly in the south-western Nepal, that left tens of Tharus injured, the pact has urged police to exercise restraint and respect rights of citizens to peaceful assembly.

It has expressed regret that media agencies have never given due prominence to balanced reporting of organised actions and other public programmes of Nepal’s indigenous peoples. “We respect freedom of media and rights of journalists but it is also important for media agencies to reflect diversity in their reporting and give attention to the issues and actions of marginalized groups,” said Carling.

The pact has requested international media agencies to independently monitor and report on the developments in Nepal so as to facilitate the much-needed global attention to the struggles of these groups long deprived of social justice.

 

Source : THT

http://globalvoicesonline.org/world/south-asia/nepal

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