Dalitsolidaritetsnetværket i Danmark, DSN-DK, ønsker National Campaign on Dalit Human Right (NCDHR) tillykke med tildelingen af årets 2007 RAFTO Pris.
Det er en stor anerkendelse af NCDHRs arbejde, og en international anerkendelse af kastediskrimination som en global menneskeretskrænkelse. DSN-DK ser prisen som en vigtig markering af kastediskrimination som en af vor tiders mest alvorlige menneskerettighedsproblemer, hedder det i en pressemelding torsdag.
Prestigious human rights award to National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights
The RAFTO Prize, an international human rights prize awarded annually to human rights defenders, is this year awarded to the Indian organisation National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR). The award is an important recognition of NCDHRs work and of the struggle to end discrimination and human rights violations against Indias 167 million Dalits.
By the selection of NCDHR for the 2007 award, the RAFTO Foundation is sending a strong message to the international community that it is time for action to bring an end the world’s most serious human rights problems.
Worldwide 260 million people suffer caste-based discrimination with daily humiliations, segregation in housing and education, and denial of access to public resources like drinking water.
Although caste motivated crimes against Dalits are widespread, the justice system largely fails to hold perpetrators of violence, murder, sexual assault and public humiliations accountable.
Rikke Nöhrlind, Coordinator of the International Dalit Solidarity Network, congratulates NCDHR with the award, underlining the importance of their achievements in exposing the injustice:
– The perpetrators of crimes and discrimination against Dalits continue to enjoy an outrageous degree of impunity (straffrihed), aided and abetted by inaction and discrimination by the criminal justice system and other officials, she says adding:
– Human rights activists and Dalits in India are asking “How much longer?” This is the question governments, United Nations and the European Union should be asking themselves and especially the governments of caste affected countries.
The National Campaign has since its inception in 1998 managed to lift caste discrimination to national and international recognition as a severe human rights violation.
As a collective of human rights organisations, Dalit activists and intellectuals, they initiated the first ever signatory campaign for Dalit rights.
NCDHR has provided comprehensive and substantive documentation on the human rights violation against Dalits and has engaged leaders in India and internationally in their commitment and efforts to get the Indian government and the international community to wake up to this massive, yet largely ignored human rights problem.
With courage and determination, the NCDHR has forcefully pushed a simple message in their own country and internationally: Caste discrimination must end.
The RAFTO Prize is every year awarded by the RAFTO Foundation. Previous RAFTO laureates include Aung San Suu Kyi and Kim Dae-Jung, who have subsequently been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The award ceremony takes place in Bergen on 2 – 4 November, 2007.
Yderligere oplysninger hos Rikke Nöhrlind, koordinator for det Internationale Dalit Solidaritetsnetværk (IDSN) på tlf. 29 70 06 30, e-mail: [email protected]
For more information:
RAFTO Foundation: www.rafto.no
National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights www.ncdhr.org
International Dalit Solidarity Network: www.idsn.org
Dalitsolidaritetsnetværket i Danmark: www.dalit.dk
