Asha Kowtal, som leder en ny generation af Dalit kvinde-aktivister i Indien og den amerikanske Dalit kvinde og filmskaber Thenmozhi Soundararajan, kommer til Danmark tirsdag (27.05), hvor de skal tale på Københavns Universitet om vold mod kasteløse kvinder (dalitter).
Seminaret ”Confronting caste-based sexual violence” finder sted kl. 12.15 til 13.00 på Antropologisk fakultet, Ethnographic Exploratorium, CSS 4.1.12.
Asha og Thenmozhi har lige talt i New York til den store ‘Women in the World Summit” om Dalit kvinde bevægelsen i Indien og om en dokumentarfilm om Dalit kvinder som Thenmozhi arbejder på, skriver det Københavns-baserede International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) i en pressemeddelse.
Asha er i Europa i forbindelse med et besøg i Bruxelles, hvor hun talte ved EU’s Menneskerettigheds Forum, samt i England, Holland, Norge, Finland og Sverige.
Her taler hun og Thenmozhi bl.a. på et seminar om Dalit kvinder på Lund universitet i Skåne, på et NORAD Seminar i Norge og på SOAS i England.
Finland deltager hun som taler på The World Village Festival. København er næstsidste stop på turen.
Hvem er Asha Kowtal?
Asha Kowtal is leading a new generation of Dalit women in India in their fight against oppression and multiple discrimination. She is the General Secretary of the National Dalit Women’s movement – called the All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch (AIDMAM) and an expert on Dalit women’s issues in India.
AIDMAM is a part of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) in India and works to promote and protect the rights of women who are subjected to caste and gender discrimination.
Ms Kowtal is actively engaged in addressing the issues of violence and discrimination of Dalit women and economic, social and cultural rights, through campaigns and advocacy.
Under Asha’s leadership, AIDMAM has undertaken some significant activities including a National Tribunal on Justice for Dalit women, Dalit women conferences such as the “National Conference – Re-framing Budgets for Dalit Women in India”, training programmes on International Human Rights Mechanisms, and Dalit women self-respect marches (Yatras) across key Indian states.
Ms. Kowtal was recently a speaker at the UN Women and European Union ‘National Conference on Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment’ in New Delhi and spoke at the 2014 Women in the World Summit in New York in April 2014.
Specifically on the mass mobilisation of Dalit women through self-respect marches, watch the video from the talk here.
She has also spoken at many previous UN events.
Asha holds a master’s degree in social work and has worked in the development sector, including various positions with donor agencies, for more than a decade, with a particular focus on the rights of India’s marginalised women.
Ms. Kowtal is familiar with the UN human rights mechanisms and has on several occasions interacted with UN human rights bodies and UN member states.
Ms. Kowtal is also the Convenor of WinG-India (Women in Governance) – a national level women’s network addressing issues of conflict and structural violence on women in India.
Her mere information om Seminaret – http://www.idsn.org/fileadmin/pdfs/Media/KU_Seminar_confronting_caste-based_sexual_violence.pdf
Yderligere oplysninger hos:
Maria Brink Schleimann, Communications Officer
International Dalit Solidarity Network
www.idsn.org – tlf. 60 43 34 33
IDSN main number: +45 6043 3432
