- ISSUES -
Introduction
Survival on the Land
Status of Women
Violence/Sexual Exploitation
Health
Caste
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CASTE
 The
people on the lower rungs of the caste hierarchy call themselves Dalits,
which means "oppressed". Dalits make up about 21% of Nepal’s
population, but they own only 1% of the arable land.
The religiously sanctioned caste system is based on perceived states
of purity and pollution. Caste discrimination is worst in rural areas,
home to 82% of Nepal’s population.
WHAT
MAKES A PERSON LOW CASTE?
Hereditary occupation, ethnicity or both determine caste identity.
Dalits look no different from anyone else, but they are recognizable by
their last names. People do attempt to hide by changing their names, but
in rural areas this is impossible. Though they all suffer exclusion from
society, Dalits are also divided among themselves into the many occupational
sub-castes in an elaborate pecking order, and thus have no tradition of
solidarity.
MANIFESTATIONS
OF CASTE DISCRIMINATION
In remote rural communities Dalits are totally segregated. They live in
designated areas, are excluded from places of worship and are prevented
from using common water sources and from entry into upper-caste homes.
They are not allowed to eat in the company of other castes. Aspirations
to a better life, resistance to the caste system, inter-caste marriages
and many other perceived infractions by Dalits are punished with violence.
There are countless accounts of vigilantism by high-caste people, sometimes
resulting in murder, rape and torture.
Forced labor is endemic to the caste society and widely practiced.
In accordance with their traditional occupation, Dalits are expected to
deliver services to high-caste families for only a symbolic payment of
food grain: the blacksmith will provide tools, the tailor, clothes, etc.
Verbal abuse and psychological humiliations are daily occurrences for
Dalits. Centuries of such abuses have resulted in destroying their identity
and dignity, and general acceptance of the status quo is aided by the
fatalistic Hindu belief system.
In an apartheid-like society, Dalits suffer gross discrimination in terms
of access to education, health care, jobs, housing and credit. Dalits
have virtually no political representation. Though Dalits make up almost
one quarter of the  population,
they have only two representatives, none of them women, in the 265-member
national legislature.
CASTE DISCRIMINATION
AND THE LAW
Nepal’s 1990 constitution forbids discrimination based on caste, but
the law is not enforced. Corruption is rampant and local authorities lack
both courage and will to enforce the law. Furthermore, most Dalits have
no knowledge of their rights, and often do not even perceive themselves
as rightful citizens.
However, in recent years, a Dalit civil rights movement has emerged to
fight for the dignity and human rights of Dalits in Nepal, which has aligned
itself with older and stronger Dalit organizations in India. EDWON sees
itself as part of this movement. In recent years, caste discrimination
as a human rights issue on par with all racial discrimination, has gained
attention by international human rights groups.
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