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191. Low Caste in India (Untouchables)

Author:
Umbreen Javaid, Abdul Majid, and Saadat Faruq Zahid
Publication Date:
07-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
South Asian Studies
Abstract:
Historically Dalits have the lowest social status in Indian society. They were generally segregated and banned form participation in Hindu social life. This problem is the product of the caste system which is deep rooted in society. The Indian government has adopted measures to improve their conditions, only a small number of Dalits are able to make use of these opportunities. They face difficulties in rural areas where traditions are strong. The Dalit issue poses different and multifaceted problems to Indian state and society. Hindu social system relegates social status to the lowest level of the Hindu society. Some Dalits have acquired reasonable positions in Indian society through hard work and having education or by raising their economic status. However, they do not enjoy higher political status. The mind set of Indian people does not accept them equal to the high caste Hindus even if the Dalits get high education and good jobs.
Topic:
Minorities, Discrimination, Caste, Hinduism, and Dalits
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

192. The Race Equality Directive: A Shadow Report

Author:
Eefje de Kroon
Publication Date:
07-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The Race Equality Directive: A Shadow Report collects lessons learned from the implementation of the Race Equality Directive in nine European Union member states. The Race Equality Directive is a piece of legislation adopted in 2000 by the Council of Ministers of the European Union implementing the principle of equality for all irrespective of racial or ethnic origin. The directive comes under review at the end of 2013, 10 years after its entry into force. The report includes data on Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain. Annex I contains summaries of developments in each of these member states. The report identifies trends in the challenges facing the countries examined, examples of successful or problematic implementation, and includes recommendations for improving effective implementation. Challenges to the implementation of the Race Equality Directive include: lack of disaggregated data needed to implement parts of this legislation and evaluate its effectiveness; unclear identification of proxy categories that can be used to detect discrimination on the ground of racial and ethnic origin; problems that impede effective access to and use of judicial (individual or collective) redress against discrimination; hindrances to alternative forms of individual (or collective) redress, through the equality bodies. Analysis is based on two sources of data: country reports by specialized international monitoring bodies (excerpts of these are contained in Annex II) and data generated through a short questionnaire (in Annex III) completed by independent experts and subject matter experts within the Open Society Foundations.
Topic:
Race, Law, Ethnicity, Discrimination, and Equality
Political Geography:
Greece, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, and Czech Republic

193. Transforming Health: International Rights-Based Advocacy for Trans Health

Publication Date:
02-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Trans people across the world face substantial barriers to adequate health and health care. They are targets of discrimination and violence, are at greater risk of contracting HIV, and experience a higher incidence of mental health problems like depression. They face discrimination from health care providers, a lack of doctors trained to address their needs, and the refusal of many national health systems and insurance providers to cover their care. Yet trans communities are building alliances to promote trans health and to fight for policies that respect gender diversity and human rights. This report profiles projects from 16 organizations in twelve countries that address these barriers. These projects offered general health services as well as those related to gender transition, trained health care providers to respond to the needs and concerns of trans patients, conducted public education campaigns about discrimination against trans people, advocated for legal and medical policy changes, and organized trans communities to empower themselves. Collecting insights from these projects, Transforming Health makes recommendations to governments, rights advocates, health professionals and public health organizations, and health and rights donors.
Topic:
HIV/AIDS, Gender Issues, Health, Discrimination, LGBT+, Public Health, Sexual Health, and Transgender
Political Geography:
Global Focus

194. Le salaire dépend-il du sexe du supérieur ?

Author:
Olivier Godechot
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Max Planck Sciences Po Center on Coping with Instability in Market Societies (MaxPo)
Abstract:
Do female supervisors promote greater wage equality between men and women? Although female supervisors might want to promote greater equality, might they also lack power, not only to implement this policy, but also to improve the wages of both male and female subordinates? Based on the SalSa and COI surveys, we show that female supervisors do seem to reduce the wage gap between men and women. However, the subordinates of female supervisors also receive lower wages. This phenomenon could be related to selection bias : women become supervisors more easily in sectors, jobs, and departments that are less valued and where wages are lower. Even when adding controls for measurable selection effects, employees with a female supervisor earn 2.5% to 4% less than those with a male supervisor. Although the phenomenon still needs additional confirmation, the wage gap between women and men does seem wider when employees are men (–5% to –10%) than when they are women (0% to –3%). When the supervisor is a woman, the gender gap significantly reduces: from 30% to 85%. Interpreting this phenomenon is still in its infancy. We put forward four lines of interpretation: the unobserved differences between male and female managerial positions; the effect of individual characteristics correlated with the supervisor’s gender; differences between male and female dispositions to negotiation and competition; and, finally, discriminatory corporate behavior towards female demands.
Topic:
Women, Discrimination, Equality, Workforce, and Gender
Political Geography:
Global Focus

195. The European Union and the Right to Community Living

Author:
Luke Clements
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The European Union and its Member States have an obligation to ensure that European taxpayer money in the form of Structural Funds is invested in a manner that respects human rights and fundamental freedoms. These are among the basic values upon which the EU was founded. However, some Member States are acting contrary to EU law by using European money to invest in institutions for people with disabilities rather than developing alternative community-based services that promote community living. Such actions contravene the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and violates the fundamental human rights of people with disabilities. This report by the Open Society Foundations features legal analysis from Queen’s Counsel Richard Gordon and examines how the use of Structural Funds to renovate or build institutions is contrary to EU law. The European Commission and its Member States should take actions to ensure that Structural Funds are not used to perpetuate the social exclusion of any European citizen. Topics discussed in the report include: The role of Structural Funds in moving from institutionalization to community living; Key principles of the right to community living and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; The legal framework for Structural Funds investments; EU obligations to combat discrimination and social exclusion; Conclusions and recommendations.
Topic:
Discrimination, Social Cohesion, and Community
Political Geography:
Europe

196. THE ROLE OF THE COMMITTEE TO THE CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN

Author:
Chelsea Purvis
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Legal Challenges, Yale Law School
Abstract:
This report analyzes the role of the Committee to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). It provides an overview of the Committee’s mandate under CEDAW, finding that its mandate is similar to those of other human rights treaty bodies to which the United States reports. Like other human rights treaty bodies, the CEDAW Committee engages with States parties through a process of dialogue. It cannot consider complaints from individuals against states that have not ratified CEDAW’s Optional Protocol. The report then reviews the principle criticisms of the Committee by opponents of U.S. ratification of the Convention, exploring both the Committee’s most controversial recommendations and its contested legal authority. It discusses the contexts in which the Committee has made its most controversial recommendations and notes that each recommendation has had limited practical effect. The report explains that the CEDAW Committee does not have the legal authority to compel a State party to modify its law or values. If the United States were to ratify the Convention, the Committee’s findings and recommendations would have no direct binding legal authority under either domestic or international law. Finally, the report considers the effect that American participation might have on the Committee. U.S. ratification of CEDAW would allow the United States to contribute to the Committee’s process of dialogue. The United States has found engagement with other human rights treaty bodies productive, even though it does not consider recommendations made by human rights committees to be legally binding. U.S. ratification would also permit the United States to participate in the selection of Committee members, making it more likely that Committee recommendations would even more fully reflect U.S. standards.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Law, Women, and Discrimination
Political Geography:
United States of America and North America

197. Headscarf Ban and Discrimination

Author:
Dilek Cindoğlu
Publication Date:
11-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
The headscarf ban applied in institutions of higher education, in the public sector, and as this research has shown, in the private sector, reveals the perspectives of the state and its institutions and as well of the society on human, women’s and citizens’ rights. The restrictions and barriers to entry of women to study and work in institutions of higher education and public sector institutions, in place since the 1960s, rest on a mentality that views women’s choices to wear headscarves as an attack on the secular regime, instead of treating their choices as a manifestation of their freedom of religion and belief. Consequently, the practices that were initially violating freedom of belief gradually deteriorated to cause further violations of rights to education, to employment, to equal access to public life and of basic rights and liberties such as the right to equality. The headscarf ban in institutions of higher education has for many years been and remains to be a widely debated and contested issue. Though there is a wealth of analysis, dialogue, debate and research on the subject, it is largely restricted to whether the headscarf ban in universities is justified or not. The impact that the ban has had on headscarved women’s lives have, on the other hand, been absent in the debates and analyses on the headscarf ban. A question that has not been featured in research and public debates so far is despite the public sector ban on the headscarf what are the experiences of those headscarved women at work who were able to graduate from university, but did not abandon their choice to wear headscarf to practice their faith and without? In other words, what is the impact of the headscarf ban in the public sector on the professional lives of higher educated headscarved women? Does this ban, which applies to public sector institutions, also hinder or restrict professional headscarved women as they apply for or work in private sector jobs? What obstacles are there for professional headscarved women to entering job markets in Turkey and to advancing their careers? This report is a product of TESEV Democratization Program’s quest to answer these questions. It examines one of the greatest roadblocks on Turkey’s path to democratization, the headscarf ban, and the implications of the ban on public and private sector employment to document the myriad forms of discrimination and rights violations that headscarved women face immediately after they decide to become working professionals. Though some forms of workplace discrimination 6 that headscarved women face also affect non-headscarved professional women with similar socio-economic backgrounds, the headscarf is the primary source of the majority of discrimination faced by professional headscarved women. Again, this report shows that the ban on the public sector spilled over to the private sector. Cases of discrimination and rights violations that are believed to have diminished and to even have been reversed in favor of headscarved women during the two terms of the AK Party administration continue to be recorded, especially and more vehemently in the private sector.
Topic:
Democratization, Gender Issues, Religion, Women, Inequality, and Discrimination
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East

198. The Recent Flow of Asylum-Seekers from Georgia to Poland

Author:
Jenny Thomsen
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
Over the past months Poland has witnessed an exceptionally large number of Georgian citizens applying for asylum. From April to November 2009, approximately 4,000 Georgian citizens have crossed the Polish border with the aim of applying for asylum. This number is astonishing in comparison with previous years when only approximately 400 applications were received in the entire period between 2000 and 2008.2 In parallel, there has recently been an increase of asylum-seekers from Georgia in other European Union countries, with about 2,000 applications in Germany and 2,000 in the Baltic States, Greece, Switzerland, Italy and Austria together. Some of these people initially arrived in Poland and have thereafter disappeared from the asylum camps while their asylum application was still in process. Given that Georgia’s total population is about four and a half million inhabitants this number is extraordinarily high. The number of Georgian asylum-seekers in Poland has now even exceeded the number of persons from Chechnya seeking asylum. Out of the approximately 4,000 Georgian citizens applying for asylum between April and November, about 60% were persons aged 18-34. Children up to 13 years old constituted roughly a fifth of the asylum-seekers and people aged 35-64 made up about the same number. Males represented nearly two thirds and particularly young males between 18-34 were overrepresented, constituting around 40%. The flow of Georgian citizens to Poland peaked in July and August with 1,038 respectively 1,371 Georgian asylum-seekers. In September, the number had decreased to 317, in October to 205 and in November further to 143. The large majority of the asylum-seekers from Georgia (about 90%) are reported to be Yezidi-Kurds, generally poorly educated and sometimes even illiterate. The remaining part is reportedly ethnic Georgians, Armenians and Azeris.
Topic:
Minorities, European Union, Ethnicity, Discrimination, and Asylum
Political Geography:
Europe, Poland, and Georgia

199. HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, and Legal Services in Uganda

Publication Date:
05-2008
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
Widespread human rights abuses and lack of legal services is fueling Uganda's HIV epidemic, according to a report from the Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA) and OSI's Law and Health Initiative (LAHI). HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, and Legal Services in Uganda documents common abuses faced by people living with AIDS or at high risk of HIV, including: barriers to employment or education; discrimination in gaining access to medical care; violations of the right to medical privacy; forced HIV testing; and eviction from housing. According to the report, while the government of Uganda has addressed the medical effects of the HIV epidemic, it has paid little attention to the epidemic’s legal and human rights implications. This is especially true for marginalized populations who are most vulnerable to HIV-related human rights abuses: women (especially young women, widows, and women living in fishing communities); sex workers; orphans and vulnerable children; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals; and internally displaced persons. The report recommends stronger enforcement of policies and legislation that offer clear protection against HIV-related stigma and discrimination. It calls for greater support to community-based groups that have sought to integrate legal support into HIV prevention and care programs. It also recommends strengthening legal mechanisms to help people living with HIV access justice. Local Council Courts appear to be the most utilized dispute resolution mechanism by communities, but these courts are not being used to address HIV-related infringement of rights.
Topic:
HIV/AIDS, Health, Human Rights, Health Care Policy, Discrimination, Legal Sector, and Epidemic
Political Geography:
Uganda and East Africa

200. Reciprocity or the Higher Ground? The Treatment of Ethnic Russians in Georgia After the "Spy Scandal" of 2006

Author:
David Szakonyi
Publication Date:
02-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
Upon comparison of the treatment of one another‟s ethnic community following the spy scandal,‟ clear differences emerge between Russia‟s and Georgia‟s approaches to the issue. In contrast to the full-fledged targeting and expulsion of both legal and illegal residents on the part of Russia, Georgian officials, media outlets, and citizens responded admirably to the tenuous situation, with few reported incidents of discrimination. However, anti-Russian sentiments, at least at the elite political level, are still very much present among Georgian society, and the consequences of the agitated, negative rhetoric towards Russia by several Georgian leaders could lead to an environment of increased animosity towards Russian speakers. Without specific steps taken by the Georgian government, media outlets, and society as a whole to reduce anti-Russian sentiment, there is a danger of further incensed political relations negatively affecting interpersonal relations between the ethnic Russian minority and the Georgian majority.
Topic:
Intelligence, Minorities, Ethnicity, Discrimination, and Conflict
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Georgia