News and Events | Dalit Solidarity Network

International Dalit Solidarity Network’s recommendations for 60th session of UN Human Rights Council

9th September 2025

The 60th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council will take place from 8 September, 2025, to 8 October, 2025. In connection with their participation, International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) has developed and shared policy and advocacy recommendations to ensure UN Member States meaningfully consider the ongoing and systemic challenge of caste-based discrimination. Key recommendations include establishing caste- and gender-sensitive policies that address the compounding discrimination that Dalit women face; removing caste-based barriers to safe drinking water and sustainable energy; recognising caste-based discrimination as a barrier to legal remedy and justice; and enforcing existing legislation to end exploitative caste-based [..]

Podcast: Breaking the silence on caste in academia

28th August 2025

Caste isn’t just a South Asian issue. It shapes who speaks, who listens, and who is heard in academic and development spaces worldwide. In this episode of Between the Lines, we explore how caste hierarchies continue to influence the production of knowledge, access to opportunities, and the experience of being in higher education. Listen to this episode of the Between the Lines podcast by the Institute of Development Studies. This episode features anti-caste scholars and activists Aarti Rajput, Ritu Kochar, and Priyanka Samy. They speak about the silences, exclusions, and resistances that define their journeys in the UK and global [..]

Welcoming Programme Officer DSN UK

12th August 2025

DSN UK is extremely pleased to welcome on board MS Chandni Sai Ganesh as our Programme Officer. She has begun her role from 1st August 2025. Chandni completed MA in Gender and Development at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. A research scholar, she studies caste, gender, diaspora, and abolition. She also co-leads the Brighton Ambedkar Reading Circle and facilitates groups with the mental health organisation Hank Nunn Institute, India.Her grandparents migrated from Kerala, India, to the United Arab Emirates, where she was born and raised. In her free time, she writes letters to prisoners and supports refugees [..]

Historic ruling, no more fooling

23rd July 2025

DSN UK hopes this will spread worldwide DSN UK rejoices as the U.S. Federal Court Delivers Landmark Judgment Affirming Civil Rights for the Caste Oppressed. We hope justice will be brought to every corner of the world where people bear the brunt of Caste-based Discrimination and wait for justice for centuries together. Annapurna Waughray, a long time friend of DSN UK and Professor of Human Rights Law, Manchester Metropolitan University says, "“On 18 July California's District Court (Eastern District) held that the Plaintiffs, HAF (represented by former CISCO employees Kompella and Iyer) and a group of individual plaintiffs, lack legal [..]

Join in for changing mindsets and building perspectives

18th July 2025

Songs of Justice with Sambhaji Bhagat 📅 Sunday, 20 July · 6:30 PM – 7:45 PM 📍 Leicester Secular Hall, 75 Humberstone Gate, LE1 1WB Join us for an unforgettable cultural evening with Sambhaji Bhagat, a renowned Ambedkarite singer, poet, and performer known for his powerful anti-caste and social justice songs. Blending traditional folk rhythms with sharp political commentary, Bhagat brings the spirit of resistance alive through music that speaks to both the heart and the conscience. Performing primarily in Hindi, his songs confront inequality, injustice, and oppression—offering messages of hope, dignity, and solidarity. Sambhaji Bhagat’s performances are stirring, thought-provoking, and deeply rooted [..]