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Kathmandu Saturday July 29, 2000 Sharawan 13, 2057.
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Dalits deprived of fundamental rights
By a Post Reporter
KATHMANDU, July 28 - About two million children belonging to the downtrodden
community (Dalits) are deprived of education and many fundamental human rights, said
social activists today.
"Government is yet to fulfil its promise of free education up to class
10 to all children," said Bijaya Sainju President of CONCERN at a programme."How
can we expect much from this type of government when it comes to Dalit children ?"
UN Convention on the Rights of Child (CRC), Clause 2 states children
should not be discriminated on the basis of religion, culture, gender, race and the like.
Despite this clear provision, there has been gross violation of child rights
in our country. As a result, hundreds of thousands of children are compelled to bear the
brunt of social, economical and political oppression, according to a book released by
CONCERN Nepal. The newly released book Child Rights and Dalit Children is written in
Nepali. It dwells on historical background of Dalits, present status of their
children,discrimination made against them and a host of other related issues.
Census Report,1990 states that 12.3 percent of the total population are
Dalits.
On the contrary, the book provides statistics that shows there are
about four to five million Dalits and stresses on the need to correct and update the
official numbers of the oppressed castes. Out of this, 50 percent are Dalit children.
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