[EAI Online Seminar]

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxaWYwyPrmM

The East Asia Institute (EAI, President Son Yeol), as the secretariat of the Asia Democracy Research Network (ADRN), hosted the sixteenth "Cooperation for Democracy" online seminar series, "Protecting Minority Rights in Asian Countries: Current Challenges and New Trends."

Most democratic countries in Asia possess legal frameworks and institutions to protect the rights of minority groups and ensure they enjoy freedoms equal to the majority. However, these countries often lack the capacity to implement these laws and institutions. Consequently, as majoritarianism and social intolerance grow, the rights of minority groups based on religion and identity face severe threats.

In this online seminar, ADRN member institutions from Bangladesh, Thailand, Mongolia, Nepal, and India convened to explore and diagnose the current state of minority rights protection, the challenges faced, and emerging trends, while discussing measures for establishing better democratic governance.

This seminar was conducted as part of the ADRN research project on "Protecting Minority Human Rights in Asia."

Date and Time: Tuesday, July 19, 2022, 15:30 – 17:00 (KST)

Panelists:

Shaheen Anam, Executive Director, Manusher Jonno Foundation

Jirayudh Sinthuphan, Assistant Professor, Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University

Damba Ganbat, Chairman of Board, Academy of Political Education

Pradip Pariyar, Executive Chairperson, Samata Foundation

Niranjan Sahoo, Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation

I. Overview

Democratic countries in Asia face unique challenges in protecting minority rights. Each country’s historical background and cultural dynamics deeply influence the nature of inequality, advocacy, and reform within the state. To examine current issues in minority rights protection across Asia, the Asia Democracy Research Network (ADRN) hosted a webinar, inviting scholars from five countries to speak about minority rights and protections in their countries. The panel was moderated by Niranjan Sahoo, a Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

II. Case Studies: India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mongolia, Thailand

India

“India’s situation is very dire, and Muslims today are facing unprecedented threats and attacks”

India is a Hindu-majority (80%) nation with large and diverse minorities, including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and Parsis. With boggling diversity, there are 30 major languages and 300 dialects used within the country. The Indian constitution has a pro-minority bias, providing numerous special privileges for minorities, especially linguistic and ethnic minorities. Part ⅩⅣ of the constitution details an elaborate list of provisions protecting minority rights; Article 29 guarantees cultural and educational rights, and Article 25 protects the right to “freely profess, practice and propagate religion (subject to public order and morality).”

Though the Constitution grants various rights, due to weak policing, politicization, and the absence of an effective justice system, these rights are not honored. Projects are not “actively” implemented, and issues arise with resource allocations and spending. In addition to various structural barriers, the rise of majoritarian politics and increased political polarization have posed additional challenges to protecting minority rights.

Religious minorities—among them Muslims—receive no special attention in the constitution, only a “bundle of rights.” With a population of over 200 million (14% of the country’s population), Muslims are the largest religious minority group. However, Muslims currently rank among the lowest in socio-economic indicators. For example, less than 4% of Muslims serve in the police, judiciary, or elite civil services. In present-day India, Muslims are the most marginalized and excluded minority group, even more so than Dalits (those belonging to the “untouchable” caste) and Adivasis (indigenous peoples in India).

A key driver of Muslim marginalization is its long historical background. Prejudice and intolerance have emerged from extreme Hindu-right organizations since the 1950s, and have sharpened since the 1990s, particularly due to the Ram Janabhoomi movement. Polarization has further intensified since 2014, when Prime Minister Modi took power. Hindu Majoritarianism entails historic marginalization of minorities; shrinking political representation; stereotyping, stigmatizing and demonizing of minorities; growing intolerance (e.g. anti-conversation laws, bans on cow slaughters, and “love jihad” theories); and the collapse of inter-community relations and trust. India has taken a constitutional route toward majoritarianism; in recent years, there have been a series of new legislations targeting Muslims. For example, Article 370, which concerned India’s only Muslim-majority state, was abolished. Furthermore, the Citizen Amendment Act, which discriminates against Muslims living in India, was enacted in 2019.

Bangladesh

“I feel very strongly…that the majority population has a responsibility to protect the rights of the minority. Unless there are more…people standing up for the rights of minorities, I think that it will be very difficult to address it only through laws and policies”

Bangladesh emerged from its 1971 split with Pakistan as a secular nation with a constitution guaranteeing equal rights for all. Shaheen Anam provided an overview of minority rights in present-day Bangladesh, focusing primarily on issues facing Bangladesh’s Hindu religious minority, who make up less than 10% of the population (as compared to the 90% Muslim majority). In her presentation, Anam explained that, though Bangladesh claims to be a country of religious and ethnic harmony, the constitution does not explicitly recognize minorities or provide separate provisions for their protection. In practice, the constitutional guarantee of equal rights has not been supported by proper policies and structures to uphold said rights.

Religious radicalism has been on the rise in Bangladesh over the last 20 years as a result of increased globalization, international events in Palestine and India, and social media, among other factors. In tandem, attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh have also risen. These attacks are typically not overt physical violence—like murders or riots—but rather land grabs of Hindu-owned property, often by or benefitting local vested interest groups. Over the last several years, social media has consistently been used to spread false news and instigate attacks.

Per Anam, the “most damaging” phenomenon is that the Hindu minority population feel they are not equal citizens, not as a result of state-sponsored oppression, but rather a social and economic problem left inadequately addressed by the state. She argued that, though the government sets up investigation commissions and vows to punish the perpetrators of crimes, it does not do enough to prevent crimes, and the justice process is slow and not impartial. Current mechanisms to improve the conditions of minorities in Bangladesh include the National Human Rights Commission and an elaborate system of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) who monitor and push for better government response. Moving forward, Anam advocated for more open dialogue and initiatives to embrace diversity, including revising educational curricula. Within the justice system, she called for violence to be prosecuted strongly and swiftly. Anam closed her presentation by sharing her conviction that the majority population has a responsibility to protect the rights of the minority. She believes that more people need to stand up for the rights of minorities—meaningful change will be difficult to accomplish through laws and policies alone.

Nepal

“Although untouchability was declared illegal more than a decade ago in Nepal, caste-based discrimination persists across the country, with lingering prejudice contributing to…significant violence in Nepali society”

In his presentation, Pradip Pradiyar provided an overview of caste-based discrimination (CBD) and minority rights in Nepal. Despite the abolition of CBD, untouchability continues to be deeply entrenched in Nepalese society. Dalits in Nepal face the worst form of discrimination across social, economic, administrative, religious, and political spheres: Nepal’s lower castes do not enjoy equal access to education or jobs; their skills, labor, and human rights are exploited; they are unable to access decision-making and justice processes; and they are not properly represented in the political system. Cases of rape or murder perpetrated against Dalits are not uncommon, and Dalit women face three-fold, intersectional discrimination due to their class, gender, and caste. Discrimination against Dalits is a deeply important problem in Nepalese society that needs to be discussed, but current conversations are not enough.

Social, economic, and health indicators demonstrate the effects of this discrimination. Dalit literacy rates, life expectancy, mortality rates, immunization rates, and nutritional access all fall below the national average. 42% of Dalits live below the poverty line, in contrast with the national absolute poverty rate of 35%. The discrimination-induced challenges to finding a good job or getting a good education perpetuate a cycle of poverty. These harmful long-term trends are accompanied by ongoing atrocities committed against Dalits. People are being killed in the name of caste; Pariyar highlighted the case of Sundar Harijan, a Dalit man who was wrongfully jailed as a minor, then had his identity switched with someone who had committed a much more serious crime, leading him to serve an extended prison term. Harijan was found hanging in the prison bathroom.

Recent developments regarding the status of Dalits in Nepal are complex. The COVID-19 pandemic raised new problems, and though and Nepal’s constitution serves as a legal instrument protecting Dalit rights, the law has not been implemented, and those responsible for implementation are not knowledgeable about Dalit issues. Pariyar called for the implementation of these fundamental rights to be ensured via direct order, and for the constitution to be further amended to protect Dalit rights. He also highlighted the need for proportional representation of Dalits in politics, especially in local government, as well as in bureaucracy and law enforcement. Pariyar closed by calling for three key measures: first, to raise awareness on Dalit issues; second, to increase Dalit’s access to resources; and finally, to ensure that laws, policies, and programs promoting Dalit rights are actually implemented.

Mongolia

“In comparison with…heterogeneous societies, we have fewer problems, but still we have some concerns, mainly related to education…and getting higher education for the minorities”

Damba Gambat, Chairman of the Board at the Mongolia Academy of Political Education (APE), joined the ADRN workshop to present on a paper prepared by Ukhnaa Tuya, his colleague at APE. Gambat first provided an overview of Mongolia’s history, demographics, and cultural dynamics. Mongolia is fairly ethnically homogenous; though it has 24 ethnic groups, many have only minor cultural differences. The Khalkh majority consider themselves to be direct descendants off Genghis Khan, and therefore the benchmark for “standard” Mongolian culture and “official” Mongolian tradition. Khalkh Mongolian is the nation’s official language, the language of government administration and national exams, and is used for instruction in most schools. The Khalks are generally not challenged on these claims, though occasionally ethnic minority groups will push back against their lack of political representation or particular government decisions. Similarly, racial tensions exist, but disputes are almost always resolved peacefully.

The Tsaatan, Tuva, and Kazakh groups, concentrated mostly in the Northwest, are the most culturally distinct. Kazakhs and Tuva speak Turkic languages, rather than Mongolian dialects. Religion also plays into minority distinctions—after the end of one-party communist rule in the 1990s, there was a popular resurgence of Tibetan Buddhism. As of 2020, 50% of Mongolians were Buddhist, and 40% were non-religious. In contrast, 82% of Mongolian Kazakhs practice Islam, and 27% of Tuvans and 60% of Tsaatans practice Shamanism.

The government has been paying increased attention to respecting and protecting the languages and cultural rights of Kazakhs, Tuvas and other minorities. The first democratic constitution of Mongolia guarantees the rights of ethnic minorities to practice their own culture and use their own language “in education and communication and in the pursuit of cultural, artistic, and scientific activities.” The constitution bans discrimination, and the most recent labor and criminal codes also guarantee equality among ethnic groups. However, in the early 2010s, international organizations found that there was a lack of policies addressing challenges to minority interests, such as poverty and unemployment. In his presentation, Gambat highlighted issues surrounding education equality and the lack of native-language education—compared to the national average, fewer Kazakhs, Tsaatans, and Tuvas have access to primary, general, and higher education. As for particular areas of concern, Gambat explained that there are no curricula optimized to support children of ethnic minorities who are learning multiple languages, no mechanisms collecting data specifically to evaluate the academic achievement of minorities, and no programs available to improve the bilingual education skills of teachers catering to these populations, contributing to the lack of access to high quality education for minority groups.

Thailand

“Especially in terms of minority rights, Thai law is still dominated…by conservative, heterosexual assumptions”

Over the last century, Thailand has had about 20 constitutions—despite the changes, every version has emphasized protecting human dignity and the peoples’ rights and liberty. On the other hand, Thai law, developed during Southeast Asia’s colonial era as part of an effort to avoid colonization, has not changed significantly; unfortunately, these laws have since prevented human rights development, infringing on gender, linguistic, and ethnic minority rights. Traditionally, crossdressing, gender fluidity and homosexuality were not cultural taboos, but they were criminalized with the introduction of this “modern” colonial legal system. They have since been decriminalized, but the LGBT community is still excluded from basic rights. As such, since 2012, the Thai LGBT community has been fighting for the right to marry, sparking a public debate on minority rights.

Pre-colonial Thai society was androgynous and quite accepting of non-heteronormative behaviors. LGBT identity was considered a private matter and did not concern the state. In the 19th century, the arrival of Western colonialism replaced informal Thai moral concepts of gender with Western understandings of “virtue” and sexualities. By 1917, a person’s gender was officially recognized and associated with their identity at birth, and gender identity and sexuality norms began to emerge. In 1953, private and non-commercial sodomy between consenting adults was decriminalized.

There was no major Thai LGBT advocacy movement in the 1960s and 1970s. This is perhaps, Sinthuphan posits, because the Thai LGBT community enjoyed a comfortable level of social space and freedom, leading to the absence of an LGBT advocacy group or political union. The official LGBT movement started in the 1980s with the outbreak of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which had been labelled as a homosexual or a “sinner’s” disease. The Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand is one of the oldest LGBT advocacy groups, and has campaigned for equal social protection and legal rights for the LGBT community since the 1990s.

In Thailand, the issue of same-sex marriage rights entered public discourse around 2012. Since the first draft of same-sex marriage legislation was proposed in 2013, there have been several further drafts. The bill, which came to be known as the “Civil Partnership Bill,” as well as a reformed Civil and Commercial Code, have received preliminary approval from Parliament as of March 2022, though a longer process remains before they can be fully passed and implemented.

There are several key challenges to the protection of LGBT rights in Thailand. Conservative and heterosexual majoritarianism among Thai legislators and legal practitioners and resistance to reform are two key areas for improvement. Sinthuphan also argued that the lack of a unified core movement or nationally recognized LGBT coalition poses an obstacle to progress, and finally, closed by asserting that policymakers should separate their personal religious and moral worldviews from their civil rights obligations. ■

III. Speakers and Moderators Biographies

■ Niranjan Sahoo is a Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, India.

■ Shaheen Anam is the Executive Director at the Manusher Jonno Foundation in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

■ Damba Ganbat is the Chairman of the Board at the Academy of Political Education in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

■ Pradip Pariyar is the Executive Chairperson of the Samata Foundation in Patan, Nepal. He is an alumnus of American University and Tribhuvan University. He specializes in youth empowerment, peace building and capacity building of media professionals.

■ Jirayudh Sinthuphan is an assistant professor at the Chulalongkorn University Institute of Asian Studies in Bangkok, Thailand.

Video Script

good morning everyone and very very warm welcome to this uh presentation on minor rights in asia and uh as we know today that this is you know i must first complement adr and for not taking up this research project because this is something very significant you know trend across you know democracies not only restricted about asia i think across different regions if you go actually starting with america and brazil and name any region uh everywhere you have actually a sort of kind of backsliding happening

against democracy and especially the minority rights are actually under attack and uh you know the scales might differ but every country almost every democracy you find in somewhere or the minorities are actually in the back and uh majority and trend is actually becoming a common kind of mammogram which you know in the previous ticket we thought we have overcome but now they have come back very strongly especially the majority of nationalism you know based on uh very very kind of a monolithic idea of nation good and you know

racial racism and you know stuff like that and nowhere actually that you see more sharper in asia especially if you look at a region like south asia it is it is really a very very soft and an area of you know real concern starting with india you know the largest democracy which uh used to be a sort of role model for many countries in terms of secularism and inclusivity today is actually going in opposite direction with you know rising you know major tradition and we also find similar trends also in

bangladesh of course much better place than in india but bangladesh has for pretty long time is witnessing you know such trends so also nepal and which so they will bring in you know which doesn't actually get into the focus uh limelight uh you know uh largely because it's overshadowed by what's happening in india and many other countries like pakistan or bangladesh but nepal nonetheless is also witnessing very sharper deterioration of minor rights but interesting also case studies we have with mongolia which uh we also

often actually don't debate in asia you know in many contexts so so uh mr ganbath's contribution would actually bring us and many of us would actually be in fact enlightened by his contribution and of course a very interesting topic by our colleague from thailand uh she has i think taken a very niche subject lgbt rights in fact in india we have been talking for last six seven years a lot actually with supreme court you know giving a kind of legal basis so i think this would be also of great interest for

many of us actually those who are looking at you know those those rights especially these rights in many places are actually they face us not only the physical attacks but all kind of prejudice stereotyping within the society so i think a very fantastic five cases so i'll fast as at the moderator i'll take the advantage of you know running a few slides above india and then i'll invite the bangladesh nepal and mongolia and then the final will be thailand so let me first start though so uh so basically i'll be uh you know

talking about the rising types of measurement in india for last eight nine years and how that has actually impacted the rights of uh the largest minority that is muslim in india but i'll give a kind of overview of you know minor rights and you know what are the provisions so to get you give you a sense you know uh what does the constitution what are the different constitutional schemes you know uh tell about minorities and how how state institutions and different policies also are geared to protect

minor rights so india is uh has the you know largest after china largest population in fact in just one year actually india will overtake china in terms of populations it's one of the most populous democracy hindus are in majority eighty percent uh it's a but it's a very large uh diverse minority population as also those twenty percent because of you know share size of population are huge in fact muslim population is about 210 million you know which is the third largest muslim you know concentration

anywhere in the world so you can easily understand and then also there are many other religions present about from muslim christian population which is about 12 to 13 million and then we have the seats buddhists giants parties it's also mind-boggling diverse country you know because those who are talking about this measure training and you know uniformity and monolithism they should also understand that this country is like a ocean actually we have 30 major languages you know where there are more than 3

30 million people each you know speak those languages 300 dialectics and aboriginal speaking in their own dialectics almost more than 400 dialectics among the originals you know you can easily see there is no probably country that can match the diversity of india and uh so uh interestingly indian position when it was framed in the uh 1950 between 48 to 50 it had it has it had a pro minority bias you know it provided a package of you know bundle of rights to minorities and especially those were you know ethnic

minorities like the civil caste civil tribe those operas cast from the hindus were given affirmative action you know the reservation or quota in jobs and in in education and also in politics so so this was also very major contribution which was largely uh you know steered by the father of the constitution that is dr br ambedkar so so india has a collaborative provision within the constitutions what are the minorities you can easily see that entire part you know indian constitution is into several you know parts

uh you know certain parts but if you look at the part 14 uh it it contains actually elaborate list for minorities and these are actually rights which are well protected by the constitution and the judiciary and a lot of these rights are actually fundamental rights like you know we have you know series of fundamental rights which are actually you know primary rights actually and and they are constitutionally protected so for instance you can see minorities enjoy cultural and educational rights under

article 29 which is a fundamental rights and this provides them they can open any institutions you know run cultural centers without any kind of no setting of friends on their own and then there is a significant you know fundamental right that is under article 25 which provides you know right to freely profess practice and propagate religion you know of course it's subject to public order and morality but this is significant you know provisions in the constitution and as i said also there is affirmative

action for the ethnic minorities the the dalits you know adivasi the political representation proposing to their population they have also uh reservation of affirmative action in job and education so this is a significant you know rights but and then there are also numerous policies state policies and central policies as well as you know institutions specifically cater to the rights of minorities and those are you know like there are millions of merit scholarship given to every year to students belonging to minorities then

congressional educational loans free coaching granting it you know to support minority institutions you know like universities or colleges they can get government support and there are also skill training specifically for them uh this apart also there is you know a statutory body called minority commission which was you know instituted in 1993 both at the center level as well as every state has a minority commission to look after the interest of minority rights but in reality you know while elaborate

laws are there you know the constitution has codified you know fundamental rights for the minorities of the thing in reality when it comes to implementations i think uh you'll find that in many countries not only in india they are actually not really implemented seriously and there are weak policing also criminal justice system is also very weak in the sense it cases also of violation takes years so in a sense uh this actually is a travesty in many ways and then many schemes you know central schemes and state skips are not actively

implemented you know they are there on paper but if you look at actually like there are millions of you know scholarship but hardly 50 percent of them are you know given so in a sense these are actually uh there is wide gap and resource allocation is also something very critical that is also not given you know uh due um and then multiple structural barriers you know that comes through the day to the politics where you find the trends of measurement uh then the you know there are political parties they have they have actually

mushroomed and grown actually largely passing minorities you know uh looking at uh you know that like what you find in many countries in fact minority passing is a common trend and you know political parties have taken birth basically to corner discriminate and you know explode minorities from the uh national politics as well as you know social economic reality so that's uh reality something which one can observe in india i will basically uh run few slides about you know give a kind of quick five seven

minutes uh uh sort of uh thought about uh how the muslims are actually placed today uh as i said uh the muslims are you know more than 200 million uh almost 14 of the total population so the largest minority and in terms of population size they are you know third largest in the world you know after indonesia and pakistan india muslims will be third largest so you can easily understand the uh you can't in fact call the you know muslims as minority in fact they have huge numbers but uh numerically you can call them minorities

and they were also uh australia ruling class you know moguls and you know susan and all that thing which ruled for more than uh six seven hundred years uh they so most of the muslims belong to those clients so in a sense lot of them actually are aristocrat and elites they came when when the country got independence in fact a lot of them were you know from aristocracy uh but uh socially economically look at and educationally look at they are actually today the occupy despite you know coming from the ruling class they occupy at the

bottom of the you know society and if you can easily see like from the data three to four percent of muslims you know while that the population size is 14 percent only three to four percent muslims are in elite civil services uh police and judiciary you know because these are decent making bodies so muslims are very negligible presence there educationally and economically they are the lowest in fact they the central past which used to be really marginalized they have actually done well in last two three decades but

whereas you know muslims cases have only worsened so in a sense they are the most marginalized and equitable community in in india but why this uh muslim generation exclusion you know happening in india being more than 200 million populations why why this trend actually so there are five six actually drivers one is uh muslim their status and they are you know uh precarious situation today to a great extent is linked to the historical incidents you know that long historical trajectories uh before 1947 when india got the

independence there was a massive actually hindu muslim conflicts in the 30s and 1940s and that led to the partition of the country very bloody partition of the country in which more than two to three million people you know got killed from both sides actually you know hindu and muslims so this actually and then the muslims a lot of muslims actually from india left to join the pakistan the newly created country but a lot of muslim also stayed back you know they said that you know this is their country and they won't go to

pakistan but what happened those who stayed back continuously been facing the you know kind of uh prejudice and you know attacks by some of the you know extreme hindu groups who accuse them as the region for the partisan so that sort of uh that garage you know that gross around the partition is basically vented on muslims who have nothing to do with you know this generation muslims have nothing to do with the partition but they have to pay a price for that so a lot of stereotyping prejudice and all that by the hindu

right groups which are mushroomed actually in last three four decades and their main agenda is basically to vilify attack the muslim communities so so in a sense uh congress party which occupied the party being the party of independence it occupied for several decades you know the power and he tried actually to address some of the you know problems of muslim communities but then what congress did is largely use these communities for tokenism for symbolism giving making them someone as a president or making someone as a

speaker of the house or giving them some you know few tickets in the opera house or you know making a couple of ministers beyond that actually muslims political representation never improved in fact they never actually got political representatives to proposing to their population that is 14 000 so uh eight to nine percent and today it has doing deal to four to five percent you know representation in the parliament and state assemblies so so politically they have been thoroughly marginalized and

but the real actually uh marginalization started with the ramjan movie movement which started in the 90s you know this was the time in which uh that babri mosque you know which was demolished in 1991 uh it was actually led by the movement of the hindu rights basically the bharata party which is in power so they claim that you know this particular mosque is basically a hindu you know uh temple that is the lord rama's temple and this was demolished by the emperor mughal emperor so they wanted to demolish it and they

succeeded by you know street power and you know using all kind of faith since then actually the hindu mobilization has happened around the religion and anti-muslim clan and then and bjp came to power in fact in the late nineties the uh with barry bashfi is largely on uh major terrorism and anti-muslim claims but then uh what we are witnessing since 2014 especially the you know arrival of prime minister narendra modi in 2014 at the national stage is unbelievable you know polarization and attack on muslims

now implication of hindu megatonism this is the last slide i'll present as i said historic marginalization of you know minorities uh has actually taken place since uh 2014 and one can see india's largest state uttar pradesh where muslims there is not a single muslim ministers you know it is one of the largest state in in india india almost like 220 million population in which muslim are a very sizable chunk almost like 20 of the population but today you have a you know government run by a hindu monk

you don't have a single muslim minister there so this is you can easily see the political marginalization that you know bjp the right wing has actually done and then the the stereotyping stigmatization demonizing minorities of the muslim as one of if any muslim raises something then you know the user lies go to pakistan you know you leave the country you know all kind of things are happening what what you also witnessed in america like about the minorities or asians you know during the trump administrations uh then

growing intolerance you the barriers of you know new laws have come up in especially bjp rule states uh anti-conversation laws ban on cow slaughter and you know beef ban that has actually affected muslims in fact not only their food consumption but also in terms of their you know the vocation millions of muslims used to actually depend on uh you know those uh industry which uh based on cow slaughters and we ban so that has actually affected the community because these laws are targeting particular

communities then there is also growing trends of communal attacks against muslims in the recent past in fact we had series of you know communal riots actually smaller act took place in many states during the hindu festival and then there is also collapse of trust and in the community relations uh finally uh in terms of checking it i think uh uh you know i mean this is the last slide in terms of checking that there are no actually major you know kind of uh opposition coming from the uh opposition parties or even the judiciary

uh on the other hand what has happened is that you know bjp doesn't want to declare it india as a sort of uh you know hindu version of pakistan like as a theocratic state of hindu but what they're doing is actually they are actually amending the constitutions or scotting the constitution and legal issue to make different kind of in the laws for instance there are spate of muslim anti-muslim you know legislation have come up in last few years uh they removed the article 370 that controversial act which had given a

special right to uh india's only muslim state that is yemen kashmir they removed that in 2019 they brought you know a new law actually citizens amendment act in 2009 and that led to massive protest across the country by the muslims which discriminates you know muslims living in india about citizenship and then there are also issues like the past something called national register for citizens you know in which you have to show the proof of citizenship which actually is largely intended to the bangladesh

migrants but but this is also going to affect most of the muslims because documentation is very poor in this country when they pass the law against triple talaq in 2019 laws against religious conversations have been also passed in many business states so i i will say that you know india's situation is very dire and and muslims today are facing uh unprecedented you know kind of you know threats and you know attacks uh and and their identities being posting their citizenship being you know challenged and today the situation is in

a dire state i would say uh so so i'll close here uh should we have a discussion or should we uh go to the next presentation and they have the discussion towards the end what do you say any anybody should we have any discussion on my presentation or should we uh go for the next presentation and finish all the presentation maybe towards the end we have a discussion okay uh so i'll i'll stop my presentation now i invite uh uh sahin yes uh the so prominent uh bangladesh ngos uh and uh monsoon foundation has been doing a lot of work

actually whatever i have actually acquired so she has it i just want to start with that uh the in in south asia the dominant uh religion for centuries have been hinduism and then of course uh buddhism and then uh the afghans iraqi starks they all migrated to the subcontinent and came migrating in the sense that there was uh like you know attacks and invasion and and and many many hindus converted to islam so there was in the subcontinent islam came through invasion but it also came through a lot

of uh trade uh from saudi arabia from the middle east and and other places india and pakistan iran said that in 1947 after 200 years of british rule was divided into india and bangladesh and and in 1971 pakistan was divided into pakistan and bangladesh after a bitter war in 1971 and and that was also actually based a lot on religious politics and the oppression of the bengalis who formed the east pakistan out of pakistan on not being able to live and kind of follow their own cultural political and

so bangladesh right after independence emerged as a secular polity so our constitution is very clear that everybody has equal rights and as such the minorities in bangladesh did not get any separate provision because it was assumed that everybody is bangladeshi and we don't we don't really talk about that you know minorities are different however there has been an issue with our ethnic population have constitutional recognition and they have been uh kind of you know claiming constitutional recognition

because everyone as bangladeshi in our constitution that although we bangladesh claims to be a country of uh religious ethnic harmony there are are we obviously have certain problems although the constitution guarantees equal rights it has not been followed up with proper policies and systems and structures in place in order to give minorities all the rights the services and and all the entitlement of the state religious radicalism in bangladesh unfortunately has grown in the last 20 years globalization social media religious

extremism and some you know incidents happening in other parts of the world like you know in palestine uh the oppression of uh you know muslim the palestinians also recently what has been happening in india is also affecting affecting us and we are very uh kind of uh you know nervous and concerned that this will on atrocities on on hindus especially on hindus in bangladesh you know there has been in recent years many uh attacks on my on minorities especially not in really overt uh killing and murdering like riot but taking over

property property of hindus which this they are like soft target and there are vested interest groups who will take advantage of a certain situation and take over the property of hindus the local politics is also involved you know army league is the most biggest party and they and there are uh you know we don't have a cred credible opposition and there are rivalry for resources like as i said land grabbing uh and uh you know all these things which uh oppresses our hindu minority population and makes them feel that they

are really not equal citizen that is the most i would say damaging thing when you know we have a lot of dialogue with our do you know i have colleagues or you know friends and and they say that it's not that we are being oppressed from the state there's no state-sponsored kind of oppression on minority i must say that it is more social it is more economical it is more to do with attitude that the state is really not addressing in the way it should uh we have had and i don't want to go into detail on this slide because it talks of

you know particular incidents and i'm not you know very happy to do that but there has been as i said a number of uh attacks on minority and i will just name one that in the last durga puja last durga puja let me outline in the beginning that durga puja is a huge celebration in bangladesh it is like uh you know big festival but slowly slowly over the years they're they're beginning to be opposition for such kind of a huge celebration by the more progressive groups but there has been human rights violation against

indigenous people there are and the most damaging one is using rumors social media you know to uh kind of uh you know highlight some false news and then the fundamentalist group they go and attack the hindu population that has been happening consistently over the last few years and we are very very concerned about that the facebook the social media is used in very very negative way for example somebody put on facebook that the quran has been found in a temple so the people of that area who are looking for a chance to take

over property of the hindus they they have gone and attacked them you know things like this has been happening and and our problem is that the state is not doing anything on time to prevent it when when an atrocity on hindus happen the police is very prompt the government is very prompt they will go and make the arrest but nothing much is done for prevention of this kind of incident that is the most concerning part for us and now uh before i talk about this i want to talk a little bit about our ethnic minority population overall

90 percent terror minority out of this 10 percent nine per or 8.5 percent are hindus and one point five percent are others like for example christian buddhist and our ethnic minority population many of them live in the chittagong hill tracks in the hills they're called the summer play the government record that is used because if government recognizes adibashi as in it position is that there they are one of the main challenges for uh for infringement of minority rights in bangladesh as i said has been very weak response of the state

can you go yes very weak responses although the professed policy is the operation on minority yet as i said it is not followed up up properly to make sure that it doesn't happen then if it does happen there is political indemnity like for example if people in high level positions or powerful groups are doing it then nothing is done to them then of course as i said land land grabbing is one of them losing land for the minority population is one of the big challenge for them and then i already said propaganda rumors

propagated by vested interest group and most importantly prolonged justice system which niranjan also mentioned also infringes on man the system of getting justice is too long but then i must say that the system of getting justice for ordinary people whether they are minorities or not is also prolonged and very very difficult so there are certain as i said uh there are protect you know systems in place for example the constitution guarantees equal rights and zero tolerance for offenses against minority the government routinely sets

up investigation committees uh commissions uh and vows to punish culprits and we have a national human rights commission and they regularly monitor incidents of attacks the civil society initiatives and it is quite uh kind of elaborate but there are a number of civil society organizations and you know bangladesh boasts of a very strong civil society uh a group or a movement and and they are constantly monitoring and badgering the government to of any rights violation and and it is brought to the attention of the government yeah

the there are there okay so uh in finally i've may i've given some recommendation and i think my time is also over that it is very important you know socially to promote and uphold the principle of secularism and a culture of pluralism um which is not so much in the dialogue as it should be incidents of violence should be handled more strongly so when it happens that justice should be swiss swift and the perpetrators should be punished immediately one of the things i feel very strongly that the education system and curriculum

should be revised looked into to teach these values of diversity social cohesion promoting social harmony and peace among young children and that is not happening and that is why we are concerned that a whole generation of children will grow up not you know not immersed in these values of celebrating diversity or social harmony and then there should be very sincere dialogues and discussions to address these issues of diversity cultural social political religious like groups acceptance of difference of opinion and

and differences the problem is that in bangladesh there is very little appetite for descent for for coming up with different views and also accepting differences so these are some of the things as the minority are a group and i feel very strongly and i must say here and it has been a part of our work that the majority population has have a responsibility to protect the rights of the minority and unless there are more number of people standing up for the rights of minorities i think that it will be very difficult to

address it only through laws and policies i would like to end here thank you uh same i think uh very well put and and the last uh the sentence you said is i think very critical to the protection of you know minority rights that is the majority community has to take that moral you know ethical responsibility to protect the minorities and unless that you know sort of democratic uh sense and you know that you know that ability to hear also you know something uh from the other side that descent what

you said is the core of you know what we called uh uh you know uh libertarian in liberty principle that that tolerance you know that plurality is hallmark of you know any diverse society and once that starts breaking what we are witnessing in india and bangladesh and many other countries then ultimately you know even if you have constitutions you have rights enumerated you have judiciary your police everything all the instruments they will not be of any great help because the majority community is also in somewhere

or silently you know supporting or in some way or other showing no great interest to stand up and say no this cannot be so i think that's where the i think uh a lot of these things you know one of the right side across you know sections now without any delay i'll invite freddie perrier who's been running some foundation and it's been one of the very active very very proactive way in the subcontinent i see many of his posts you know through facebook and other and also some of his activities of his foundation

He is doing pioneering work, and we would like to hear about belief rights in the park. Thank you. Thank you so much. I think this is a really important topic and an important time we are discussing it. Thank you so much to the East Asia Institute for hosting this conversation. Let me begin about the current situation in Nepal, but I will talk from a slightly larger perspective as well. So, Nepali society is tracked through the caste-based hierarchical systems, perhaps in South Asia, and structured, however, the discrimination

and indignities and inequalities borne by the caste system are swept under the carpet or ignored by those in power. The dominant caste groups and caste hierarchies exclude the lower caste categories from equal, inclusive representation and decision-making and justice. And how the Dalits' lives are jeopardized by exploiting their human rights, labor, and skills. So that's the situation right now here. We have a National Human Rights Commission defining Dalits as those communities who, by virtue of ethnicities,

caste discrimination, and untouchability, are most backward in social, economic, educational, political, and religious fields, and deprived of human dignity and social justice. Worldwide, if we talk about the worldwide population, Dalits make up 36 million. And according to the 2000 census, Dalits in Nepal comprised 13.6 percent of the total population, involving seven Dalit hill-dollar caste groups and nineteen Buddhist caste groups. Of them, 51 percent are women. So most of the Dalits live in India. So, in Nepal,

there is only 3.6 percent of the population. So caste discrimination and untouchability continue to be deeply entrenched in Nepali society, India, and other parts of Southeast Asia. And now this travels to other parts of the world as well. The Dalits are still subject to the worst forms of discrimination. They are subject to neglect, violence, and injustice in their social, cultural, economic, administrative, and political lives. They suffer rape and murder and are denied access to places of worship, common

water sources, education, and dignified jobs. In addition, the women who constitute half of the population face intersectional and threefold discrimination: caste, gender, and class. So this is one of the important conversations we need to have, but this is not happening so far. So, in Nepal, the status of protection of Dalit rights in Nepal, let me talk about education. In Nepal, the status of Dalits, according to the 2011 census, the average literacy rate in Nepal is 65.97 percent, which is 75.2 percent for

male and 57.53 percent for female. The Dalit literacy rate, six years and above, is 52.4 percent compared to the national average of 65.9 percent, and 35.5 percent for Dalit women. Literacy rate of Dalit women is 45.5 percent, while women from the Musahar community are at the bottom with 17.4 percent and 17.9 percent literacy rates respectively. It's really, really low, especially if we talk about Musahar and Dom in the flatlands, especially. So, that kind of situation we have.

Life expectancy also, Dalits fall behind in all major health indicators. For example, on mortality, compared with an all-Nepal level of 68 years, only so Nepal has immunization coverage of 83 percent, whereas the immunization rate for Dalits is 13 percent below the average. The proportion of underweight children is highest among Musahars, more than 36.3 percent, and Hill Dalits, 33.9 percent. Here, we need to understand that there is a total difference between Hill Dalits and Madhesi Dalits within the Dalit

community. Also, there are Madhesi Dalits who are more deprived and in a backward situation. This clearly indicates that there are problems with access to nutrition and food for Dalit groups, among others. Many Dalit women suffer from uterus prolapse in the rural areas, especially in the villages. Their morbidity rates are really high. Child marriage, early pregnancy, and reproductive health issues are other problems faced by Dalit women. So, if we talk about poverty, Dalits comprise the poorest community in Nepal.

Especially, they don't have land or housing. And when they don't have land, there are a lot of issues about citizenship as well. So, in terms of poverty measures, income, consumption, and human development, around 42 percent of Dalits live below the poverty line; 43.6 percent of Hill Dalits and 38.2 percent of Madhesi Dalits, whereas the national poverty rate is 25.2 percent only. While the immediate causes of this gap are limited employment opportunities due to occupational specialization preventing

valid from accessing welfare jobs as well as lack of access to quality education and land perpetuates poverty from one generation of knowledge to the next generation and the persistence of social discrimination is the overarching factor of explaining this situation and um mostly they are not getting the job those who will get the jobs that's a really really uh only liverious job and there is a we have one uh especially dalit uh have a trade uh traditional occupation for a for example making trailering uh and uh there's

um this uh uh jewelry work so this kind of work they're doing but they're not getting enough faith that's kind of situation also exists so let me talk about this is one of the important issues uh here in nepal and southeast yeah so uh atrocity against dalit is one of the one of the one of the really really uh important issues we need to discuss uh uh in this in in this time so although onto stability was declared illegal more than a decade in nepal caspase discrimination persist across the country with a in a lingering

prejudice quantity it causes significance violence within independence of the society the stories of navraj panastati ajit mizar nakami mani very soon there is a many stories just few representative stories after it were systematically marginalized and persecuted every day through contemporary past hierarchy many stories remain unreported and unfold so uh this this i mean this uh i i mentioned this name they are the kill in in the name of the cause so recently i will i'll share one story recently there's a

s 20 was found dead hanging in a twilight at one of the district called prison on 18 may 2022 he was just 17 years and three months old when he was arrested arrested illegally for mobile uh uh phone test on 2nd september 2019. the court sentenced him to one year jail imprisonment it's an interesting day he was uh he was he was under uh he was actually child that time when this uh court sentenced him to one-year jail very interestingly his deaths leave behind a trail of mystery uh one of the big mystery in in

in now in the past the the police recall so that he was serving impeachment for someone else crying his identity was swiped with visa vikramsa one of the one of the uh one one of the uh charge that visibility arrested from republican on charge of extortion and illegal arms uh possession the police catch him on 7th march 2018 with a pistol 5 mobile phone and 15 sim cards the could send him behind bar for five years sundar horizon death in prison raises serious questions about human rights violation in nepal

particularly for dallas one of the most marginalized and expert community communities according to the act relating to children uh 2018 while detained as a minor origin had the right to juvenile persecution procedure the court verdict to imprison him as unlawful and violent existing legal provision but that happened and and he died in in in prison so we don't know about the reality so far the court to the main issues because we don't have much time move to the main issues here okay so that kind of a situation uh we have

right now so in pandemic also there is a um a lot of issues raises in pandemic time there is a really packaged distribution also not fear so that kind of issues with us so uh i am going to be fast uh how much minutes two three minutes we i have three minutes yeah okay so we have a legal instrument for the protection of birth rights in nepal so the new nepali constitution is one of the biggest achievements for the rights and that movement those rights are provisioned as fundamental rights in particular article 24 and 40 guaranteed

fundamental rights including education health and land but that's not in implementation that's the one of the major problem with us so nepal has impacted the caspase and other social discrimination and entertainment offense and punishment act 2011 that criminalize all form of custody discrimination but that that's the sundar horizon case happened so this kind of situation we have let me uh let me uh let me share the my conclusion uh uh remarks uh here so uh to address all these uh challenges there is a need to amend the present

constitution to ensure the wealth rights additionally direction verdict of the supreme court or right petition uh filed by nepali needs to be properly implemented whatever i talk about the whatever we have in the constitution uh uh even in the fundamental right but that's not in implementation because are not in the uh educated body so they are not in the implementation body uh so those uh who are in the implementation but they are not very serious about the knowledge and marginalized issues that's

the fundamental problem the structure budget plans and review revision as well as the implementation of the laws should we ensure as instructed by the directive order so recently we have a directive order from supreme court uh because uh one of the one of the airports had put the uh file because that's uh even the fundamental right is not implementing right now so additionally he needs to be professional representative of dallas in in minorities in the state buddies especially in the parliament there is a

uh there is not much representation even cabinet there is not much representation even we have a 750 local government and recently we had an election that's the most uh uh uh only one percent of dallas representation in the local level uh local level buddies those buddies are the one of the uh buddies who work closely with the people local people so but we don't have enough representation in local bodies also especially the bureaucracy and law enforcement agency like the nepal police uh uh uh and

government lawyer there's a really really less solid representation in not selling ours need to be conducted to enable the length and manage to claim their rights so we need to uh do uh three things especially awareness so there is a need to be a lot of furnace so access to resources and implementation of the laws and policies and programs if we can ensure these three things that or we can protect the minor services let me uh conclude with this uh note uh thank you for the listening thank you uh

very very clear uh crisp presentation and kind of bad side view in 15 minutes not easy topic but i think most of the key points uh you know uh came out very clearly and uh and then the last point about you know those three things that you recommended i think i i i see in every country that implementation is the key and that's where i think most countries are missing whether it's india or bangladesh or nepal we have actually enacted a number of laws policies programs everything but most of them are on paper the weak state

capacity you know the especially you know what we see also the weak judiciary you know that enforcement agencies who maintain those rights are actually something you know probably needs a real real kind of no strengthening and that that's where i think we have a common kind of uh story now without uh further delay i'll invite mr dhamba ganbath our colleague from mongolia he heads the is the chairman of the board academy of political education in mongolia and and and that political education i think that

word actually is very key in fact for the minority rights because awareness you know that education and they know that you know minorities should know actually that they have been neglected or exploited what uh pradeep made you know that observation is very key because without that you know how much of state preparation all that will go waste actually so they have to also work enough so over to you uh mr gunbath and 15 minutes so thank you very much good afternoon from mongolia and actually as i wrote emails

we today and this week actually is a national day of mongolia which is the biggest holiday so happy national day to all of you the paper was prepared by miss martija and myself and i'm going to present the based on on behalf of the academy and political education so uh as you all of you know the mongolia is located on the northern part northern north eastern part of asia which is you are guys mainly from the southern part mongol is from in the northern part and we have all the two giant neighbors russia and china

and the mongolia covers an area of almost 1.6 million square kilometers with a population of only 3.5 million and compared with your country india it says 50 number and it's made the world's most specially populated nation so um a hundred years ago in the beginning of 20th century mongolian population was only seven hundred thousand only so now is growing and uh lambert is a capital city is the largest city in is home to roughly half of the country's population the mongols constitute one of the principal ethnographic divisions of

asian peoples the tradition of homeland is centered in central asia physical anthropologists in the early 19th century introduced the terms mongol and mongolia's descriptive of racial type even though the mongols exhibited a wide range of physical characteristics today the mongols are recognized as a group of peoples bound together by a common language and the common nomadic tradition the mongols have always been nomads and traditional society in mongolia was based on blood relationships traced through the common male ancestor who

gave his name to the clan uh evidence exists of a more ancient system of matrilineal matrilineal decent marriage between members of the same one was forbidden giving rise to complicated marriage alliances among the clans as class grew the most successful familiars tended to arrogate to themselves claims to ancestry and territory weak clans fell to a subordinate but not survive status they owned the owned cattle and had their own admin but paid cheaper to the ruling fund and moved camp pasture and thought on these orders

and today's approximately 30 percent of the population is nomadic or seminatic and horse culture remains integral some points on the ethnic background language is a religion actually the mongols they compare with your countries mongols are ethnically quite homogeneous there are 24 80 groups and the amount that we call make up the majority and comprise over 85 of the population house other dominant ethnic groups and half people see themselves as the direct ancestors of change's hand and therefore the true

standard fears of authentic mongolian culture they uphold traditions and beliefs is that efficient mongol traditions mongol is the official language of the nation since all other mongol languages are dialects of this common tongue half are extended proud of the heritage and encourage the preservation and continuation of traditional mango by which they meet half culture for a long time this led the health to dominate mongolian politics to shut off mongolia from outside influences today however mongol is much more open

and has even permitted enter of christianity into a nation of traditional practices buddhism much of the remainder consists of two kick speaking peoples mainly kazakhs some tuva and few satan who live mostly in the western and the northern parts of the country there are very small numbers of russians and chinese who are found mainly in their cities and towns except the for the kazakh and minority groups residing in western mongolia all 18 groups speak mongolian dialects that are comprehensively to speakers of

house and to each other mongol is official national language and is used at all levels of administration and is the language of instruction in muscles and is used in all national exons besides that satan the kazakh and tuwa cultural differences in mangate groves are minor the majority of mongols mongolia's ethnic groups share similar customs traditions and systems of production is the huff ethicity is mainly revealed in distinct clothing styles in ways of preparing some for instance food as well as in

musical and oral traditions ethnic distinctions can thus be qualified as relatively minor although some groups may have a stronger sense of their own identity than others uh this is the case for the nationally nominated we in their heading they had certain people in the north because us who have stronger cultural differences added to language and religious distinctions kazakh language and islam and the tours however khazar and two our livelihoods are not significantly different from those of the mongol subgroups

only the saturn because they are mainly rend reindeer headers are characterized by a specific system of production although mongol has a fair amount of ethnic group diversity this has not led to major problems the half people are generally not challenged in the claims to represent say a true mongol culture or in the widespread control that simply comes from having much greater numbers this doesn't mean however things are almost perfect every now and then one of the ethnic of the ethnic minors groups will bring

their lack of political representation intonation politics or will question decisions made by the government of mongolia's future however while racial tension does exist in these cases the disputes are almost always resolved peacefully the official language of mongolia is mongolia and is spoken by more than 95 of the population the government has given increased attention to respecting and protecting the languages and cultural rights of kazakhs to us and other minorities the best majority of population speaks mongolian

in western part of country where mainland kazakh and tuwan both two kids languages are also spoken and mongolian sign language is the principal language of the community the mongols originally followed shamanistic practices but all the time they broadly adopted tibetan buddhism lamaism the new region installed in 1921 a hundred years ago sought to replace foreign religious structures with socialist and secular forms during specially in the 30s the ruling communist party which is caused atheism destroyed or closed

almost every monasteries confiscated their livestock and land holdings induce large numbers of monks to renounce the religious life and repressed and killed those who resisted the end of one party communist rule in 1990s allowed for the popular resurgence of buddhism the rebuilding of ruined monasteries and temples and the and the rebirth of the religious vocation buddhists predominantly of the school headed by the dalai lama constitute nearly one-third of the mongolians who actively profess religious beliefs

according to the last 2020 nation census mongolians aged 15 and above around 50 were buddhists while around 40 were non-religious so it means the rest uh related a small number of muslims who are found mostly in the western part of the country and nearly all kazakhs much smaller committee of christians live mainly in the capital a significant proportion of the people are artistic or non-religious for instance of the kazakhs in mongolia around 82 percent practice islam while 27 of two ones and 60 percent of certain people

practice shamanism so also because there are some issues on which we pay attention so minority related legislation the rights of ethnic minorities are guaranteed by the constitutional mongolia of 1992 is a it's the first ever democratic constitutional mongols which states i quote no person may be discriminated on the basis of ethnic origin language race age sex social origin or status poverty poverty occupation of post religion opinion or education the constitution also protects the right of ethnic minorities to practice their

own culture and of course use their own language guaranteeing i quote the right of national minorities of other congos to use their native languages in education and communication and in the pursuit of cultural artistic and scientific activities and also the government of mongol has in recent years adopt some laws such as a labor law criminal code which are currently a quality among eight new groups so at last i would like to share some concerning issues so in early 2010 international organizations

and especially united nations special reporter reports reports include the following comments and concerts regarding the minority rights protection for instance lack of vibrate policies to address challenges for ethnic minorities to ensure the interests including poverty unemployment and lack of access to education in their mother tongue compared to the national average fewer people from khazar to one and certain minorities have access to primary general and higher education so in the last years mongol has enshrined the law on

education the long primary and secondary education and the law on the mongolian language in the constitution to ensure and protect the rights of veteran manures including the right to education and the right to mother tongue education one example article eight of the constitutional mongol states that mongol language is that which names of the state and stipulates that section one of this articles shall not affect the right of national minorities to use their native languages in education and uh at the end i would like to just say a

few words regarding language we should pay attention in the common future can you sum up in one or two minutes sir yeah thank you so some some based on the some research conducted by the ngos fallen concerns as we highlighted in our paper in mongolia there are currently no didactic or optimal curricula that support children of ethnic minorities with different cultures and languages and learning multiple languages all data specific to children from ethnic minors and other language and culture groups was collected to evaluate

this school enrollment and academic achievements there is also a lack of effort to educate bilingual and multilingual teachers and improve their teaching skills to make education accessible for eighteen minutes so one of centers in couple with your countries with the heterogeneous society we have fewer problems but still we have some concerns mainly relate to the educational right and get more high education than for the minors which i mentioned as kazakh foreign thank you very much thank you i think uh

a very pleasant summary of you know the kind of developments in mongolia in last more than a decade i think you also brought out what's happening in terms of the conversational mechanism and you know legal mechanism to ensure you know the religious uh technic minorities uh especially the project to one many other you know they are also the native uh groups their language you know the protection their education and opening the door for access i think plenty of things are happening but also there are gaps you

know like every other country and there are weak implementations so those are actually areas where actually needs more but at least we are not witnessing you know kind of major tendency man you know the sort of uh backsliding that we are witnessing in many other democracies so in that sense at least you are in safer terrain than many countries uh now without uh any further delay so i uh invite uh dr for his presentation and this is one of the very interesting topic that we would like to hear about eliminate rights

something you know thailand opens up a kind of uh i would say it's it's like you know avenue and which many other countries are looking at thailand as an excellent example what what is possible even if they kind of polarize society okay okay thank you thank you niranjan and thank you the east asian institute now for organizing you know this event so uh you know i'm going to be you know quite different here because i'm going to present uh a sort of you know the rights for the minorities you know but in a different

perspective you know it's uh it's for you know the lgbt community uh the reasons you know i'm choosing this topic you know because you know it has been you know quite in recent debates you know for over you know the past 10 or 20 years here in thailand about you know the equal rights you know for the lgbt uh community here in thailand and uh for me what is interesting you know about this topic is that it is all so you know open up uh you know the flaw you know in the uh thai legal systems and also you know

the flaws in the time the human rights system uh that as a whole uh because even though uh the thai cons uh thai constitution uh regardless of which constitution that we were talking about you know for the past 90 years you know for your information we have had about 20 constitutions already but and but you know in every version of you know our constitutions it always uh it's always uh you know dictate that uh human dignity rights liberties and equality of the people shall be protected the thai people shall enjoy equal

protection under this constitution but the constitution may have changed we have 20 as i mentioned but you know the thing is that the thing that hasn't changed much for the last 100 years or 150 years is the thai law which uh which you know developed you know during you know the colonialism of south of asia you know as a mean you know to avoid you know being colonized by the western power so the siamese government and in the later the thai government uh they try to leave to reform you know their legal system from

the traditional legal system to a modern legal systems that you know we know it but you know because of that it still got the colonial hangover and also uh it's still you know it still has some you know assumption flaws you know that's prevent you know further you know developments in in the human rights and the rights of you know the minorities regardless in the weather in terms of gender or in terms of linguistic or ethnic cities uh so as you may see you know from my presentation these are their photos you know from you know the

last centuries and you know they are you know showing uh you know thai men and thai women you know who you know has been you know cross-dressing and and you know enjoying you know the the intimacies of you know the same sex but uh traditionally you know this was not uh considered not to be you know a taboo you know unless not it is interfered with uh with you know the states which you know i will you know mentioned in the earlier but uh since you know the introductions of the colonial or the mod or

the modern legal systems uh uh you know it has somehow has been you know criminalized and then decriminalized but but again uh it's still excluded uh the lg algae lgbt communities from from some some some basic you know rights that uh that they want you know for instance maybe the rights not to love the light the rights to start a family the right singer for adoptions not together so that is why you know since 2012 the thai lgbt community and it has been fighting for the brightener to mali to marry

to allow you know them to to start a family to to to you know to adoptions and you know to inherit and to decide in the hospitalizations and and and and and how to deal with the death you know of you know of that loved one so uh and you know and because of you know this this fight to for for uh to legalize the same-sex marriage and it has been supported in public debates you know on minority rights as well so uh to provide you with uh the brief history of our gbt advocacy in thailand so in the p in in the pre-call in the

pre-colonial thai society or siamese society well the idea of gender you know was relatively androgynous so so people you know were not regarded as their whether for their sexual behavior or or gender and now what's happened in in their private life remain private and unless they are interfered with uh within the state now for example uh uh during the eight what 19 centuries now there were two cases that uh you know about uh about you know about uh about you know about you know gay relationships you know one is

about one is about being the female and female relationships uh within and the royal court but but you know it was not because of the criminalizations of such relationship but because of it was a dispute of of of inheritance for examples or uh at the same and and and at the same times uh uh one uh there was a but there was a criminalizations of uh of of you know a gay behavior the male male loving male you know behavior but not because of you know it was an act of uh of indecency you know but you know because

uh it was uh it it was considered a treasons for example but you know with the arrival of colonial norms uh and and and the westernized concept of virtues and sexualities and that is when that was when uh you know gay sex or gays or gay men okay okay marriage and become become uh becoming a criminalized uh the first legal bills now that came in 1917 uh that was considered you know the turning point of the the the you know the uh gender politics in thailand because it was it was when uh gender identity

uh and yeah and sexuality you know becomes you know the same thing and becomes under the matter of the states and uh it was the first time that you know a person's identity was officially recognized by the gender of one birth so you know when one is whenever one was born that one has to register you know what sex or what gender one is or one was and that cannot never be changed and but you know but but even but but even then the the sexual behavior that is the same sex relationships were not and

we were not criminalized but again you know after the second world war uh uh there was a new law you know came along came out to the criminalize uh the you know like the consensual you know sodomy ordinance the consensual and same sex relationship which was not enough criminalized in the first place but it is an example you know of how you know the thai states uh uh were prepared to reforms and that they're legal systems to comply with the idea the western idea of what is human rights or what should be done you know in

legal matters but in general uh you know for the past 100 years the lgbt advocacy in thailand hasn't developed much even though in the 1980s and in the 1960s and 1970s you know there were you know foraging you know lgbt community here in thailand but uh but you know no one then was concerned about uh lgbt rights or advocacies enough for equal rights enough for the lgbt communities and and that you know because often that the thai societies were quite relaxed in this matter so the thai lgbt communities now enjoyed

quite a comfortable level of social space and freedom to live their life. Thus, there was no advocacy groups or political unions developed during that time. The official LGBT movement in Thailand started in the 1980s with the AIDS epidemic. When AIDS arrived in Thailand, it was branded as a homosexual or sinner's disease, stemming from the belief that one had committed past transgressions leading to illness in this life.

Consequently, LGBT individuals, especially those with HIV, were denied access to universal healthcare and AIDS research funding. The disease was considered a affliction for a small group and for sinners.

Therefore, the Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand was founded to advocate for the legal rights of the LGBT community and their access to healthcare. Can you please conclude in one or two minutes? We have already exceeded the allocated time. So, when this initiative began, we are now moving forward.

Back to 2012, debates on LGBT marriage rights emerged. Although Thailand was relatively progressive at the time, the issue was divided into two camps. The government introduced civil partnership bills for the LGBT community, but various groups advocated for a comprehensive reform of the legal system in Thailand.

to grant LGBT communities equal rights in terms of pensions and inheritance. This fight has been ongoing for the past 10 years. It was only two weeks ago that both the civil partnership bills and the marriage equality bills were passed by parliament in their first reading.

However, the bills must still go through several processes before enactment, which could take years or even decades. This situation has reopened wounds within the Thai legal system, particularly concerning minority rights. The Thai legal system, especially regarding minority rights, is still dominated or influenced by conservative heterosexual assumptions and majoritarianism. The definition of 'Thai' is often tied to Buddhism, Islam, or secularism.

Furthermore, Thai attitudes towards law and legal reform prioritize passing new laws over reforming existing ones. A third key challenge lies in the failure of policymakers. Although these two bills have passed, four Muslim-majority provinces in the south have requested exemption because they are permitted to practice Sharia law. They have requested exemption from this bill or the drafting of a new bill for their specific needs.

This represents a failure of policymakers who continue to let personal religious and moral beliefs influence their duties and the protection of civil rights. It has also exposed the vulnerabilities of not only LGBT rights but also minority rights in Thailand, based on the assumption of universal equality. There is an absence of a unified call for movements concerning ethnic minorities, religious minorities, or other minority groups.

This is a failure because policymakers are still using personal religious and moral worldviews to inform their duties and protect civil rights. It has also exposed the vulnerabilities of not only LGBT rights but also minority rights in Thailand, based on the assumption that everyone is equal. There is an absence of a unified call for movements concerning ethnic minorities, religious minorities, or other minority groups.

Therefore, I will conclude my presentation here. Thank you very much. As I mentioned, this is a unique theme, and LGBT rights are a topic of discussion in many countries, including some in the subcontinent. India is also an example.

In India's case, similar to Thailand, much has been achieved through judicial intervention, largely driven by the efforts of civil society. India has extensive LGBT advocacy groups across different states, and they fought for the Supreme Court judgment a few years ago to decriminalize the issue of LGBTQ+ individuals. This progress was largely due to civil society efforts.

Another point, as mentioned, is that enacting a law and obtaining a judicial verdict are merely starting points. Implementation and wider societal acceptance remain significant struggles. In India, the current government opposes any form of implementation, despite the legal victory. The political process remains unfavorable, making it a continuous battle. Your title, 'Fighting for Love,' is apt, as the fight must go on. We have limited time, only four to five minutes left, and we have already exceeded the schedule. Does anyone have any questions for anyone? We can have a brief five-minute conversation before I conclude.

We have only four to five minutes left, and we have already exceeded the schedule. Does anyone have any questions for anyone? We can have a brief five-minute conversation before I conclude. Does anyone have any comments or thoughts to share?

Please, you are allowed at least one minute to share your thoughts or closing remarks, as we do not have time for a Q&A. I have one observation for Pradeep: I am curious about the Dalits and their role in Nepalese politics. Have they made a distinction? As they are a sizable group, are they able to influence politics or bargain for their rights? Is anything happening on that front?

Thank you for your question. Currently, it is not happening because the Dalit settlements are scattered across the country, and they are not concentrated in one area. Their population in any single constituency is very low. For example, the Madhesi population is large in the Terai region, but the Dalit population is not comparable. However, when a political movement arises, political representation automatically increases. But with regressive political parties taking leadership roles, it has been difficult to bargain for greater political representation. We are trying to work with political party leaders to bring them together for further discussion. Thank you for your questions. Does anyone else have anything to share?

Does anyone else have anything to share? Mr. Gunworth or Saheen, do you have any final words? For me, it has been very interesting to listen to all of you, as this is not my area of research, particularly concerning South Asia and minority rights. Listening to everyone's challenges, it seems that many issues may still be remnants of colonialism.

It is interesting to listen to all of you, as this is not my area of research, particularly concerning South Asia and minority rights. Listening to everyone's challenges, it seems that many issues may still be remnants of colonialism that define us as human beings through our sexualities, ethnicities, and even nationalities. This might be preventing us from achieving equal human rights for all. Linking this to human rights is key, as these issues must be viewed within the broader human rights framework, including minority rights.

Whether it's LGBT rights, religious minorities, or ethnic minorities, the connection is clear. If anyone has anything further to say, please do so. Otherwise, we will conclude in the next one or two minutes. We have approximately ten minutes remaining.

Yes, please. I would like to mention that despite the many differences among Asian countries, academic and political education are crucial for participating in such discussions. In the future, we may face similar challenges.

I do not wish to see problems arise, and it is crucial for researchers to exchange views on similar issues, as we all value democracy. Thank you very much, and thank you to everyone.