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A Voice For the Voiceless

The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change. We recruit graduate students to volunteer as Peace Fellows with partners.

The Impact of Service "I look at myself as having the potential to be as strong and caring as the amazing women I met in Kenya." Kate Cummings (Tufts University) volunteered in 2009 as a Peace Fellow for Vital Voices in Africa. For more 2009 feedback click here.

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Partner Campaigns > Dalit Rights in N... > Challenge

Challenge

Caste in Nepal is deeply embedded in society, particularly in the village. Half of all Nepali Dalits live in poverty. Three quarters are illiterate. The life expectancy of Dalits is around 50 – 8 years below the national average. Their marginalization is deepened by practices like bonded labor and balighary, a feudal practice which pays laborers in goods rather than cash. Since 2004, JMC and AP have exposed several dramatic examples of caste-based discrimination. and publicized these from Nepal and Washington.

• Balighary – reinforces traditional caste occupations and pays in goods, not cash
• Bonded labor – enslaves entire families to pay off debts
• Mixed marriages – violence against Dalit and non-Dalit who marry across caste
• Badi women – forced by caste into prostitution
• Witchcraft –  used against Dalit women in villages to justify their persecution
• Freedom of Religion – a basic right that is denied to Dalit in villages
• Gandharbas – traditional musicians

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