The First Consultation on the Asian Dalit Rights Movement, from 25 to 27 November 2007, brought together 15 Dalit rights activists from six Asian countries to solidify the vision of an Asian regional Dalit rights movement.
(Bangkok, 14 December 2007) The First Consultation on the Asian Dalit Rights Movement (ADRM) took place in Bangkok from 25 to 27 November 2007. It was an occasion to be recorded in history books as 15 Dalit rights activists from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Malaysia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka became the founding participants of the ADRM, setting its vision and identity as being a distinctly Dalit rights movement, which would be led by Dalits.

Through this consultation, participants were able to exchange experiences from their own country situations and common challenges were identified. Recognising that caste-based discrimination transcends both religion and state boundaries, the diverse nationalities of the participants highlighted that caste is very much an Asian regional issue and not limited to the South Asian sub-region.

As such, ADRM aims to bring international pressure to the national level by engaging in interventions at the UN. What is unique of ADRM is that it will be initiated and based from Asia itself, capacitating and empowering Dalits to address their own grievances and execute their own change. As highlighted by Dr. Ruth Manorama from the National Federation of Dalit Women (NFDW), the use of the word “movement” is “a political articulation of suffering people in a larger context”. Participants unanimously agreed that, as a movement, ADRM would engage individuals as well as organisations and it would put the grassroots experiences at the centre of their motivations.

In addition to participants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, most notable was the participation of Malaysian Dalit rights activists for the first time in such a platform. This meant that such solidarity meetings and exchange of experiences central to building strong grassroots movements within countries can also feed into a wider regional movement.

It was also decided through this consultation that FORUM-ASIA would host the ADRM Secretariat for the first six months.