Annual Reports

As conflict, persecution or the pursuit of better opportunities have led to increased migration throughout South Asia, our understanding of minorities must also evolve. The region’s religious, ethnic, linguistic and gender minorities remain marginalised from the mainstream of development, and experience violence from both state and non-state actors. Migrants, refugees and the stateless make up a disproportionate number of the poor and excluded in these countries, and it is these very minorities who disproportionately tend to become refugees or stateless. The South Asia State of Minorities Report 2019: Migrants, Refugees and the Stateless seeks to identify the different groups that have been denied, among other things, access to fundamental rights and services, and, in some cases, even recognition of their status. The report demonstrates how this impacts their everyday experiences and enables abuse of their human rights. The report presents six country chapters—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka—reporting on the condition of the migrants, refugees and the stateless population within their territories, while also providing recommendations to better protect their rights.

South Asia’s minorities – religious and linguistic groups, especially women and those from Dalit backgrounds amongst them, and the many indigenous/adivasi communities, besides sexual minorities – make up disproportionate numbers of the poor and excluded in each country, suffering discrimination in the socio-economic sphere and denial of the most basic human rights. The South Asia State of Minorities Report, 2018: Exploring the Roots seeks to examine the reasons for the poor outcomes for minorities in South Asia, shining a light specifically on their socio-economic situation and their access to rights and opportunities. South Asia demonstrates amply how failures to prevent exclusion and discrimination against those groups.

The inaugural edition of the South Asia State of Minorities Report series seeks to create a baseline of minority groups and minority rights regimes, mechanisms and practices, by country, for the South Asia region. To do this, the report examines both the theory and the practice of minority rights protection in each country, looking at the range of rights guaranteed by national and international instruments. It also proposes a set of recommendations for the region, as well as for each country, separately. This report covers six SAARC member countries, ciz. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.