India’s reluctance to acknowledge the reality, to accept its responsibility to uphold the legal obligations to address the discrimination and cruelty of the caste system, continues. Yes, our country has guaranteed constitutional safeguards and mechanisms to protect dalit and other minority women. But still caste discrimination continues to be a social evil experienced everyday in several covert forms, and in acts of brutal violence. The reality proves that governments have failed in its due diligence to protect the rights of dalit women and girls; the laws are not effectively implemented to prevent the atrocities against dalit and minority women. The Government has failed to challenge the deep-rooted discriminatory attitudes that underpin the caste system and subordination of women. This failure and the callous apathy of the system in responding to cases of violence against Dalit women and girls, has indeed perpetuated impunity. Most women do not report violence and studies shows that only 1% of the cases that are actually filed end in convictions. Whereas the conviction rate for rapes against women in India is around 25%, it is only 2% for women of caste-affected communities. Caste is not an issue confined to India alone, it is a global issue, it is not only an issue of dalits alone, it is an issue against humanity. Therefore I urge the governments of all caste affected countries, to break the denial, to recognise the greatest struggle for human dignity, to show full commitment to eradicate the age old structures that are the root causes for the discrimination and violence faced by dalit and other minority women. Finally, as caste-based gender violence is widespread and enduring, systematic, rights-based and holistic efforts are needed to ensure security and access to justice for dalit and minority women. While endorsing the draft recommendations, 1 call upon the forum to include caste-based discrimination on par with other forms of discrimination in the recommendations and to explicitly mention and consider caste identities and caste-affected communities in the calls for particular focuses in approaches, policy and legislation. I would also call for promotion and support for the endorsement of the UN draft Principles and Guidelines for the Effective Elimination on Discrimination based on Work and Descent. As an Immediate measure to ensure security and justice , Governments should: a. Ensure enabling environment for minority women to access formal justice - by identifying and breaking the barriers that minority women face while accessing justice. b. Ensure Law enforcement agencies and other state mechanisms – bureaucrats, welfare departments, medical and para medical agencies, local bodies - are sensitized for effectively addressing the grievances of the minority women and her community. Where officials fail to