A/HRC/59/62 to persistent discrimination, including denial of access to basic facilities such as clean water, healthcare and goods and services. 39 Dalit persons with disabilities also face restricted access to adaptive employment, exacerbating poverty. Caste and gender-based violence reinforce social hierarchies and often occur with impunity due to systemic discrimination within justice institutions. Manifestations of this violence differ between countries in South Asia and include trafficking and forced prostitution, sexual violence against Dalit women to enforce caste-based oppression and forced religious conversions and marriages of Dalit and minority girls. In Nepal, a high proportion of survivors of trafficking in persons are Dalit women. Women who are Badi Dalit, a subcategory of Dalit, are subjected to historical stereotypes and prejudices and remain highly vulnerable to trafficking and forced prostitution. 40 LGBTQ+ Dalit persons are also at high risk of physical and sexual violence. Dalit children face corporal punishment and severe social exclusion in schools. Dalit children with disabilities face heightened risks of abuse due to lack of accessible support.41 28. The experiences of people of African descent and Indigenous Peoples in the criminal justice and prison systems in Mexico reflect systemic and intersectional forms of oppression and discrimination. There is reportedly a dominant discourse of mestizaje identity in Mexico. The mestizaje identity purportedly reflects a mix of European and Indigenous cultures and has been in place since the nineteenth century. It has become a central point in the “invisibilization” of racism against people of African descent and Indigenous peoples, even though such racial discrimination permeates all parts of society and many institutions because of its systemic nature. The “invisibilization” of systemic racism and intersecting discrimination is exacerbated by the absence of the recognition of race as grounds for discrimination within the national legal framework. The systemic and intersectional discrimination experienced in diverse ways by people of African descent and Indigenous Peoples can be based on race, ethnicity, skin colour, gender and/or poverty. One manifestation of this systemic and intersectional discrimination is the experiences of people of African descent and Indigenous Peoples in the criminal justice and prison systems. The lack of an intercultural perspective in the justice system can lead to discriminatory practices, including racial profiling by law enforcement officials, the fabrication of crimes based upon racial stereotypes about the “dangerousness” of those from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, arbitrary detention and racial bias among actors within the criminal justice system.42 D. Elements of an intersectional approach 29. Recognizing the manifestations of systemic racism and intersectional discrimination affecting racialized groups, as exemplified in the previous subsection, demands that an intersectional approach be taken to effectively address such phenomena through effective human rights-based laws, policies and programmes. In the present subsection, the Special Rapporteur explores the essential and interconnected elements of an intersectional approach to addressing systemic racism and intersecting discrimination. Systemic, racial and historical analysis 30. Systemic, racial and historical analyses of discrimination, oppression and marginalization, as well as analysis of privilege, are essential elements of an intersectional lens and approach. Such analyses can serve to address the denial of past atrocities and existing manifestations of systemic racism and confront and disrupt the legacies of the past 39 40 41 42 10 Human Rights Watch, Cleaning Human Waste: “Manual Scavenging,” Caste, and Discrimination in India (2014). Amnesty International, “‘No-one cares’: descent-based discrimination against Dalits in Nepal” (London, 2024), p. 22. Submissions from International Dalit Solidarity Network and African Sovereignty and Reparations Representatives. See also CERD/C/NPL/CO/17-23 and CERD/C/PAK/CO/24-26; and submissions from National Council for Women Leaders and Dalit Human Rights Defenders Network. See CERD/C/MEX/CO/22-24; and submissions from ASILEGAL and RacismoMX. GE.25-07755