A/HRC/59/62 therefore be effectively understood, addressed or remedied through the categorizations within dominant, single-axis approaches to such phenomena. 5. The concept of intersectionality has been further adopted and applied by feminists and scholars from many different marginalized groups to understand and analyse the intricacies of discrimination and exclusion. For example, scholars from Dalit, Indigenous and Muslim communities have further contributed to the development of the concept in the global South context. Scholars have highlighted the significance of elements such as caste, religion and ethnicity in understanding the complexities of discrimination and exclusion. The intersectional concept highlights caste and religion as a central axis of oppression in a larger global South context and expands the analysis of systemic oppression such as castebased discrimination. These scholars have illustrated how Dalit women’s bodies, cultural identities and work have historically been materially constructed and regulated through discourse by way of critical historiography, ethnographic inquiry and autobiographical writing. They have highlighted the fact that Dalit women remain marginalized, even in feminist academic spaces and communities, and have contended that any feminist account that refuses to recognize the oppressions of caste continues to be structurally flawed and complicit in the sustenance of the hierarchy of castes. By situating the lived experience of Dalit women in their specific social, sexual and cultural contexts and foregrounding caste as a constitutive axis of gendered subordination, Dalit feminist scholars and writers such as Baby Kamble, Urmila Pawar and Shailaja Paik have provided a critical grounding to dominant caste feminist paradigms and highlighted the intersectionalities of caste in understanding discrimination and caste-based violence and oppression.7 6. Intersectionality encompasses a degree of heterogeneity as to how it is understood and applied. While recognizing such diversity in understandings and applications of intersectionality, as well as the fluid nature of identity and lived experiences, the Special Rapporteur wishes to offer some definitional elements. As recently outlined by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “intersecting forms of discrimination occur when a combination of two or more grounds interact with one another to produce distinct, unique and compounding experiences of discrimination. Grounds may include race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin; age; sex; gender; sexual orientation; gender identity; gender expression; sex characteristics; socioeconomic status; migration status; disability; minority status; Indigenous origin; health status; political or other opinion; religion or belief; or other status”.8 As this definition captures, how grounds for discrimination interact with one another to produce specific experiences of discrimination that are greater than the sum of their parts is an important element of the concept of intersectionality.9 7. Using an intersectional lens uncovers human rights violations through the prism of multiple interlocking and socially constructed conditions, characteristics, statuses, experiences, identities and structures. Such a lens can be used to identify systemic and overlapping systems of oppression and privilege.10 8. In this respect, the Special Rapporteur wishes to highlight the definition of intersectionality offered by her predecessor: “The idea of intersectionality seeks to capture 7 8 9 10 GE.25-07755 Shailaja Paik, “Amchya Jalmachi chittarkatha (the bioscope of our lives): who is my ally?”, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 44, No. 40 (October 2009); and Urmila Pawar and Meenakshi Moon, We Also Made History: Women in the Ambedkarite Movement (Zubaan Books, 2004). A/HRC/57/67, para. 3. Crenshaw, “Mapping the margins”; United Nations network on racial discrimination and protection of minorities, Guidance Note on Intersectionality, Racial Discrimination and Protection of Minorities; and International Court of Justice, Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, Advisory Opinion, 19 July 2024, Declaration of Judge Charlesworth, para. 4 (available at https://www.icj-cij.org/case/186). United Nations network on racial discrimination and protection of minorities, Guidance Note on Intersectionality, Racial Discrimination and Protection of Minorities; and International Court of Justice, Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, Advisory Opinion, 19 July 2024, Declaration of Judge Charlesworth, para. 4. 3