Thank you Chair for this opportunity I represent Asia Dalit Rights Forum, National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, India and International Dalit Solidarity Network South Asia region are one of the most disaster prone region in the world. It has seen humanitarian crisis from flood, hurricane, earthquake, drought and even tsunami in the region over the years. Dalits are one of the most vulnerable groups to disaster in India and South Asia. They are often located far from the centre of livelihood off the other population because of the segregation and stigma associated with the caste based discrimination. With over 215 million out of 260 million Dalits living in South Asia, they have become victims of structurally discriminated and excluded in all aspects including the response, aid and rehabilitation process following humanitarian crisis. With no official disaggregation of data on the affected communities, alternative reports highlights mass discrimination among Dalits and other vulnerable groups like indigenous people. Like in case of aid and response following Nepal Earthquake 2015, neither government nor aid agencies did reach the Dalit community or their settlements. The various programmes and mechanisms like Sendai Framework, Hyogo Framework for action, Sphere Humanitarian Charter and national mechanism have called for inclusion of the excluded and most vulnerable with respecting equality and dignity of them in accordance with Article 1 of the Universal Declaration on Human Right, 1948. The Draft recommendation needs to cater to the needs of the Dalits in the region in association with the Sendai Framework 2030 1. The Forum and national mechanisms should explicitly recognize the Discrimination based on work, descent and caste based discrimination as an exclusionary variable in Disaster management as well as disaster risk reduction. 2. To making humanitarian response, recovery and rehabilitation a matter of people’s rights linking up with the rights and entitlements post disasters at national levels, linking directly with the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights 3. The focus on disaggregated reporting by the governments and humanitarian stakeholders on caste and DWD communities, across the spectrum of interventions from disaster prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. 4. Include the process of (social) equity audit for monitoring the extent of social equity and inclusion of persons affected by caste and DWD in Recovery programmes 5. Recognize the inter-sectionality of gender with caste take actions to empower them with the information of the rights and entitlements following the disasters. Thank you.