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29 Hum. Rts. Q. 167 (2007)
"Dalit Rights Are Human Rights": Caste Discrimination, International Activism, and the Construction of a New Human Rights Issue

handle is hein.journals/hurq29 and id is 169 raw text is: HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY Dalit Rights are Human Rights: Caste Discrimination, International Activism, and the Construction of a New Human Rights Issue Clifford Bob* ABSTRACT This article analyzes recent efforts by India's Dalits (Untouchables) to trans- form centuries-old caste-based discrimination into an international human rights issue. Comparing early failures and later successes in international activism, the article demonstrates that the Dalits have achieved limited but important advances among transnational NGOs, international organizations, and foreign governments since the late 1990s. What explains these suc- cesses-and what lessons does the Dalit experience hold for other groups seeking to transform domestic grievances into internationally recognized human rights issues? The article makes two primary arguments. First, organi- zational changes among Dalit activists played a major role in these successes, most importantly the formation of a unified Dalit network within India and the subsequent creation of a transnational solidarity network. Second, rhe- torical changes played a key role, as Dalits moved from their long-standing focus on caste-based discrimination to a broader framing within the more internationally acceptable terminology of discrimination based on work Clifford Bob is Associate Professor of Political Science at Duquesne University. He is the author of The Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media, and International Activism (Cam- bridge University Press, 2005) and has contributed to several edited volumes including Globalization and Human Rights (Alison Brysk ed., Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002). His articles have appeared in such journals as Foreign Policy, American Journal of I terational Law, Social Problems, and Journal of Human Ri.hts. For comments on earlier versions of this article, I thank Elizabeth Hanson, Julie Mertus, Jeremy Pressman, James Ron, Henry Thiagaraj, Claude Welch, and Richard A. Wilson. I presented parts of the argument at the University of Connecticut's Human Rights Institute in 2003, the 2003 International Studies Association annual meeting, and the 2002 American Political Science Association annual meeting. Human Rights Quarterly 29 (2007) 167-193 © 2007 by The Johns Hopkins University Press

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