Stories
India's Constitutional Commitment to Equality Highlighted at UNHRC
- •Sveva Fosca Martina Orifici, representing Sambhali Trust, addressed the 63rd Session of the UNHRC in Geneva to emphasize the fight against racism and discrimination.
- •The intervention focused on India's constitutional guarantees of equality and the necessity of translating legal frameworks into daily lived experiences of dignity.
- •Orifici drew from Sambhali Trust's grassroots work in Rajasthan, stressing the importance of early intervention, education, and community participation in preventing social exclusion.
- •The address called for improved access to public institutions and essential services for rural, remote, and disadvantaged communities to break geographical and institutional barriers.
Key Questions Answered
Representing Sambhali Trust at the 63rd Session of the UNHRC in Geneva, Sveva Fosca Martina Orifici highlighted the need to strengthen efforts against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance. She emphasized the importance of equality, inclusion, education, and community participation, noting that everyday discrimination can exclude children and families based on their names, language, appearance, or community.
Drawing from its grassroots work in Rajasthan, Sambhali Trust utilizes schools, community organizations, and public institutions to prevent social exclusion. The organization focuses on early intervention, human-rights education, and respectful community engagement to address prejudice before it deepens into severe discrimination.
The intervention urged that rural, remote, and socially or economically disadvantaged communities must have effective access to public institutions and essential services to overcome geographical and institutional barriers. Furthermore, it called for human-rights education, fair access to services, and the active involvement of affected communities in policy formulation rather than treating them merely as beneficiaries.
