A/HRC/15/55* occupations and heightened exposure to violence and accidents. Likewise, persons with disabilities tend to become or remain impoverished because they are denied the right to work, social security and access to health care. Persons with disabilities and their families are often more exposed to poverty owing to the cost of rehabilitation. Too few projects aimed at improving access to sanitation and drinking water include accessibility options for persons with disabilities. 23. The Government must actively combat discrimination against persons with disabilities and progressively take measures to ensure accessibility to basic services for these persons, in particular sanitation facilities and safe drinking water. A new law concerning persons with disabilities is reportedly under consideration. This law should put the protection of human rights at its centre, and provide for mechanisms to monitor and guarantee its implementation. The experts also call on the Government to include meaningful questions on disability in the upcoming 2011 census and consider increasing budgetary allocations to address effectively the social welfare and disaster management needs of persons with disabilities. D. Minority groups and indigenous peoples7 24. Bangladesh has a diverse ethnic, religious and indigenous population. The experts met with various members of different minority groups, and also received reliable information concerning the situation of other groups. They note that some of these groups are victims of discrimination and live in extreme poverty. The experts recall that the Constitution prohibits discrimination on the grounds of “religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth”. 25. The experts met with groups of people who identify themselves as Dalits. The caste system was described as an occupational system, whereby people, according to their descent, undertake certain professions that are generally considered to be menial.8 The experts were informed that these people suffer discrimination in all areas of life, including segregation in their access to housing. Most live beneath the poverty line, earn less than the minimum wage and have no access to education. Dalits also suffer from numerous diseases, not least because of their lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation, and they sometimes face discrimination in their access to public-health facilities.9 26. In their meetings with Dalits, the experts perceived an overwhelming feeling of their being “trapped”. Dalits feel they have no opportunity to seek other jobs, since their families have had these occupations for generations and because they lack adequate education. Pervasive discrimination against them keeps them poor, uneducated, in terrible living conditions and in menial jobs. While the Government of Bangladesh does not make specific reference to the situation of Dalits in its National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction, it recognizes the pattern of discrimination against occupational groups related to caste systems. The strategy indicated the need to understand further the situation of these groups and to promote targeted policies aimed at improving their living conditions. The Government should explicitly recognize the discrimination experienced by Dalits and take more concrete steps to redress it, including through the enforcement of existing laws and 7 8 9 GE.10-15451 The information contained in this section relating to Dalits was prepared by the independent expert on water and sanitation; that relating to Urdu-speaking communities was prepared by the independent expert on extreme poverty. Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, “Caste-based discrimination in South Asia: a study of Bangladesh”, pp. 12–13. Ibid., p. 46. 7