Land Governance and Right to Adequate Housing in Mauritania: Key challenges & recommendations

Land Governance and Right to Adequate Housing in Mauritania: Key challenges & recommendations

Mauritania finds itself at a pivotal juncture in the quest to secure housing rights for its population. Four decades after Ordinance No. 83-127 abolished customary ownership and vested all unregistered land in the State, landlessness, informal urban growth, and forced evictions remain acute. The State’s dual land-tenure framework—modern statutory law overlaid on largely unrecognised customary…

Historic address at ECOSOC Youth Forum: Naveen Gautam elevates voices of marginalised youth

Historic address at ECOSOC Youth Forum: Naveen Gautam elevates voices of marginalised youth

At the 2025 ECOSOC Youth Forum, history was made when Naveen Gautam, representing the Stakeholders Group of Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent (CDWD) Youth Constituency, took the stage as the first Dalit youth leader to moderate a plenary session at the United Nations. His powerful remarks, delivered at the session titled “Social Development: Youth…

Empowering CDWD Communities in Africa: Reflections from the International Conference

Empowering CDWD Communities in Africa: Reflections from the International Conference

The International Conference on Empowering Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent (CDWD) in Africa convened on April 3, 2025, bringing together activists, academics, legal experts, and community representatives from across the continent. The gathering focused on the urgent need to address entrenched discrimination faced by marginalized groups across Africa—particularly those impacted by caste-like systems, descent-based…

The Critical Role of the UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls in Advancing Roma Women’s rights

The Critical Role of the UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls in Advancing Roma Women’s rights

The 2025 UNECE Regional Forum on Sustainable Development convened under the theme “Advancing Sustainable, Inclusive, Science- and Evidence-based Solutions for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs in the ECE region, Leaving No One Behind.” The Global Forum of Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent organized a side event focusing specifically on SDG5…

Rights Expert calls for recognition, inclusion of CDWD at Commission of Status of Women meeting

Rights Expert calls for recognition, inclusion of CDWD at Commission of Status of Women meeting

Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent (CDWD) rights expert Maria Atanasova spoke at the CSW69 Official Meeting: Interactive dialogue – Participation, accountability and gender-responsive institutions. Atanasova, a Roma woman representing the Global Forum of Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent, delivered a powerful speech calling for greater recognition and inclusion of marginalized communities at the…