Understanding Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent: Global Perspectives and Emerging Normative Frameworks

Across the globe, millions of people continue to face systemic discrimination, exclusion, and unequal opportunities based entirely on their inherited status, descent, or ancestral occupation. While deeply associated with the caste system in South Asia, these rigid intergenerational hierarchies affect diverse global populations, including the Roma in Europe, Haratine in Africa, Buraku in Japan, Osu in Nigeria, and Quilombola and Palenque communities in Latin America. Despite distinct cultural origins, these groups share a common reality of deep-seated social stigma, occupational segregation, and severe barriers to basic human rights.