The Forum for Fact-finding Documentation and Advocacy (FFDA) is an Indian

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

monitoring organization founded in 1995 that fights to promote and protect

human rights in India Human rights in India is an issue complicated by the country's large size and population as well as its diverse culture, despite its status as the world's largest sovereign, secular, socialist democratic republic. The Constitution of Indi ...

by working with the victims of human rights violations and their organizations. It educates the victims and their communities, and facilitates and builds the capacity of organizations of victims to take collective action on their own. It addresses the issues of displacement and forced eviction, violence against women and children, exploitation, torture, abuse and discrimination against

Dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

s (untouchable and low

caste A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...

poor), and attacks on minorities and indigenous communities. Based on learning and work experiences, FFDA integrated democracy monitoring into its core activity as the basic path to rights for the above-mentioned target group; participating in decision making and asking for accountability and

good governance Good governance is the process of measuring how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for t ...

of the state in particular. It focuses on having a right to: *Social and political participation *A sustainable livelihood *Education, particularly access for girls and tribal children *Life and security *Identity FFDA investigates, reports on, and campaigns against human rights abuses. Tribal and Dalit people, especially women and children, are its priority. FFDA was led by Subash Mohapatra.

Aims and beliefs

FFDA dreams of a humane society where there will be freedom, justice, peace, and inherent dignity for all people. In India, FFDA's goal is a just social and humane order without class and

-dominated economic, social, cultural, civil, and political structures. FFDA's goals are: # Promotion, protection, and respect for human rights in the fight against political, institutional, and social oppression in India. # Promotion and strengthening of the people's organizations. # Protection of human rights of deprived communities, especially indigenous tribes, women, children,

s and other victims of human rights violations. # Human rights institution building. # Promotion and protection of democracy as the basic part of accountability and transparency of the state.

Successes

Prevention of child marriages

Child marriage Child marriage is a practice involving a marriage or domestic partnership, formal or informal, that includes an individual under 18 and an adult or other child.* * * * Research has found that child marriages have many long-term negative co ...

s persist in rural India, although prohibited by Indian legislation since 1929. Such traditional marriages continue to be organised in massive numbers, principally in the poorest of families. Today, 33% of girls in India are married before they reach the age of 15. Another third are already married by 18, the legal age limit for marriage. It is a traditional ritual that affects primarily girls: apart from the fact that they are not physically equipped to give birth, forcing a child between the ages of 11 and 15 to marry condemns her to a life of illiteracy, economic dependency and psychological and physical incapacity. In 2003, FFDA filed a public interest litigation before Supreme Court of India seeking a ban on child marriages in India. The apex court directed to enact a new preventative law.

Tribal people fight for land rights

In 2000, 26 families got their land back (225 acres). 47 other land cases are pending. In 2001, a steel company funded by the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

displaced 3000 tribal people from their land. 250 people were then employed by the company. The tribal women went to the forest to collect leaves and roots to eat. Foresters and police forced the women to leave. When the women protested, the police and foresters kidnapped, raped and beat them in a government office. FFDA is helping the women to publicise the atrocities and take legal action.

Organising against genetically modified food and environmental destruction

FFDA is exposing how genetically modified (GM) food makes people ill. In 1999, 30,000 people died in a

cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an ant ...

Orissa Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...

CARE International CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, formerly Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) is a major international humanitarian agency delivering emergency relief and long-term international development projects. Founded i ...

and

Catholic Relief Services Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Founded in 1943 by the Bishops of the United States, the agency provides assistance to 130 million people in more than 110 ...

gave GM bulgur wheat to survivors. After six months, thousands of people became ill from the wheat. FFDA picketed CARE International offices. After a long battle, the Indian government in the last week of February 2003 banned the GM food supplies by overseas organizations. FFDA publicises the consequences of the mining industry's destruction of the hills in Orissa.

First lesbian marriage in India

Mr Mohapatra, the team leader of FFDA, provided legal expertise for and was a witness at the first official

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

marriage anywhere in India of two young tribal women in

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (; ) is a landlocked States and union territories of India, state in Central India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the List ...

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forum For Fact-Finding Documentation And Advocacy Human rights organisations based in India