Even as Dalits continue to face oppression in parts of India, a major conference aimed at defending Dalit rights worldwide kicked off here this week. It included a spirited discussion steps away from Capitol Hill and a plan to march to the White House over the weekend and form a human chain of solidarity and dignity there.

Coinciding with the first Global Conference on Defending Dalit Rights, a key resolution was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, “condemning Dalit untouchability, the practice of birth-descent discrimination against Dalit people, which is widely practised in India, Nepal, the Asian diaspora, and other South Asian nations, and calling on these countries to recognise the human rights of the Dalit people and end all forms of untouchability within their borders.”

The resolution noted that the discrimination against Dalits existed for more than 2,000 years in India and included discrimination in education and health care, and economic disenfranchisement.