The condition of minorities in the countries that make up the region of South Asia—home to a fifth of humankind—is rather grim. This is the outcome of poor commitment of the South Asian states to protecting and promoting human and minority rights, and poor implementation of the measures that do exist. Behind much of the failure is poor engagement of the countries of South Asia with international human rights (IHR) mechanisms.

This report, seventh in the South Asia State of Minorities Report series, provides an overview of how states in the region have performed vis-à-vis their commitments to human rights standards, and how they deliver, across civil and political as well as social, economic and cultural rights for their minorities. It uses the UN’s ‘human rights indicators’ framework, to review states’ commitments to protecting the human rights of their minorities, using the database of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), media reports, laws, court documents, budgets, national statistics, and non-government organisation (NGO) reports as sources.