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By William Wong
AntiRacismNet/Project Change Team
In India, some 160 million people, more than 15 percent of the country, are known as "untouchables," or Dalits. They are the lowest of the class-stratified Indian society categorized broadly into castes.
"'Untouchables' may not cross the line dividing their part of the village from that occupied by higher castes," says a Human Rights Watch report released today in Durban, South Africa, (Wednesday, August 29, 2001) at the NGO Forum that precedes the U.N. World Conference Against Racism (WCAR).
"They may not use the same wells, visit the same temples, or drink from the same cups in tea stalls. Dalit children are frequently made to sit at the back of classrooms. In what has been called India's 'hidden apartheid,' entire villages in many Indian states remain completely segregated by caste."
The plight of India's "untouchables" has been generally known for many years. Now their deplorable situation seems to be gaining greater international attention.
Dalits are well organized and ubiquitous at the NGO Forum, where up to 7,000 civilian delegates from around the world are discussing, debating and devising specific recommendations to the WCAR, which will bring together approximately 4,000 government officials starting this weekend.
Dalits stand out in the already colorful and diverse gathering of civilian human-rights and anti-racism activists at the NGO Forum. They wear headbands that read, "Dalit Rights are Human Rights" and black vests with the logo, Include Caste in WCAR, on the back.
This morning, Dalit activists announced the release of a report by Human Rights Watch, an international human rights group. The report urges the WCAR to include a section about Dalits and other low caste people in other South Asian countries as well as Japan, Nigeria and Mauritania. Thus far, the draft WCAR document does not include castes. The Indian government, controlled by higher caste individuals, has been lobbying to keep such a mention out.
Smita Narula, senior researcher for Human Rights Watch and author of the report, said, "We want to bring attention to the plight of 250 million. It is a hidden apartheid, and affects two continents and 12 countries, reflecting the South Asian Diaspora. The Indian government has used its economic influence to keep the matter off of international human rights agendas, including here at the WCAR."
Henry Tiphagne, of People's Watch Tamil Nadu and the National Campaign for Valid Human Rights, noted that an earlier U.N. document included caste discrimination as part of racial discrimination. He also pointed out that caste discrimination is against the law, but the law is widely breached.
In its newly released report, Human Rights Watch said "untouchability" is reinforced by state allocation of resources and facilities. Separate facilities are provided for separate caste-based neighborhoods. "In many villages, the state administration installs electricity, sanitation facilities, and water pumps in the upper-caste section, but neglects to do the same in the neighboring, segregated Dalit area," the report said.
The report called the subjugation of lower castes "modern-day slavery." It defined caste as "descent based and hereditary in nature." In other words, if you are born into a low caste, you remain in that status for all your life.
Human Rights Watch made clear it was not citing only India's Dalits, but low caste members in other South Asian countries, the Buraku people of Japan, the Osu of Nigeria's Igbo people and certain groups in Senegal and Mauritania.
Low caste people get jobs higher caste people would never do, so-called "impure" tasks. One of those tasks is "manual scavengers" like removing dead animal bodies and cleaning up human latrines.
The caste discrimination issue is one of a number that are dominating workshops and panel discussions at the NGO Forum. At one workshop this afternoon, Narula said caste discrimination is a "global problem," and anti-caste activists aren't singling out India for criticism.
A Nepali delegate said Dalits in his country suffer the same fate as those in neighboring India. They get the most difficult labor jobs and are pressed into prostitution ("used by the upper classes"). "Dalit children aren't allowed inside classrooms - they have to listen from the outside." Adult Dalits in Nepal can't go into meeting rooms. They stay outside and listen to proceedings from there.
Even if Dalit activists persuade U.N. document writers to include a paragraph about caste discrimination, that doesn't mean a Dalit child will suddenly rise in social status, Narula said. "The point we are trying to make is to bring greater international attention to the issue." If it is not included, "then shame on the international community."
William Wong is a freelance journalist and author of "Yellow Journalist: Dispatches from Asian America" (Temple University Press 2001), www.yellowjournalist.com.
Posted on 2001-08-30
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