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AHRC Media Release
Asian Human Rights Commission
September 5, 2001
In an overwhelming display of support, international human rights leaders and governments attending the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) have publicly declared their support for the inclusion of discrimination affecting Dalits.
The U.N. secretary-general, Kofi Annan, and the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Mary Robinson, were among the first to assert during the NGO Forum held at the Kingsmead Cricket Stadium in Durban, South Africa, the right of the Dalit community to demand that the discrimination they face on the basis of work and descent be addressed at the WCAR.
These views were quickly supported by government representatives from the Netherlands, Cuba, Canada, Brazil, Namibia, the Holy See, Latvia, Chile, Argentina, Norway and Syria. Even the parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs of Japan and the ambassador of Nepal have declared in the plenary that caste discrimination on the basis of work and descent remains a serious problem in their countries.
Amid this explosion of support for those suffering caste-based discrimination, the Indian government has become increasingly isolated in its hardline stance against the inclusion of this form of discrimination. Only the People’s Republic of China declared that this form of discrimination should not be discussed at the WCAR.
India’s stance now conflicts with even that of its own National Human Rights Commission, which issued a statement at the WCAR arguing that “this conference provides a singular opportunity to the international community to deal openly and courageously with the vexed issues of discrimination and inequality as they exist all over the world, in all of their variety, including the forms of discrimination that persist in India.”
They continued, stating that “the commission has thus accorded the highest priority to ending discrimination against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and in seeking to eradicate, in particular, two pernicious practices which largely affect members of these communities: these relate to manual scavenging and bonded labour.”
The chair of the working group on the draft Programme of Action has decided to put Paragraph 73 in brackets despite a point-of-order protest on this ruling. The chair also decided to leave India in charge of negotiations on the paragraph. Thus, India has a monopoly on the discussion and consequences of the paragraph as a result of the chair’s action. This goes against common procedures in which an interested party should not be in charge of consultations on a paragraph that affects them. Meanwhile, the countries that have spoken in favour of the paragraph are not willing to negotiate on a paragraph that is already as diluted as possible.
Despite the support expressed by many countries, other issues, such as reparations for slavery and the controversy over Zionism, have led the developed countries to give less proactive support for the caste issue.
The draft declaration working group has been requested to include caste discrimination and discrimination on the basis of descent and work, but the working group has decided to make a generic list. This means that Paragraph 73 is the only paragraph remaining that mentions discrimination on the basis of work and descent, i.e., caste discrimination.
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Asian Human Rights Commission
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Mongkok Commercial Centre,
Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR
Tel: +(852)-2698-6339
Fax: +(852)-2698-6367
E-mail: ahrchk@ahrchk.org
Web: www.ahrchk.net
Posted on 2001-09-06
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