Skip to main content

UN special rapporteur report wants "urgent, comprehensive" steps to combat caste-based discrimination

By Our Representative
In a development of major policy implication for India, United Nations Special Rapporteur on minority issues Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, chose caste discrimination as the theme of her annual report to the UN Human Rights Council, which she presented at Geneva on March 15, 2016.
“Caste-affected countries must take urgent and comprehensive action to combat caste discrimination”, Izsák-Ndiaye says in her strongly worded report on what she considers as "world’s most serious human rights issues."  The report claims the problem affects more than 250 million people across the world, 201 million in India alone.
Titled ‘Minorities and discrimination based on caste and analogous systems of inherited status’, the report expresses serious concern about crimes against Dalit in India, quoting data from the National Crime Records Bureau to state that "crimes against individuals from scheduled castes increased 19 per cent in 2014 from the previous year."
Referring to manual scavenging as widely prevalent in South Asia, the report says, "In Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, street cleaning and the handling of human waste and animal carcasses are almost exclusively performed by Dalits."
Referring to India passing the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act in 2013, the report says, "The practice persists, institutionalized through State practice, with local governments and municipalities employing manual scavengers", adding, "This rigid and stratified allocation of work results in Dalits having not only limited job opportunities, but also lower wages, particularly in rural areas."
The report says, "In Bangladesh and India,  Dalits are often systematically excluded from access to water and sanitation", adding, "Dalits may be prohibited from fetching water; have to wait in different queues when accessing wells; and, in the event of water shortage, must give non-Dalits priority."
It continues, "Dalits may be subjected to large-scale violence and physical attacks by members of the dominant caste when attempting to access facilities in areas inhabited by them. Dalit women are particularly vulnerable to physical violence from members of the dominant castes while collecting water from public wells and taps."
The Special Rapporteur notes, “Women and girls are particularly vulnerable to caste discrimination, as they suffer from multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination owing to both their gender and unprivileged caste status.”
She asks caste-affected states to take “robust action to eradicate such violations”, she says, underlining, caste discrimination is so embedded in interpersonal and communal relationships that overcoming it will “require not only legal and political responses, but also community-based approaches aimed at changing the mindsets of individuals and the collective conscience of local communities.”
Calling it a global phenomenon infringing upon the basic principles of universal human dignity and equality, the report stresses that caste-affected groups suffer extreme exclusion and dehumanization and are often deprived of their most basic rights.
It identifies areas of particular concern in relation to caste-based systems such as the right to life; access to justice; political participation; freedom of religion; the right to work; contemporary forms of slavery; the right to housing, water and sanitation, health and education; and humanitarian assistance.
Welcoming the report, the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) and Human Rights Watch have said in a joint statement, “The UN Human Rights Council (HRC), its member states and UN bodies should work much harder to eliminate one of the world’s worst forms of discrimination.”
“Caste-affected states should endorse these guidelines as well and ensure their implementation; enact and enforce anti-caste discrimination legislation; pay specific attention to the issues of caste-affected women; and take action on caste discrimination in disaster relief operations”, the statement says.
---
Download full report HERE

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Sections of BSF, BGB personnel 'directly or indirectly' involved in cross border smuggling

By Kirity Roy*  The Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Bangladesh met for 54th Director General level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 5th to 9th March, 2024 to discuss on minimizing killings at border area, illegal intrusion, trafficking of drugs and other narcotics, smuggling of arms and ammunitions and other crimes at bordering areas. Further, the summit had an agenda to discuss on overall development in 150 yards area at both sides of the border and design an activity plan for the same.