Skip to main content

Pandemic exposed surge in untouchability, caste atrocities: Petition asks UN to 'act now'

Counterview Desk

In a fresh move, the Dalit Human Rights Defenders Network (DHRDNet), a coalition of over 1,000 Dalit human rights defenders from different states of India, has called upon the United Nations to “build back better on descent and caste-based discrimination”, claiming, “India's response to the pandemic” has sought to resurrect some of the “worst excesses of its casteist past.”
Stating that “the pandemic has exposed the underlying social ills of untouchability and casteist attitude with the surging cases of caste and gender-based atrocities during the lockdown making the lives of the affected Dalit communities miserable and unimaginable”, an online petition floated by DHRDNet wants UN family to “consider ‘untouchability’ and caste-based atrocities in the context of crimes against humanity”.
Asking UN to establish a “special mandate on discrimination based on caste and descent”, the petition, titled "UN: Act now and hold member states accountable for elimination of caste-based discrimination", even as seeking endorsements from individuals, insists, untouchability crimes should be adjudicated under the 1998 Rome Statute by the International Criminal Court.

Text:

Descent and caste-based discrimination and analogous forms of discrimination affect approximately 260 million people globally. They consist of a violation of international human rights law, inherently contradicting the universal principles of non-discrimination, dignity and equality.
Servitude for the lower castes, 'social distancing' for the upper, India's response to the pandemic is resurrecting the worst excesses of its casteist past. The pandemic has exposed the underlying social ills of untouchability and casteist attitude with the surging cases of caste and gender-based atrocities during the lockdown making the lives of the affected Dalit communities miserable and unimaginable.
The systemic and entrenched nature of caste-based human rights violations have been well established by the UN Treaty Bodies, Special Procedures Mandate Holders, the former UN Sub-Committee on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, and in Universal Periodic Review. Human rights bodies have consistently raised their concerns on caste-related human rights violations and continuously urged governments to strengthen the protection of affected people through legislative, policy, institutional, budgetary and other measures, thus forming a consistent State practice.
Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay had made the elimination of caste-based discrimination a strategic priority in its anti-discrimination work.
However, fundamental challenges remain in all caste-affected countries. Entrenched caste biases, lack of access to justice and effective implementation of relevant policies remain the core issue.

We, the people of caste affected countries, human rights defenders, civil society organisations (CSOs) and social movements, urge the UN Human Rights Council member States to:

  • Adopt the draft UN Principles and Guidelines for the Effective Elimination of Discrimination Based on Work and Descent (A/HRC/11/CRP.3), by means of a resolution at the Human Rights Council;
  • Institutionalize regular reporting and effective dialogue on the elimination of discrimination based on caste and analogous forms of inherited status, according the Principles and Guidelines for the Effective Elimination of Discrimination Based on Work and Descent, through the Human Rights Council’s agenda Item 9; 
  • Organize a panel discussion, during a HRC regular session in 2021, dedicated to caste and descent-based discrimination, raising global awareness on this matter and at providing practical guidance on eradicating this type of discrimination. 

We urge the UN member States to call on states affected by caste discrimination to:

  • Implement in good faith the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues in her report presented to the Human Rights Council at its 31st session (2016);
  • Embrace the draft UN Principles and Guidelines for the Effective Elimination of Discrimination Based on Work and Descent, so as to ensure their implementation through national action plans to combat caste based discrimination; develop and implement national action plans with sufficient funding and clear objectives and measures for poverty reduction strategies, employment, health, education and access to basic services including water and sanitation; pay specific attention to the issues of caste-affected women, and conduct public awareness campaigns in coordination with affected groups; 
  • Reinforce the need to implement the concluding observations and recommendations on caste discrimination by UN Treaty Bodies, Special Procedures Mandate Holders, and in Universal Periodic Reviews in the framework of national action plans; 
  • Develop specific indicators to monitor achievements of the Sustainable Development Goals in respect of caste affected people, and the principle to leave no one behind, stated in the Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015 [(A/70/L.1)] 70/1. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals; 
  • Consider caste-based discrimination as a serious impediment to ensuring equality in COVID 19 pandemic relief and rehabilitation, and develop appropriate disaster management laws, policies, institutions and programming in cooperation with humanitarian stakeholders and affected communities and United Nations Organizations. 

We call on the UN Special Procedures Mandates and Treaty-Bodies to:

  • Strengthen the regular monitoring, reporting and dialogue with States, civil society, academia and other stakeholders of individual cases and patterns of caste and descent-based discrimination within the follow-up mechanisms of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (2001) and the Durban Review Conference Outcome Document (2009), in conjunction with the Principles and Guidelines for the Effective Elimination of Discrimination Based on Work and Descent;
  • Pay special attention, through an intersectional perspective, of the extremely adverse situation of women, children, girls, migrant workers, intersex, and other vulnerable sectors that are also victims of decent and caste-based discrimination; 
  • Conduct country level studies on the situation of communities discriminated on the basis of caste and analogous systems of inherited status in under-researched regions; and initiate a thematic, regional level study in South Asia on violence against Dalit women and research on the nexus of caste discrimination and forced and bonded labor. 

We finally recommend the wider United Nations family to:

  • Consider ‘untouchability’ and caste-based atrocities in the context of crimes against humanity based on the 1998 Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute) and applicable international law;
  • Consider the establishment of a United Nations special mandate on discrimination based on caste and descent; 
  • Declare April 14th (Dr. B. R. Ambedkar's birthday) as the International Day of Dalit Solidarity.

Comments

Anonymous said…

Where are these five star Dalit Human Rights Defenders located in every state of India? Any telephone numbers? Addresses? I have not found a single Dalit organization in India that does any help for Dalits except writing reports on Dalit atrocity to receive foreign funding. Upper caste officials in Government of India are committing violation of Dalit Human Rights in the Government organizations itself. Don't know where have these so called defenders hiding? Seems publicity stunts or just a show-off to get some foreign funding to their budding NGOs in the name of Dalits? Can the Counterview Desk give any address and telephone number of the Dalit Defenders in India? Hope this comments is atleast published...

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".

Invincible, Modi 'taller' than BJP, RSS: An opportunity for Congress beyond 2024?

By NS Venkataraman*  With the announcement of poll schedule for the 2024 parliamentary election, there is palpable excitement and expectation amongst the countrymen  about the shape of things to happen in India after the  results of the election would be announced. There is also speculation abroad about the future course of developments in India.