COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION HOLDS A DISCUSSION ON DISCRIMINATION BASED ON DESCENT

CERD
61st session
8 August 2002
Afternoon



NGO Representatives Decry Discrimination
against Castes Around the World



The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this afternoon held a discussion on discrimination based on descent with representatives of many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) condemning caste systems which they said affected millions around the world.
NGOs said there were caste systems in numerous countries worldwide and called for the application of affirmative actions and the implementation of legislation already in force to eliminate such systems. Speakers also urged the Committee and the international community to put pressure on States parties still allowing discrimination based on descent.
At the beginning of the discussion, Committee Chairperson Ion Diaconu said that the purpose of the discussion was to make recommendations once the subject of discrimination based on descent was thoroughly debated. The theme of discrimination based on descent would be discussed within the definition stipulated in article 1 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Taking part in the discussion were members of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Françoise Jane Hampson, Eide Asbjorn, Soli Jehangir Sorabjee and Miguel Alfonso Martinez. Representatives of India and Nepal also took the floor.
Representatives of the following non-governmental organizations contributed to the discussion: a joint statement by Lutheran World Federation on behalf of 26 NGOs; Human Rights Watch; University of Osaka, IMDDR Japan Committee; Dalit Solidarity Peoples; Ambedkar Centre for Justice and Peace; National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights; South Asia Human Rights Documentations Centre; Nepalese Dalit NGO Federation; Human Development Organization (Sri Lanka); Buraku Liberation League; Tamil Nadu Women's Forum; National Federation of Dalit Women; Viavastha Vethireka Sanghatan; Vedika; National Dalit Commission (Nepal); Society of Development People for Social Justice; Dalit Human Rights Watch; RADDHO (Senegal); SAFRAD-Somali Association; Timidria (Niger); and Centre for Minority Rights Development (Kenya).
Last year, the Committee held a discussion on discrimination practised against Roma and drew up a recommendation on the subject.
When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Friday, 9 August, it will continue its discussion on discrimination based on descent.

Statements
A representative of the Lutheran World Federation, speaking on behalf of 26 non-governmental organizations, said that caste discrimination did not lend itself to treatment under the other qualifiers in the definition, but was clearly a form of discrimination based on descent. If the term descent was not included in the definition of racial discrimination, then the well-documented systematic forms of discrimination suffered by, for example, the Dalits of South Asia might well find no firm basis for attention under the Convention. The population of concern, and to whose situations the NGOs wished to draw the Committee's attention in this thematic discussion, including an estimated 250 million Dalits in South Asia. Some Governments had recognized the problem and had taken measures to address it. Others had yet even to acknowledge it. It remained, however, a blight upon the lives and hopes of millions of people around the world.
LOUBNA FREIH, of Human Rights Watch, said that despite the magnitude of the problem, concerted international attention and the commitment of resources to assist national governments in the important work of fighting discrimination based on descent was long overdue. Caste was descent-based and hereditary in nature. It was a characteristic determined by one's birth into a particular caste, irrespective of the faith practised by the individual, and it was used to denote a system of rigid social stratification into ranked groups defined by descent and occupation. Enforced economic and social isolation had also created pervasive conditions of illiteracy, poverty, and landlessness among lower caste communities.
MASANAO MURAKAMI, of the University of Osaka, IMADR Japan Committee, said that there were three possible interpretations of the word "descent". The first interpretation was that the word had the same meaning as the other four grounds for racial discrimination, thus denying a distinct meaning of the term. A broad interpretation was a sound one, which would allow the word descent to play an appropriate role. However, that interpretation amounted to ignoring the interpretation of CERD. In view of the importance of the interpretation of the Committee, it was appropriate to adopt the interpretations of the Committee insofar as they were reasonable.
BHAGWAN DAS, of Dalit Solidarity Peoples, said that during its consideration of Indian report, the Committee had raised the issue of castes and affirmed that the situation fell under the competence of the Committee. There was a big difference between caste and race. The notion of race was based on geographical origin while that of caste was based on religious belonging. It was for that reason that the phenomenon was difficult to eliminate. India had legislation prohibiting discrimination against members of castes but its implementation had been a problem. India should be obligated to get rid of the caste system.
YOGESH VARHADE, of the Ambedkar Centre for Justice and Peace, highlighted the acts of injustices committed against lower castes in India. He said that less than 15 per cent of high-caste Hindus controlled 85 per cent of wealth and power, bureaucracy, police; 99 per cent of the judiciary; and 100 per cent the media. There were more than 100 million children in child slavery in India alone. Most of those children were Dalits or Tribals. By keeping Dalits illiterate and starving, the high caste Hindus forced the untouchables to do the most unhygienic jobs. All the landless labourers in agricultural sector and all bonded labour were Dalits and Tribals.
PAUL DIVAKAR, of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, said that discrimination based on caste was peculiar in that there were no biological differences either in terms of skin colour or body structure to differentiate one group from the other. The discrimination originated in descent, by one's birth into a particular caste. That reality of the Indian society should have promoted the Indian Government to introduce the term descent to the International Convention. One hundred sixty million Dalits continued to face discrimination and human rights violations in India despite legal provisions of protection. The Committee should name caste-based discrimination as the primary form of descent-based discrimination and should effectively bring the Dalits under the purview of the Committee.
RAVI NAIR, of the South Asia Human Rights Documentations Centre (SAHRDC), said that the Committee needed to correct the narrow focus of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action to address discrimination based on descent. The final document addressed discrimination against people of African and Asian descent, but failed to refer to caste discrimination as a form of discrimination based on descent. Caste-based discrimination involved an especially pernicious form of institutionalized inequality that could only be remedied with strong and persistent government efforts.
D.B. SAGAR BISHWAKARMA, of the Nepalese Dalit NGO Federation, said that despite the fact that descent-based discrimination was unconstitutional in Nepal and that Nepal had ratified many international conventions pertaining to anti-discrimination, descent-based discrimination was a day-to-day reality in the country. Commitment from the State was not strong and as result, the enforcement part was very weak. Being born into a Dalit household in Nepal meant that the person was discriminated against in many aspects.
P.P. SIVAPRAGASAM, of the Human Development Organization (Sri Lanka), said that Sri Lanka was one of the few countries in the world that adopted discrimination on the grounds of citizenship for the Indian Tamils only. The other ethnic groups became automatically citizens by birth or through living in the country. The Indian Tamils were made stateless by default and had to prove that their fathers were born in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka and India had reached many agreements to solve the problem of the stateless Tamils without the participation of their representatives. The problem continued to date as descent and the associated discrimination went on.
SHIGEYUKI KUMISAKA, of the Buraku Liberation League, said the Buraku people of Japan did not have enough to do because of the rigid discriminatory policies which divided and ruled the population under the caste system of feudal Japan in the early Edo period. The Buraku people had been forced to endure extreme hardship for a long time. Such terrible living conditions continued through the war. In addition to an inferior living environment, Buraku people could not get full-time jobs and lived precariously.
BURNAD FATHIMA NATESAN, of the Tamil Nadu Women's Movement, said that Dalit women were discriminated against and were treated as untouchables and outcastes. The Hindu hierarchal caste system which practised the concept of purity and impurity considered Dalit women as impure. Dalit women constituted 16.3 per cent of the total population; 18 per cent of Dalit women lived in rural areas and undertook manual, low paid work; 76.2 per cent of Dali women were illiterate; and more and more girl children from Dali communities were school drop-outs and worked as child labourers. In the political field, Dalit women were excluded from decision making.
RUTH MANORAMA, of the National Federation of Dalit Women, said that discrimination based on descent had created exclusion in the society where the Dalits were represented. She said that access to the administration of justice for Dalit women was hard. She condemned the absence of legal protection for Dalits. The international community should take affirmative actions towards the Dalits.
HAJAMMA SANDANAKOTI, of Vivastha Vethireka Sanghatan, said she was born into the Madiga community, one of the scheduled caste communities in India. The marriage of a Jogini women was a formality. It did not matter whom she was married to. It was a passage to allow her to be used by anyone for sexual enjoyment. Many Jogini women were forced into prostitution. She urged the Committee to do something to help their cause.
JAYA LAKKINENNI, of the Vedika, said that Dalit women living in southern India were subjected to discrimination by the dominant higher castes. If the Dalits were economically better off, their rights might have been respected. The international community should put pressure on the Indian authorities to persuade them to implement the laws and policies they adopted concerning the caste system.
DURGA SOB, of the National Dalit Commission (Nepal), said that the condition in which the Dalits of Nepal lived was regrettable. They were politically, economically and socially discriminated against. Women particularly suffered most because of the double discrimination against them; and their life expectancy was lower than men. Dalits were prohibited from entering some public places and their right to property was denied. Many Dalits women remained illiterate.
P.L. MIMROTH, of the Society of Development People for Social Justice, said that Dalit women were leading miserable lives and the upper classes suppressed them from having even modest life conditions. The issue of the caste system should be visible to the whole world. The incidents of atrocities and caste-based discrimination on Dalits were increasing day by day in Rajasthan because of growing awareness and assertiveness among the Dalits. Violence against Dalits was normally treated as a very minor and marginal issue.
PRASAD SIRIVELLA, of the Dalit Human Rights Watch, said that the caste system and the practice of untouchablilty was perpetuated in the Indian society. The economic system of India allowed the members of the lower castes to be excluded and marginalised. Discriminatory practices continued irrespective of the economic development of the nation.
KALIDOU SY, of RADDHO (Senegal), said that the caste system remained related to the occupation the individual practised. Where the occupation was inherited from the family, others were excluded from practising that trade. Those who were not practising that particular trade considered the others to be different and discriminated against them as a result. Those who practised that particular trade continued to be regarded with different eyes and because of that they felt inferior to others.
ASHA A. SAMAD, of SAFRAD-Somalia Association, referring to the Somali caste system, she said that caste stratification was a daily component of Somali society. In the smallest nomad villages, in towns, in cities, in refugee camps, as well as in the overseas Somali communities, those stratifications were alive and well. To be a Midgan-Madibhan or an outcaste person in Somali society was to suffer life-long indignities, to be deemed impure, unlucky, sinful, polluting, and thus meriting the disdain, avoidance, and abuse of others. Caste had been an integral part of Somali society for centuries. It had persisted throughout the twentieth century and continued today in the twenty-first century.
VICTOR DIKE (Nigeria) said that in his country, particularly in the Igboland, whose population was about 27 million, people were divided into slaves and non-slaves -- the free-born. Any person from the free-born could not touch those members of the slaves for fear of being contaminated. Those who were born under the caste system remained in the caste system. The Government did not touch the subject of the caste system because the society considered it part of their culture to discriminate against those people. The situation was a human rights tragedy which needed further attention by the international community. The Osu caste system, which had caused inter-communal discords between the Diala and the Osus in Igboland, was a form of discrimination.
ILGILAS WEILA, of the Timidria (Niger), said that in Niger there were only 10 ethnic groups with each practising a caste system within its own group. Among the ten ethnic groups that made up Niger's Republic, four of them practised caste systems in accordance to the occupation they practised traditionally. Inter-communal marriage was influenced by the caste system. An inter-communal marriage could be disastrous in a small village; and the barrier of the caste system could not be broken. A member of a caste could only marry from his own caste and not from another caste.
ADAM HUSSEIN ADAM, of the Centre for Minority Rights Development, said that there was a caste system within the Indian community in Kenya. There were four distinctive forms of castes being practised among themselves, in spite of their small number in the country. Those belonging to lower castes within the Indian community were subjected to oppression. The Government of Kenya should be urged to take measure to address discrimination based on the caste system under its territory.

Statements by Governments
A representative of India said that the Indian Constitution recognized both the fact of the situation faced by a particularly vulnerable section of the society, and the imperative to redress the situation. The abhorrent practice of untouchability had been specifically abolished by the Constitution and manual scavenging was outlawed. Its practice was a penal offence attracting stringent punishment. There were special schemes for the economic welfare of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
A representative of Nepal said that the Government of Nepal did not pursue a policy in line with a caste system. It had been implementing a series of laws and administrative measures to help those in the rural areas and those living in backward conditions. The Government had further taken measures to eliminate the practice of castes in the rural areas.

Statements by Sub-Commission Members
FRANCOISE JANE HAMPSON, Sub-Commission Expert, said that caste-based discrimination came under the competence of the Committee. The Committee could deal with discrimination based on descent and caste system. In some countries, Governments should not tolerate to see the practice of the caste system in their territories by foreign communities, such as Indians in the United Kingdom. In many countries where a caste system was practised, members of the caste were discriminated against and even had no access to the administration of justice. The Sub-Commission was also making further studies on the subject of discrimination based on the caste system. A study paper had been presented by one of its former member on the caste system in the Indian Subcontinent.
ASBJORN EIDE, Sub-Commission Expert, said that the problem had been recognized but the question was how to address the issue of discrimination based on caste or descent. In some countries, the practice of caste was horrible. In India, the Government had been addressing the issue by drawing up affirmative actions. The Committee's theme should also include other countries other than the Indian Subcontinent. A programme of action should be taken beyond the visible discrimination and the problems should be recognized in tackling the deeply entrenched phenomenon.
SOLI JEHANGIR SORABJEE, Sub-Commission Expert, said that Indian legislation had been amended and further actions had been taken to deal with the caste system; and the Government had no policy of discrimination against those members of the Dalit caste. Despite those efforts, the problems still remained. Dalits held important public posts and many of them enjoyed other privileges. The Indian situation should not be painted black.
MIGUEL ALFONSO MARTINEZ, Sub-Commission Expert, said that the dimension of the problem of castes was wide and it needed deep thought. India recognized the scope of the problem during the debate on minorities. The problem of caste should not be seen in relation to a particular country. The debate should not focus only on one country and such a tendency should be avoided.



* *** *