Indo-Asian News Service
New York, Feb 14 (IANS) India has systematically
failed to uphold its international legal obligations
to ensure the fundamental human rights of Dalits,
a New York-based human rights watch group has
alleged.
Despite laws and policies against caste discrimination,
more than 165 million Dalits in India are condemned
to a lifetime of abuse simply because of their
caste, said a report issued Tuesday by the Centre
for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ).
The 113-page report, "Hidden Apartheid:
Caste Discrimination against India's 'Untouchables'",
was produced as a "shadow report"
ahead of a scheduled review of New Delhi's record
by a UN committee in Geneva Feb 23 and 26.
The report was described as a response to
India's submission to the UN Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD),
which monitors implementation of the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination (ICERD).
The report said on Dec 27, 2006 Manmohan Singh
became the first sitting Indian prime minister
to openly acknowledge the parallel between the
practice of "untouchability" and the
crime of apartheid.
Singh described "untouchability"
as a "blot on humanity", adding, "even
after 60 years of constitutional and legal protection
and state support, there is still social discrimination
against Dalits in many parts of our country".
"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rightly
compared 'untouchability' to apartheid, and
he should now turn his words into action to
protect the rights of Dalits," said Smita
Narula, the faculty director of the CHRGJ at
New York University School of Law and co-author
of the report.
"The Indian government can no longer
deny its collusion in maintaining a system of
entrenched social and economic segregation,"
she said.
Caste-motivated killings, rapes, and other
abuses are a daily occurrence in India, the
report said. Between 2001 and 2002, close to
58,000 cases were registered under the Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities)
Act - a legislation that criminalises particularly
egregious abuses against Dalits and tribal community
members.
A 2005 government report states that a crime
is committed against a Dalit every 20 minutes.
Though staggering, these figures represent only
a fraction of actual incidents since many Dalits
do not register cases for fear of retaliation
by the police and upper-caste individuals.
Both state and private actors commit these
crimes with impunity. Even on the relatively
rare occasions on which a case reaches court,
the most likely outcome is acquittal. Indian
government reports reveal that between 1999
and 2001, as many as 89 percent of trials involving
offences against Dalits resulted in acquittals,
the report said.
The report cited a resolution passed by the
European Parliament Feb 1, 2007 finding India's
efforts to enforce
laws protecting Dalits to be "grossly inadequate,"
and saying that "atrocities, untouchability,
illiteracy, (and) inequality of opportunity,
continue to blight the lives of India's Dalits".
The resolution called on the Indian government
to engage with CERD in its efforts to end caste-based
discrimination. Dalit leaders welcomed the resolution,
but Indian officials dismissed it as lacking
in "balance and perspective".
"International scrutiny is growing and
with it the condemnation of abuses resulting
from the caste system and the government's failure
to protect Dalits," said Brad Adams, Asia
director at Human Rights Watch.
"India needs to mobilise the entire government
and make good on its paper commitments to end
caste abuses. Otherwise, it risks pariah status
for its homegrown brand of apartheid,"
he said.
Urging CERD to scrutinise the gap between
India's human rights commitments and the daily
reality faced by Dalits, Narula said: "International
outrage over the treatment of Dalits is matched
by growing national discontent". She added,
"India can't ignore the voices of 165 million
citizens."
