260 million people worldwide suffer from caste discrimination and are being silenced by the Durban Review Conference, which claims to aim at protecting all victims affected by discrimination and contemporary forms of racism, according to a press release Monday from the Copenhagen-based International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN).
COPENHAGEN, 20 April 20 2009: Caste discrimination constitutes one of the most serious and widespread global human rights challenges today.
Victims of caste discrimination suffer a hidden apartheid of segregation, modern-day slavery and other forms of severe discrimination as a result of having been born into a marginalized and stigmatised social group or caste.
It is therefore deeply concerning that the Durban Review Conference is failing to tackle this type of discrimination and thereby silencing much needed debate on one of the most brutal and systematic forms of discrimination in the world.
The International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN), Human Rights Watch (HRW), the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) and other human rights organisations, are challenging this silence in a joint position paper urging UN member states to address caste-based discrimination at the Durban Review Conference, taking place in Geneva from the 20-24 April.
With the pending failure to address this issue at the UN conference, it is crucial that the problem is addressed in the public arena and through the media.
This global human rights issue, affecting 260 million people worldwide, is currently being exemplified in the electoral process in India, where it is being reported that Dalit (or “low caste”) citizens are being threatened, assaulted, and physically prevented from voting in the ongoing election campaign.
The website dalitvotes.in offers up to date insight into this problem, which is eroding the very roots of the world’s largest democracy.
A press conference about caste discrimination and the Durban Review Conference has been organised at the UN premises in Geneva on the 21st April at 9:30am.
A panel of Dalit representatives and NGO speakers will be available for questions and further information. Journalists must be accredited to the conference to attend. More information on the conference will be posted on idsn.org.
A number of events are also being organised in Geneva from the 19-24th April, to bring visibility to the issue of caste based discrimination and its crucial relevance to the Durban Review Conference.
Background:
• Caste discrimination is any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on inherited status such as work and descent, commonly originating from a division of society into castes or social categories.
This chronic human rights condition, which is associated with the notion of impurity, pollution and practices of “untouchability”, involves massive violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. It is estimated that 260 million people are affected by caste discrimination worldwide.
• The Durban Review Conference will be held in Geneva between 20-24 April 2009 with the purpose of reviewing the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA).
• The Durban Declaration and Plan of Action (DDPA) includes several provisions relevant in the fight against this form of discrimination, and several UN bodies, in particular the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), have repeatedly reaffirmed that caste falls under the Race Convention.
• Several UN bodies have furthermore reaffirmed that discrimination based on work and descent – the UN terminology for caste discrimination – is prohibited by international human rights law, and that it is a global human rights phenomenon which should be addressed comprehensively through existing human rights mechanisms.
• Human Rights Watch have also previously highlighted the need for tackling the causes and consequences of this kind of discrimination by, among other things, encouraging delegations to welcome the work carried out by CERD on discrimination based on descent, to review CERDs General Comment No. 29 on Descent, and to include reference to it as a guiding opinion in defining and combating descent-based discrimination.
• The IDSN website – idsn.org – provides a wide range of resources and material on the topic of caste-discrimination including case studies, video materials, and research materials. For more information on the Durban Review Conference please see the overview on the IDSN website.
Yderligere oplysninger på tlf. 61 70 12 18 eller [email protected].
Maria Brink Schleimann
Communications Officer
International Dalit Solidarity Network
Nørrebrogade 66 C, 1. sal
2200 København N
Tlf: 35 24 50 83
We are not untouchable
-260 million reasons to act
Online photo exhibition at www.idsn.org/wearenotuntouchable
Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information on the topic, relevant documents, case studies or interviews with Dalit representatives.
Press kit for journalists
Programme of Dalit solidarity events at the Durban Review Conference and the Civil Society Forum
Joint position paper prepared by IDSN, Human Rights Watch, NCDHR and other organisations.
More information about the Durban Review Conference
