A group of representatives from caste-affected communities
in Asia recently gave me a piece of brick from the wall of a torn down
latrine. The brick symbolised the global struggle against the degrading
practice of making members of a "lower caste" clean public toilets with
their bare hands.
This practice, which persists in many places despite
increasing prohibition in law, is not the workers’ choice. It is rather a
task that they inherit because of their social origins and descent. In
turn, these discriminated individuals are further "contaminated" by their
work and further trapped in a generational cycle of social exclusion and
marginalisation.
Today caste-affected communities and civil society
activists are hoping to tear down the much bigger invisible wall of
discrimination by trying to promote new international standards of
equality and non-discrimination. I have tremendous respect for their
determination and courage. As a woman of colour from a racial minority
growing up in apartheid South Africa, I know a thing or two about
discrimination.
"Untouchability" is a social phenomenon affecting
approximately 260 million persons worldwide. This type of discrimination
is typically associated with the notions of ritual purity and pollution
which are deeply rooted in different societies and cultures. The problem
is neither confined to one geographical area nor exclusively practised
within one particular religion or belief system. It is a global
phenomenon.
Caste is the very negation of the human rights principles
of equality and non-discrimination. It condemns individuals from birth and
their communities to a life of exploitation, violence, social exclusion
and segregation. Caste discrimination is not only a human rights violation
but also exposes those affected to other abuses of their civil, political,
economic, social and cultural rights.
"Lower caste" individuals are frequently confined to
hereditary, low-income employment and deprived of access to agricultural
land and credit. They often find themselves battling high levels of
indebtedness or even debt and labour bondage, which is practically a
contemporary form of slavery. The barriers they face in seeking justice or
redress are formidable. Child labour is rampant in descent-based
communities and children of "lower castes" suffer high levels of
illiteracy. For women caste is a multiplier that compounds their
experience of poverty and discrimination.
Laws and policies have been put in place in many countries
to combat this scourge. Constitutions prohibit caste-based discrimination
and "lower caste" members have been elected to the highest offices in the
land. Special legislation has been enacted to provide for affirmative
action in education and employment as well as protection from violence and
exploitation. Judiciaries have sought to enforce laws and provide relief
to victims. Dedicated institutions monitor the conditions and advocate on
behalf of "lower caste" groups.
At the international level the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination explicitly lists descent
as a ground of racial discrimination. The Durban Declaration and Programme
of Action, adopted at the World Conference Against Racism in 2001,
recognised descent-based discrimination. It also provided a comprehensive
road map to combat it, which was reaffirmed by states in April this year.
Yet there is a real need for targeted social policies and
programmes to address caste-based discrimination. It is imperative to
implement education programmes that can change deeply rooted systemic,
cultural and social prejudices, customs, beliefs and traditions based on
descent, power and affluence. Above all, caste-affected communities must
be given a voice and full participation in the development, implementation
and evaluation of strategies aimed at empowering them. The international
community should come together to support these efforts as it did when it
helped put an end to apartheid.
This action to stem an abhorrent form of marginalisation
and exclusion which traps the victims in hopelessness and poverty is long
overdue. We owe it to those "lower caste" families forced to leave their
village because they dared to vote in a parliamentary election against the
favoured candidate of the upper caste. We owe it to the villagers
belonging to the lowest social class starving to death because they were
not able to benefit from the public services which they were entitled to.
We owe it to that "lower caste" woman assaulted, publicly humiliated and
forced to eat her own excreta by members of the upper caste community
accusing her of witchcraft. All caste-victims demand and deserve remedies.
The plight of hundreds of millions cannot be justified as age-old
traditions nor can it be regarded merely as a "family business".
The Human Rights Council, the premier intergovernmental
body for the protection and promotion of human rights, should promote the
2009 Draft Principles and Guidelines for the Effective Elimination of
Discrimination based on Work and Descent. This study complements existing
international standards of non-discrimination. All states must rally
around and endorse these norms. The time has come to eradicate the
shameful concept of caste. Other seemingly insurmountable walls, such as
slavery and apartheid, have been dismantled in the past. We can and must
tear down the barriers of caste too.