title

especially to Mr.Balram Sampla (Vice-Chair of DSN.) for letting me publish the articles/matter!

VIOLANCE WITH IMPUNITY

AGAINST DALITS IN INDIA

That this House notes with grave concern the on going violence with impunity against Dalits in India (Formerly called ‘untouchables’); recalls the tragic murder of Surekha, Priyanka, Sudhir and Roshan Bhotmange in Khairlanji village in September 2006; regrets the chronic deficiencies in the investigation and the lack of prosecution of negligent police officers involved in the case; notes that official figures record approximately 26,000 atrocities against Dalits every year; notes that this statistic is unlikely to represent the true extent of violence; further notes a recent study on untouchability in rural India finding that Dalits faced discrimination in their access to police stations in 28% of villages and in their treatment in police stations in 32% of villages; notes the European Parliament Resolution of 1 February 2007 on the human rights situation of the Dalits in India; recognises the existence of legislation to protect Dalits from caste-based violence and humiliation in India; and calls upon Her Majesty’s Government to make representations to the Indian Government to urge for the effective implementation of laws protecting Dalits from violent attacks.

Meena Varma (Coordinator)

Dalit Solidarity Network - UK

www.dsnuk.org

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OBC RESERVATION

IN NATIONAL INTEREST

Mandal commission says giving representation to 52% population of OBC’s is in the national interest of thecountry.Reservation Rashtrapita Jotiba Phuley and Rashtranirmata Dr.B.R.Ambedkar are the fathers of Concept of Reservation’. They gave birth to the concept of reservation. So reservation is not a mere phenomenon or mere instrument to get, to secure some jobs in the Government. Reservation is the matter of participation in the governance of the country. Reservation is nothing but representation in the Governance. We get reservation through Constitution. Article 15(4) and 16(4) talks of reservation (Representation) Article 15(4) Nothing in this article or in clause 2 of Article 29 (protection of minorities) shall prevent the state from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes. Article 16(4) Nothing in this ‘article shall prevent the state from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class citizens which, in the opinion of the state, is not adequately represented in the services under the state. Under the 1950 Constitution of India, 15% of educational and civil service seats were reserved for "Scheduled castes" and 7.5% for "Scheduled tribes." Root Cause of Mandal Commission Dr.B.R.Ambedkar was in favour of giving representation to Other Backward classes while drafting the constitution of India. Because he was of the opinion that besides SC/ST’s there are vast castes which are backward and needs representation in the governance of the country. But there was so much oppose from all angles and it was asked who the backward classes are? As they were not having separate identity Dr.Ambedkar put provision of forming a commission who will identify who are these castes which needs representation. This Article 340 was the root cause of Mandal Commission Article 340 (1) The President may by order appoint a commission, consisting of such persons as he thinks, fit to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes within the territory of India and the difficulties under which they labour and to make recommendations as to the steps that should be taken by the union or any state to remove such difficulties and as to improve ‘their condition and as to the grants that should be made, and the order appointing such commission shall define the procedure to be followed by the commission. Article 340 (2) A commission so appointed shall investigate the matters referred to them and present to the president a report setting out the facts as found by them and making such recommendations as they think proper. As per this article of the constitution which was implemented in 1950, the first Backward Class commission was set up by a presidential order on January 29, 1953 (3) years after the implementation of the constitution due to the social movement pressure of Dr.Ambedkar) under the chairmanship of Kaka Kalelkar Its terms of references were to:Determine the criteria to be adopted in considering whether any sections of the people in the territory of India in addition to the SC and ST as socially and educationally backward classes. 2 Using such criteria it was to prepare a list of such classes setting out also their approximate members and their territorial distribution. 3.Investigate the conditions of all such socially and educationally backward classes and the differences under which they labour and make recommendations 1. as to the steps that should be taken by the union or any state to remove such difficulties or to improve their economic condition, and 2. as to the grants that should be made for the purpose by the union or any state and the conditions subject to which such grants should be made; 3. Investigate such other matters as the president may hereafter refer to them and 4. Present to the president a report setting out the facts as found by them and making such recommendations as they think proper. Kaka Kalelkar commission adopted the following criteria: 1.Low social position in the traditional caste hierarchy of Hindu society. 2. Lack of general educational advancement among the major section of a caste or community. 3.Inadequate or no representation in government services. 4. Inadequate representation in the field of trade, commerce and industry

The commission submitted its report on March 30, ‘1955. It had prepared a list of 2,399 backward castes or communities for the entire country and of which 837 had been classified as the ‘most backward’. Some of the most noteworthy recommendations of the commission were:

1. Undertaking caste-wise enumeration of population in the census of 1961.

2. Relating social backwardness of a class to its low position in the traditional caste hierarchy of Hindu society,

3. Treating all women as a class as ‘backward’;(As Manusmruti denied the equal status to women with men and put them in the fourth varna)

4. Reservation of 70 per cent seats in all technical and professional institutions for qualified students of backward classes.

5. Minimum reservation of vacancies in all government services and local bodies for other backward classes on the following scale: class I = 25 per cent; class II = 33½ per cent; class III and IV = 40 per cent Shri. Kaka Kalelkar, the Chairman, took a rather equivocal stand on the issue, though he did not record a formal minutes of dissent, in his forwarding letter to the President he opposed the important recommendations made by the commission. But this report was not accepted by the Central government on the ground that it had not applied any objective tests for identifying the Backward Class.Thus, there was a need of second backward classes of commission.

Mandal commission The Mandal Commission in India was established in 1979 to "identify the socially or educationally backward." It was headed by Indian parliamentarian Bindheshwari Prasad Mandal (B.P.Mandal, hence named as Mandal Commission) to consider the question of seat reservations and quotas for people to redress caste discrimination, and used eleven social, economic, and educational indicators to determine "backwardness." Members of Mandal Commission o

Shri. B. P. Mandal- Chairman, Shri.R. R. Bhole Member, Shri. Dewan Mohan Lal- Member, Shri. L. R. Naik- Member, Shri. K. Subramaniam- Member Objective of Mandal Commission

1. To determine the criteria for defining the socially and educationally backward classes

2. To recommend the steps to be taken for their advancement.

3. To examine the desirability or otherwise for making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in their favour.

4. To present a report setting out the facts found by the commission. Methodology of Mandal Commission Some of the important measures taken in this connection were

1. Seminar of sociologists on social backwardness.

2. Issue of three sets of questionnaires to State Government and the public

3. Extensive touring of the country by the Commission, taking evidence of legislators, eminent public men, sociologist

4. Undertaking country wide socio-educational survey (A socio-educational field survey was organized under the panel of experts with M. N. Srinivas as chairman).

5. Preparation of reports on some important issues by specialized agencies.

6. Caste Study, village monographs and study of legal and constitutional issues, Analysis of the census data etc Criteria to identify OBC The Mandal Commission adopted various methods and techniques to collect the necessary data and evidence. The commission also adopted 11 criteria which could be grouped under three major headings: social, educational and economic in order to identify OBCs.

The 11 criteria’s are as follows: Social Criteria (4 * 3 = 12 points)

• Castes/classes considered as socially backward by others.

• Castes/classes which mainly depend on manual labour for their livelihood.

• Castes/classes where at least 25 per cent females and 10 per cent males above the state average get married at an age below 17 years in rural areas and at least 10 per cent females and 5 per cent males do so in urban areas.

• Castes/classes where participation of females in work is at least 2 per cent above the state average. Educational Criteria ( 2 points each, total 6 point)

• Castes/classes where the number of children in the age group of’ 5-15 years who never attended school is at least 25 per cent above the state average.

• Castes/classes where the rate of student drop-out in the age group of 5-15 years is at least 25 per cent above the state average.

• Castes/classes amongst whom the proportion of matriculates is at least 25 per cent below the state average. Economic Criteria (1 point each, total 4 point)

• Castes/classes where the average value of family assets is at least 25 per cent below the state average.

• Castes/classes where the number of families living in kuccha houses is at least 25 per cent above the state average.

• Castes/classes where the source of drinking water is beyond half a kilometer for more than 50 per cent of the households.

• Castes/classes where the number of households having taken consumption loans is at least 25 per cent above the state average.

All castes, which had a score of 50 per cent (i.e., 11 points) or above by applying the 11 criteria were listed as socially and educationally backward and the rest were treated as ‘advanced’.

By adopting this multilateral approach the commission was able to cast its net far and wide and prepared a very firma and dependable database for report.

Findings and report The commission estimated that 52% of the total

population (excluding SCs and STs), belonging to 3,743 different castes and communities were ‘backward’. Figures of caste-wise population are not available beyond. So the commission used 1931 census data to

calculate the number of OBCs. The population of OBCs was derived by subtracting from the total population of Hindus, the population of SC and ST and that of forward Hindu castes and communities, and it worked

out to be 52 per cent. However, only 27 per cent of reservation was

recommended owing to the legal constraint of the Honorable Supreme court ruling that the total quantum of reservation should not exceed 50 percent. These recommendations in total are applicable to all recruitment to public sector undertakings both under the central and state governments, as also to nationalised banks. All private sector undertakings which have received financial assistance from the

government in one form or other should also be obliged to recruit personnel on the aforesaid basis. All universities and affiliated colleges should also be covered by the above scheme of reservation. Although education is considered an important factor to bring a desired social change, "educational reform" was not within the terms of reference of this commission. To promote literacy the following measures were suggested:

1. An intensive time-bound programme for adult education should be launched in selected pockets with high concentration of OBC population;

2. Residential schools should be set up in these areas for backward class students to provide a climate specially conducive to serious studies. All facilities in these schools including board and lodging should be provided free of cost to attract students from poor and backward homes;

3. Separate hostels for OBC students with above facilities will have to be provided;

4. Vocational training was considered imperative. It was recommended that seats should be reserved for OBC students in all scientific, technical and professional institutions run by the central as well as state governments. The quantum of reservation should be the same as in the government services, i e, 27 per cent The above reservation should also be made applicable to promotion quota at all levels. Reserved quota remaining unfilled should be carried forward for a period of three years and de-reserved thereafter. Relaxation in the upper age limit for direct recruitment should be extended to the candidates of OBC in the same manner as done in the case of SCs and STs. A roster system for each category of posts should be adopted by the concerned authorities in the same manner as presently done in respect of SC and ST candidates. According to 2001 census, out of India's population of 1,028,737,436 the Scheduled castes comprises 166,635,700 and Scheduled Tribe 84,326,240, that is 16.2% and 8.2% respectively. (The SC/ST population has increased as per the census of 2001). There is no data on OBCs in the census. The implementation of Mandal commission will lead to a reduction of social and educational backwardness and give a chance to live to the backwardness and give a chance to live to the backward classes who constitute 52% of the population of India. When 27% reservation of jobs and educational seats is given for people constituting nearly more than 52% of the population. But those who constitute less than 15%(higher castes who are getting 100% reservation for the last 1000 years)grab 100% of power - and that is supposed to be in the national interest, etc. Brahmins who are 3.5% of the total population enjoys 100% representation in the Union Cabinet, in Secretariat positions, in Governors' and Vice-Chancellors' and ambassadorial jobs, that does not raise even an eyebrow of the so-called casteless society wallahas! 'Caste' cannot be used to deny social justice to a vast majority of the people; neither can caste be allowed to be used to maintain privileges and positions grabbed and retained by a microscopic minority (3.5% Brahmins) for thousands of years. The struggle against caste cannot be side-tracked to perpetuate the domination of the higher caste. The struggle against caste is the most intense from of class-struggle in the Indian situation. But the main thing is that besides reservations, the Mandal Commission has recommended certain structural changes. The Commission has sharply focussed on the fact that a large majority of the OBCs live in villages, that they are poor farmers, or farm labourers or village artisans whose 'business' has been completely destroyed by the Batas and Garwares. These rural poor are today completely under the control of the rich farmers and traders who have reduced them to a state of slavery. Their conditions cannot be change takes place in the relations of production. The Commission wants a change in the private ownership of the means of production both in industry and agriculture. Even if the existing laws in the statute books are enforced ruthlessly and impartially, it would give considerable relief to the poor. At least, the strange hold of rich farmers will be loosened, if not broken. The Commission recommends that the Ceiling Act and other land reform statutes should be vigorously enforced. The SC/ST and the OBC solidarity let it be understood, unites 85% of the people, suppressed, exploited and condemned to a life of degradation and humiliation. The Mandal Commission has opened the visa of such powerful consolidation of the exploited people. The struggle for land which in effect would also become the struggle for the liberation of the poor from the dominant rich in rural areas, is also linked up with the struggle for survival of rural artisans. They have no land, or very little of it, and their traditional occupations have been ruined by the invasion of big companies. The Commission has recommended that separate financial institutions should be set up to help them organize their occupation on a cooperative basis. These cooperatives must be controlled only by the rural artisans. Furthermore, these rural artisans must be given training in the use of modern instruments, modern methods and style. A comprehensive charter of demands for the entire rural OBCs, those in farming and rural artisans, based on these recommendations of the Mandal Commission, could galvanize the rural masses into a concerted action. There is yet another dimension to the prospects opened by the Commission. The Commission has broken fresh grounds and has carried out its investigations into the conditions of the backward sections among Muslimsand Christians, thus transgressing religiousdivisions. The Commission has shown, with substantive evidence, how backwardness-social and educational-prevails even among religious communities which avowedly do not believe in caste. They believe in the equality of man. Yet there exist divisions of 'high' and 'low'. The Mandal Commission recommendations for OBCs are applicable to all 3743 castes, thus the struggle for the recommendations of the Mandal Commission can unite

all the exploited and oppressed masses irrespective of religious divisions. Their struggle against high caste domination and exploitation can become the struggle against capitalist-landlord exploitation and therefore a struggle for equality and social justice.

Members of village vocational communities who want to set up small-scale industries on their own should be given suitable institutional finance and technical assistance. In addition, similar assistance should be extended to those promising OBC candidates who have undergone special vocational training. In this regard, separate financial institutions should also be established.

It was also considered imperative that all state governments should create a separate network of financial and technical institutions to foster business and industrial enterprise among OBC as a part of its overall strategy to uplift them. To implement all these recommendations, Central and state governments should form separate ministry On 30th April 1981, Mandal Commission was submitted to

both the houses of parliament but former prime minister Indira Gandhi and after that Rajiv Gandhi cleverly ignored it. The Supreme Court gave its verdict in favour of the implementation of 1990 order of the Union Government, providing reservation in jobs. So from 1992, a part of

the recommendations of the Commission is being implemented. Supporters of the Mandal Commission argue that national unity should be on the basis of justice for all castes, and that both traditional varnashram and post-independence Congress Raj had worked only to the benefit of brahmins and other privileged minorities. They also argue that reservations are essential to the uplift and empowerment of people from less privileged castes.Note : Creamy Layer The Income limit has since been raised from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs.2.5 lakhs w.e.f. 09.03.2004 vide DOP2T O.M, No.36033/3/2004-ESTT(Res) dated 09.03.2004.

Regards

Ashish

April 6th, 2007

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DALIT SOLIDARITY NETWORK UK

and Minority Rights Group International

PRESS RELEASE:

NEPALESE DALIT WOMEN SPEAK OF VIOLENCE AND DISCRIMINATION AT HOUSE OF COMMONS MEETING 28^TH NOVEMBER 2006

On Tuesday 28 November at an historic meeting in the House of Commons, London , Nepalese Dalit Manju Badi, from an ‘untouchable’ caste branded as prostitutes, gave first hand testimony on the extent and depth of the violence and discrimination Dalit women face in everyday Nepalese life. Dalits are considered the lowest of the low in the brutal caste system that rigidly divides South East Asian society. There are approximately 1.2 million Dalit women in Nepal - around 12.3 percent of the female population.

Manju Badi was abandoned after 12 years by the father of her three children. He never told his family she existed and the couple lived apart. The same thing happened to Manju’s mother before Manju was born. Now Manju’s children face a life in poverty and without citizenship rights because their higher caste father will not admit they are his.

Nepalese Dalit filmmaker Anita Pariyar screened her documentary on the lives of Dalit women in Nepal . Nibha Singh, Nepali human rights activist, presented further evidence, on how Dalit women are forced into child marriage, are blamed for bad luck, have been forced to eat human faeces and that they suffer exploitation and violence from ‘higher caste’ men outside their communities as well as domestic violence in their own homes. Dalit children are consistently excluded from school and the community has little or no recourse to social justice. As Manju’s experience shows, they are affected generation after generation.

Durga Sob, President of the Feminist Dalit Organisation (FEDO) of Nepal urged the British government and international community to support the full participation of Dalit women in the political change sweeping Nepal at this time and to ensure their representation and strong voice in the new Constituent Assembly and political structures. She stressed the need to ensure that Dalits without citizenship are able to freely register as Nepali citizens in order to fully participate in the upcoming election and cast their vote. Independent monitoring by the EU or International community of the participation of Dalits in the election is essential.

Most importantly the Dalit Women highlighted the action that all Nepalese Dalit women are taking daily to change their own and the lives of their communities, to secure a life free of discrimination in Nepal . They call upon the Nepalese government to end caste and gender discrimination in all spheres of public and private life and to ensure that comprehensive laws to protect their rights are fully implemented and impunity against violence and discrimination is stopped – now.

For further information please contact:

Gina Borbas – Coordinator

Mob: 07710 146788

DALIT SOLIDARITY NETWORK UK

Tel: 020 7501 8323 Email: dalitsnuk@yahoo.co.uk

Registered Charity Number 1107022

Dalit Solidarity Network - UK
Thomas Clarkson House, The Stableyard
Broomgrove Road, London SW9 9TL.
Tel: +44 (0)20 7501 8323

Fax: +44 (0)20 7738 4110

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WE, the participants of the Hague Conference on Dalit Women â€™s Rights, held in The Hague on 20 and 21 November 2006, after deliberating upon the issues of Discrimination, violence and impunity against Dalit women, adopt this Declaration on the Human Rights and Dignity of Dalit Women.

In South Asia “that is, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka “Dalits have endured discrimination based on work and descent for centuries, and this discrimination continues today. The Dalits “known as untouchables or outcastes “number around two hundred and sixty million people in South Asia . On account of their caste, they experience discrimination, social exclusion and violence on a daily basis. Although economic growth in the region has been strong over the past decade, caste disparities remain and are in fact increasing. The situation of Dalit women in these countries needs urgent and special attention. They constitute one of the largest socially segregated groups anywhere in the world and face systemic and structural discrimination thrice over: as Dalits, as women, and as poor.

The caste system declares Dalit women to be intrinsically impure and untouchable, therefore socially excluded. In class terms, the vast majority of Dalit women are poor; many are landless daily wage labourers who are systematically denied access to resources. As women, they are subjugated by patriarchal structures. Due to this intersectional discrimination, Dalit women are specifically targeted for daily, egregious acts of violence, in particular for sexual violence, including the Devadasi system of forced and ritualised prostitution. On account of their â€˜ impure â€™ caste and poverty, Dalit women comprise the majority of manual scavengers, that is, labourers who clean human excrement from dry toilets. When they assert fundamental rights, Dalit women are targeted for punitive violence by dominant castes. Due to patriarchal notions of community honor residing in women, dominant caste violence against Dalit women functions to punish the entire Dalit community and teach Dalits a lesson of obedience to caste norms. Moreover, Dalit women are discriminated against not only by dominant castes on account of their caste, class and gender, but also by their own communities on account of their gender. Dalit women have less power within the Dalit community in general.

When considering discrimination and violence against Dalit women, one can state that impunity is the key problem Dalit women face today â€“ not only while seeking legal and judicial redress for violence, but also while attempting to access and enjoy their fundamental rights and freedoms. Perpetrators enjoy virtual immunity from prosecution for violence against Dalit women, as the police, who themselves often harbor caste prejudices, willfully neglect to enforce the law. Not only the police, but perpetrators and their communities use their political, social and economic power to silence Dalit women, thereby denying them access to justice. The nature of collusion between state and dominant.

Caste actors are such that the modern rule of law has no place in the hierarchical order of socioeconomic and political power relationships, as caste-based power supersedes state-derived executive authority.

Dalit women today are not simply passive victims; the current mood is not one of mere acceptance, but one of determination to â€˜ transform their pain into power â€™. In fact, they have been active throughout history, though often this has not been recognised and recorded. They have been actively involved in the anti-caste and anti-Untouchability movements. Today they are the strongholds of the Dalit movements in thousands of South Asian villages, and are often at the forefront of struggles for basic human rights. They continue to play a critical role in the movements for land and livelihood rights and against Untouchability, pointing to the potential for their self-emancipation, given adequate support.

They are making their mark as independent thinkers and writers in the literary world by critiquing dominant caste ideologies. They participate today as visionary leaders in the local governance institution by asserting their rights. While they continue to struggle against structural discrimination and exclusion, violence and impunity are systematically unleashed by dominant castes to keep them in their place.

While recognising the gendered nature of caste discrimination for Dalit women, these women have turned their â€ suffering â€™ into one of â€˜ resistance â€™, actively participating shoulder to shoulder with men in their communities in the anti-caste and anti-Untouchability movements. They have simultaneously contributed to the welfare of their families, sustained their communities given their labour for producing food and wealth for their countries. In this regard, Dalit women build their identities on a culture of resistance against the hegemonic culture of the caste system, expressing their defiance and revolt

Against the caste, class and gender discrimination that oppresses them. This assertion of distinct identity and simultaneous forging of a collective identity in multiple struggles marks the Dalit women s movement in various ways.

The countries where caste discrimination persists are party to most of the relevant human rights instruments: the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). These treaties provide equal rights for men and women. As these countries are also party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), governments have a specific obligation to make sure that women can realise their human rights. It is generally accepted in international legal standards that governments have to do more than just pass laws to protect human rights. Governments have an obligation to take all measures, including policy and budgetary measures, to make sure that women can fulfill and enjoy their fundamental rights. Equally importantly, governments must implement these laws, policy measures and programmes to fully discharge their obligations under international law. This includes an obligation to exercise due diligence in punishing those who engage in caste-based discrimination and violence.

In 2000, one hundred and eighty-nine countries accepted the Millennium Declaration and agreed to take the necessary action in order to attain eight specific goals: the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 1. The realisation of human rights of Dalit women will have a substantial positive effect on the realisation of the MDGs. This is because Dalit women are extremely poor, and make up two percent of the world â€™s population. In India, for example, 60 million children do not attend primary school; a disproportionate number of these children are Dalit girls.

1 The MDGs are: 1) reduction of extreme poverty and hunger by half; 2) primary education for all boys and girls; 3) gender equality and empowerment of women; 4) reduction of child mortality by two-thirds; 5) reduction of maternal mortality by three quarters; 6) combat HIV/aids, malaria and other diseases; 7) clean drinking water and 100 million slum dwellers above the poverty line; 8) more aid, fair trade, less debt.

Over the years Dalit women â€™s organisations and movements have increasingly voiced their specific concerns and asserted their separate identity, calling for solidarity from the International Community.

The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 saw for the first time international recognition given to the discrimination faced by Dalit women. Dalit women also played a crucial role in the World Conference against Racism in South Africa in 2001, where Dalit issues were brought to the fore of the international attention. Following the National Conference on Violence against Dalit Women in Delhi on 7 and 8 March 2006, Justitia et Pax Netherlands, Cordaid, and CMC as members of the Dalit Network Netherlands (DNN), in collaboration with the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR, India), the National Federation of Dalit Women (India), the ALL India Dalit Women's Rights Forum (India), Feminist Dalit Organisation (FEDO, Nepal), the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) and other Dalit and Women â€™s rights organizations, responded to the request of Dalit women and organised the International Conference on the Human Rights of Dalit Women on 20 and 21 November 2006 in The Hague, The Netherlands.

Caste, class and gender discrimination prevents Dalit women from enjoying their basic human rights, particularly to dignity, equality and development. Atrocities and violence against Dalit women are both a means of sustaining systemic discrimination, as well as a reaction when particularly Untouchability practices and caste norms are challenged or not adhered to. Impunity for this discrimination and violence is then used as a means to preserve the existing caste and gender disparities. Before Dalit women can enjoy their human rights, and before the Millennium Development Goals can be achieved,

Therefore we, the participants of The Hague Conference on Dalit Women â€™s Rights, call upon the respective governments in Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to take seriously the voices of Dalit women as they explain their specific situation, to support them in asserting their rights and to ensure Dalit women and girls are brought on par with the general population in terms of overall development (e.g. poverty reduction) within a period of five years. We call upon the international community to undertake and support every possible measure to fight the widespread discrimination, violence and impunity committed against Dalit women.

Recommendations to the respective governments of

Nepal

India

Pakistan

Bangladesh

and

â€¢ Disaggregate all criminal, economic, social and political data on the grounds of gender and caste.

â€¢ Evolve and implement a comprehensive strategy to address impunity and ensure criminal justice for Dalit women.

â€¢ Grant powers to make legally binding recommendations to relevant National Human Rights Institutions to establish an independent complaints and monitoring mechanism to address the discrimination and violence against Dalit women.

â€¢ Enact domestic violence (prevention and protection) laws that acknowledge the unique

Vulnerability of Dalit women, allocate adequate resources and ensure a comprehensive

monitoring mechanism with representation of Dalit women for effective implementation of these laws.

â€¢ Provide support to establish informal organisations for Dalit women to freely discuss the social, domestic and development issues in their own community and to strengthen leadership within local governance structures.

â€¢ Mandate proportional representation of Dalit women elected into parliaments, legislatures and local governance systems, including equal distribution of other minority groups, such as Joginis/Badis (India/Nepal) irrespective of their faith, and provide adequate budget allocations in this regard.

The Hague Declaration on the Human Rights and Dignity of Dalit Women

â€¢ Restore lands earmarked by governments for Dalits and register them in the name of Dalit women or jointly with men, and also acquire and distribute surplus lands by implementing and Reform Acts and distribute lands to Dalits in proportion to their populations in each country.

â€¢ Issue legal title to lands possessed and enjoyed by Dalit women and men, in the name of Dalit women or jointly with men; grant each Dalit family five acres of land registered in the name of Dalit women; allocate and distribute sufficient budget for the purchase of land and distribute to Dalit women; ensure payment of equal and living wage to Dalit women without discrimination;

â€¢ Ensure Dalit women enjoy equal access to and share of common property resources, in particular water resources, and provide budgetary support to create common property for their own.

â€¢ Enact appropriate legislation to prevent displacement of Dalits and alienation of their lands in the name of development projects and schemes in the context of economic globalisation.

â€¢ Eradicate the practice of manual scavenging and the jogini system and enforce rehabilitation policies and programmes for their alternative livelihood and sustenance.

â€¢ Allocate sufficient budget for full primary and secondary level education of all Dalit girls,

including funds for staff in schools and infrastructure, and vocational institutions

â€¢ Ensure reduction of pre-natal mortality, infant mortality and maternal mortality among Dalit women on a time-bound basis.

â€¢ Provide assistance to launch a national campaign of caste sensitisation and elimination of caste, class and gender discrimination.

Recommendations to the International Community, to the United Nations and the European

Having regard to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and all other relevant UN Conventions;

Having regard to General Recommendation XXIX of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in particular to paragraphs 11-13;

Having regarded to and reinforcing the urgency of the ongoing UN study on a Discrimination based on Work and Descent and the development of Principles and Guidelines for the effective elimination of this form of discrimination, we call upon:

The international community to ensure that the large gap is closed, at the latest by 2015, by achieving targets of the Millennium Development Goals for the population in general and Dalit women and girls in particular, through providing additional measures for Dalit women and girls to realise their right to development on par with others.

The United Nations Human Rights bodies and mechanisms, the United Nations organizations, intergovernmental institutions and organizations, the European Union, bilateral aid agencies and international non-governmental organizations to give full recognition and effect to the content and the recommendations of The Hague Conference on the Rights of Dalit Women;

The international community to express its outrage against the caste-induced, systematic practice of Untouchability and atrocities against Dalits in South Asia in general and against Dalit women in particular.

These institutions and bodies to raise the issues and concerns of Dalit women at all levels and to involve and introduce all necessary measures, and to support and secure the implementation of the recommendations of this Declaration with a sense of great urgency.

The Human Rights Council to address the issue of Untouchability and violence against Dalit women and men and the impunity related to caste practices and discrimination.

The ILO in its annual Global Reports on fundamental labour rights (no child and no forced labour, non-discrimination in employment and the right to association and collective bargaining) to highlight and propose measures to fight the systematic violation of these fundamental rights as far as Dalit women and girls are concerned.

on discrimination and violence against Dalit Women

Dalit women from South Asia are determined to "transform their pain into power". That was the main message of the two day international conference held in The Hague on the 20^th and 21^st of November 2006. It was the first international conference to discuss the issues of discrimination and violence against more than 100 million Dalit women. In "The Hague Declaration on the Human Rights and Dignity of Dalit women" the participants urged the governments of

Nepal

India

Pakistan

Bangladesh

and

Sri Lanka

as well as the international community to support their struggle.

In South Asia, Dalits “known as "untouchables" and "outcastes" - have endured caste discrimination for centuries. The situation of Dalit women, one of the largest socially segregated groups in the world, is shocking. Dalit women are among the poorest; they face â€˜triple discrimination€™, as Dalits, as women and as poor. The caste system declares them intrinsically impure and â€œuntouchableâ€ and generally they are subjugated by men. Dalit women comprise the majority of manual scavengers, labourers who clean human excrements from dry toilets. Dalit women are targets of extreme violence, including sexual assault and forced prostitution.

Violence and impunity
In the City Hall of The Hague Dalit women presented shocking and heart-breaking testimonials about the violence perpetrated against them and the impunity which followed. Authors of the study "Dalit women Speak Out - Violence against Dalit women in India" presented their findings of a three-year comprehensive study on forms, magnitude and the systematic pattern of violence which is accompanied by equally systematic patterns of impunity. The study revealed that only one percent of perpetrators are convicted in courts.

Physical and sexual violence against Dalit women is not only systemic, but also affects the majority of Dalit women. The study documents how rape, murder, physical assault and humiliation of Dalit women are intentionally used to maintain the oppression of the Dalit community by the dominant castes. Impunity is the key problem that Dalit women face today when they try to seek justice after violence is perpetrated against them. As stated in the Hague Declaration: "Perpetrators enjoy virtual immunity from prosecution as the police, who often harbour caste prejudices, willfully neglect to enforce the law".

Often, Dalit women have protested and resisted although that has not been recognised and recorded. However, defiance is increasing. "Dalit women today are not merely passive victims; the current mood seems to be not one of mere acceptance, but determined to transform their pain into power", the Hague Declaration empathically states.

The Hague Declaration
In the Declaration the participants of the Hague conference call upon the governments of Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to support the women in asserting their rights. The governments are called upon to address the failure of the justice system to protect Dalit women and to implement measures to close the vast socio-economic gap between Dalit women and the rest of the population. The recommendations include: implementing an independent complaint mechanism to address the atrocities against Dalit women; establishing organisations to discuss social, domestic and development issues in their community; taking strong measures to give land to Dalits, which is to be registered in the name of Dalit women (or jointly with men); eradicating practices of manual scavenging and the Devadasi system of ritualised prostitution; allocating sufficient budget to full primary and secondary education of all Dalit girls and ensuring the reduction of pre-natal mortality, infant mortality and maternal mortality among Dalit women. The participants also urge the governments in South Asia to launch national campaigns for the elimination of caste.

International community should act
The participants in the Hague Conference also call upon the international community, including the UN human rights bodies, the UN organisations, the EU, bilateral aid agencies and NGOs to act upon the recommendations of the Hague Declaration. In particular they are asked to express their outrage at the caste-induced systematic practices of untouchability and atrocities against Dalit women. It also calls upon the international community to ensure that, at the latest in 2015, the large â€˜development gapâ€™ (e.g. in terms of poverty) is closed between Dalit women and girls and the â€˜general population â€™. Finally, the ILO is asked propose measures against the systematic violation of the four fundamental labour rights where Dalit women and girls are concerned.

Following the National Conference on Violence Against Dalit Women in Delhi on 7 and 8^th March 2006, Justitia et Pax Netherlands, Cordaid and CMC in collaboration with the Dalit Network Netherlands (DNN), the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (India), the National Federation of Dalit women, the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) and other Dalit and Women â€™s rights organizations responded to the request of Dalit women and organized the International Conference on the Human Rights of Dalit women on 20 and 21 of November 2006 in The Hague, The Netherlands.

For further information please contact:
Stephanie Joubert, Dalit Network Netherlands: +31 610753170
Paul Divakar, National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights: +91 9910046813
Rikke NÃ¶hrlind, IDSN: + 45 29700630

On Tuesday 28 November at an historic meeting in the House of Commons, London , Nepalese Dalit Manju Badi, from an â€˜ untouchable â€™ caste branded as prostitutes, gave first hand testimony on the extent and depth of the violence and discrimination Dalit women face in everyday Nepalese life. Dalits are considered the lowest of the low in the brutal caste system that rigidly divides South East Asian society. There are approximately 1.2 million Dalit women in

Nepal

- around 12.3 percent of the female population.

Manju Badi was abandoned after 12 years by the father of her three children. He never told his family she existed and the couple lived apart. The same thing happened to Manju â€™s mother before Manju was born. Now Manju â€™s children face a life in poverty and without citizenship rights because their higher caste father will not admit they are his.

Nepalese Dalit filmmaker Anita Pariyar screened her documentary on the lives of Dalit women in

Nepal

. Nibha Singh, Nepali human rights activist, presented further evidence, on how Dalit women are forced into child marriage, are blamed for bad luck, have been forced to eat human faeces and that they suffer exploitation and violence from â€ ˜higher caste â€™ men outside their communities as well as domestic violence in their own homes. Dalit children are consistently excluded from school and the community has little or no recourse to social justice. As Manju â€™s experience shows, they are affected generation after generation.

Durga Sob, President of the Feminist Dalit Organisation (FEDO) of

Nepal

urged the British government and international community to support the full participation of Dalit women in the political change sweeping

Nepal

at this time and to ensure their representation and strong voice in the new Constituent Assembly and political structures. She stressed the need to ensure that Dalits without citizenship are able to freely register as Nepali citizens in order to fully participate in the upcoming election and cast their vote. Independent monitoring by the EU or International community of the participation of Dalits in the election is essential.

Nepal

. They call upon the Nepalese government to end caste and gender discrimination in all spheres of public and private life and to ensure that comprehensive laws to protect their rights are fully implemented and impunity against violence and discrimination is stopped â€“ now.

Dalit Solidarity Network -

Thomas Clarkson House, the Stableyard
Broomgrove Road, London SW9 9TL.
Tel: +44 (0)20 7501 8323 Fax: +44 (0)20 7738 4110

The systematic discrimination of Dalits is a severe human rights violation. The continued caste injustice suffered by millions both in

India

and the

remains an unacceptable reality in the lives of people considered “untouchables”. We are proud to support the Dalit Solidarity Network

in their campaign to end caste discrimination.

It is with pride that Amicus has sponsored the seminar to launch the Ambedkar Principles. Not only is it important that there is increased awareness of the problems faced by the Dalit community, companies must also address their responsibilities in preventing caste discrimination.

Dalit solidarity network

is seeking to fight caste discrimination via the adoption of the Ambedkar Principles and I offer congratulations with respect to all the efforts they have made to further the opportunities of those who are deprived and discriminated against.

Rodney Bickerstaffe, former General Secretary of Unison and Trustee of DSN-UK 4-6

(7) A Parliamentary Perspective: Work on Caste Discrimination in the

House of commons 2005/6 Rob Marris MP, Wolver Hampton South West and Member of Parliamentary Trade and Industry Select Committee

Baroness Royall, Spokesperson for the Department for International Development in

OUR SPECIAL THANKS GO TO PROFESSOR JOHN HARRIS AND CHRIS LEE FOR HELPING US ORGANISE THE SEMINAR AT THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

The views and opinions expressed in this report are the authors’ own and may not reflect the vies and opinions of DSN-UK

The DSN-UK has been highly active in relation with government, companies, INGOs, trade unions and churches since it was set up in 1998 by a number of concerned individuals and organisations. It has grown in strength and is now well known for its advocacy on behalf of Dalit people in

India

and the other countries of South Asia who suffer from ‘untouchability’ & caste discrimination, and those discriminated against by work and descent in other countries.

The name Dalit, drawn from the Marathi[1] language, literally means ‘crushed’ or ‘broken’, but more generally means ‘oppressed people’. It was a name that the Untouchables in

India