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["Frank Imhoff" <franki@elca.org>]

LWF, WCC Stand behind Dalits at World Conference Against Racism

DURBAN, South Africa/GENEVA, 6 September 2001 (LWI) - "Dalits' rights are 
human rights!" Wearing this slogan on headbands, a large group of women
and men, mostly from India, ran from panel discussions to demonstrations
during the NGO Forum at the UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Associated Intolerance (WCAR). They are
representing the 250 million Dalits of India who comprise the outcast
substratum of Indian society. "Here in Durban we want to show the world
that we are mercilessly and shamelessly oppressed in India," one young
Dalit told a television reporter.

Examples of Dalits' oppression could be heard in numerous discussions and
personal conversations at the August 28 - September 1 NGO Forum, and can
still be read about on flyers and leaflets being distributed everywhere.
The South African newspapers too have been reporting almost daily on the
Dalit issue since the World Conference began.

"The Dalits-who used to be known as 'untouchables'-do not belong anywhere
in India's caste system. We are outcasts," said Dr. Raja Selvakumar from
India, a member the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) delegation to the UN
Conference. He noted that Mahatma Gandhi referred to the so-called
"untouchables" of India as the "children of God" since they were not even
credited with having a history, descent or place of origin.

"Every village in India has an area set aside for Dalits to live. Neither
water nor garbage collection or schools are provided there," said Dr.
Sarada Karnatakam, also in the LWF team. The situation is particularly
difficult for Dalit women. Compelled to work as household servants, they
are not only exploited but also raped regularly, she said. Recently a
Dalit woman "was dragged naked into the streets and ridiculed," after she
tried to defend herself and insist on her human rights. "Dalit girls are
also abused in the name of religion when they are taken to temples as
sacred prostitutes. As soon as they lose their virginity, they are sold
to brothels," added Karnatakam.

"Belonging to the Dalit 'caste' means that we have to do the society's
dirty work. We have to clear away corpses and gather up human excrement
by hand in buckets and baskets," was an often-repeated example of the
humiliation experienced by Dalits.

These are only a few voices from among the world's 260 million Dalits, of
whom about 10 percent are Christians. The remaining 90 percent are mostly
Buddhist, Muslim or Hindu.

Both the World Council of Churches (WCC) and LWF have taken a strong
stand at the Durban conference on behalf of the victims of the caste
system-not only the great majority of the Dalits in India but also,
according to Peter Prove, LWF's Assistant to the General Secretary for
International Affairs and Human Rights, "all people who suffer
discrimination on the basis of their occupation and descent, for example
in Senegal, Japan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal."

During its Ninth Assembly in Hong Kong, China in 1997, the LWF resolved
to stand in solidarity and support with all the member churches and
others in their struggle against oppression of Dalits, particularly that
of Dalit Christians.

"The Dalits' problem is an expression of racism, discrimination and
marginalization in a most concentrated form," said Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko,
LWF General Secretary, who is also participating in the Durban
Conference. Noko pointed out that the Indian Constitution purported to
abolish untouchability and outlaw discrimination on the basis of caste
but did not do away with the caste system itself.

The WCC has concerned itself with the Dalits' problem since the late
1980s. It consciously did not just concentrate on the Christian Dalits
but offered its support to Dalits of all faiths. At the World Conference
in Durban, the WCC and LWF, both with significant Dalit representation in
their delegations, are working together with numerous other church groups
in complementary ways. "It is our job as the church to make trouble in a
process in which governments are trying as much as possible to avoid
critical but necessary attention to the real issues of contemporary
racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. As
churches and NGOs we can build bridges between the victims and
international organizations," says Prove.

"Even though the Indian government doesn't see the caste system as a
racism problem, it is one of the most flagrant examples of racial
discrimination. The Indian government has admitted that the problem of
caste discrimination exists, and has banned 'untouchability'. However,
India refuses to discuss this topic at the conference, saying it is an
internal problem. They say that enough is being done about in India
itself, that enough attention is being paid to it," says Marilia
Sch|ller, leader of the WCC delegation to the World Conference.

Yesudoss Moses of the National Council of Churches in India, a member of
the WCC delegation, is involved in the Dalit Caucus at the Durban
Conference. He is working with other Dalit representatives to save
Paragraph 73 of the draft Program Action of the World Conference, which
urgently calls upon states to "prohibit and redress discrimination on the
basis of work and descent." India wants this paragraph deleted. "But
India is finding itself isolated. There is great sympathy for the Dalit
problem. It will be difficult for other countries to speak against the
Dalits' interests," says Moses.

"But we are hoping for more," he continued. "We want the same paragraph
also to mention explicitly 'victims of caste discrimination'." Here the
Dalits are hoping that their rights will be made more clearly and visibly
a part of the international agenda than before. In this way, more
pressure can be put on India really to change the caste system.

However, whether particular sentences are deleted, retained or added, at
the August 31 - September 7 World Conference in Durban the Dalits have
shown that 260 million people are no longer prepared to let themselves be
treated as third class human beings. They are demanding universally
accepted human rights for themselves and calling on the international
community to live up to its responsibility.

"No other oppressed group in this world has managed to put itself in the
international limelight so quickly, so loudly and so convincingly," says
Bob Scott, the Communications officer of the WCC delegation in Durban.
"In the end, what is in the official text of the UN program is only
secondary. Every Dalit can now say, I am a Dalit, and the world will know
what that means. Support for the Dalits is one of the miracles which has
happened with the help of the UN apparatus."

By LWI Correspondent Erika von Wietersheim, a member of the WCC/LWF
journalists' team at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South
Africa

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 133 member
churches in 73 countries representing over 60.5 million of the nearly
64.3 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member
churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical relations,
theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the
various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is
located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material
presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its
various units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation
(LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgement.]

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