wfn.org | UNCHR Hears LWF Statement on Caste-based Discrimination

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

UN Commission on Human Rights Hears LWF Statement
 on Caste-based Discrimination
Millions of Dalits were "Let Down" by World Conference
 Against Racism

GENEVA, 27 March 2002 (LWI) - The 58th Session of the United
Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) heard a statement from
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) regretting the exclusion of
caste-based discrimination from the declaration and program of
action of the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia
and Related Intolerance.

The LWF however hoped that the various mechanisms of the UNCHR,
especially the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism,
racial discrimination and xenophobia, would now be enabled to take
up this issue in "the clear light of day."

Mr. Peter N. Prove, LWF Assistant to the General Secretary for
International Affairs and Human Rights told the Commission March
22 in Geneva that caste discrimination "continues to be a daily
and permanent feature of life for a significant proportion of the
world's population." They include some 250 million Dalits in South
Asia, over three million Burakumin in Japan and an unknown number
of 'caste' people in parts of Africa, who "were gravely let down
by [the UN World Conference in] Durban."

In a statement after the 31 August - 8 September Durban
conference, LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko said it
was "very regrettable" that the outcome of the World Conference
against racism made no mention of the situation of a quarter of a
billion people who continued to suffer caste-based and related
forms of discrimination.

The full text of the LWF statement follows:

22 March 2002

Oral Statement by the Lutheran World Federation

CASTE-BASED DISCRIMINATION AND SIMILAR FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION

The Lutheran World Federation supported calls for the issue of
caste-based discrimination and similar forms of discrimination to
be addressed at the World Conference Against Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. We deeply
regret that it was not. We consider the argument that caste-based
discrimination cannot be equated with racism to be mere semantic
obfuscation.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has
developed a now substantial jurisprudence in its review of
relevant state party reports in which it has repeatedly affirmed
the applicability of the 'descent' limb of the definition of
'racial discrimination' contained in article 1(1) of the
Convention to caste-based discrimination in a range of countries
in the South Asian region and to the situation of the Buraku
people of Japan. The Committee has also touched upon the issue of
discrimination based upon caste or caste-like social structures in
a number of African countries.

'Caste' is clearly not a term that could be applied to all of
these social structures. However, they share, to a greater or
lesser extent, the following key features that are inherently
productive of discrimination and human rights violations:
  The concept of 'purity-pollution', with certain social groups
being regarded as 'dirty', and contact with them as being ritually
or actually polluting.
  An inherited occupational role, typically the most menial and
hazardous roles within the society.
  Socially enforced endogamy, though with varying degrees of
strictness.

These basic features naturally result in a whole range of
discriminatory consequences, such as segregation in settlement and
housing patterns, discrimination in employment and education,
discrimination in access to health and other social services,
discrimination in access to public places, and sometimes violent
reprisals against those who challenge the social hierarchy.

Leave aside the semantics; no-one can credibly deny these
well-documented realities.

Despite the advance of democracy, and despite in some cases
seemingly comprehensive constitutional and legislative
proscriptions against discrimination of this type, such
discrimination continues to be a daily and permanent feature of

life for a significant proportion of the world's population.

An estimated 250 million Dalits in South Asia, at least 3 million
Burakumin in Japan, and an unknown number of 'caste' people in
parts of Africa were gravely let down by Durban.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,
however, in its recent decision to hold a thematic discussion on
the 'descent' limb of the definition of 'racial discrimination' at
its next session in August 2002, holds out to them the prospect of
a serious examination of this topic, without the semantic
obfuscation. And the ongoing work of the Sub-Commission on the
Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in examining the question
of 'discrimination based on work and descent' has already done
much to break the silence on the enormous human rights
implications of this form of discrimination.

We hope that the new Anti-Discrimination Unit will not find it
impossible to enter into this great gap in the Durban Declaration
and Program of Action, and we expect that the various relevant
mechanisms of the Commission, in particular the Special Rapporteur
on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination and
xenophobia, will be given the invitations and other facilities
necessary to enable them to bring this issue into the clear light
of day.

(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 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 acknowledgment.]

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