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UN: High Commissioner must not betray Dalit human rights

November 14, 2001

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

14 November 2001
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UA-38-2001 - High Commissioner must not betray Dalit human rights

UN: High Commissioner supports India's refusal to address Dalit issue
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The latest UPDATE for this appeal is available at:
[ http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2001/187/]

We have learned that a meeting addressed by the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, Mrs. Mary Robinson, with the theme 'Including the Excluded in South Asia', has completely ignored the issue of caste discrimination, which affects an estimated 200 million South Asians born into the lowest castes, subject to extreme violence, deprived of the most fundamental rights and considered untouchable.

According to the High Commissioner's Newsroom, it was the first general meeting of a new non-governmental organization, South Asians for Human Rights, a group established last year, bringing together human rights defenders from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. 300 participants attended, with the intention of evolving a human rights vision for South Asia.

Mrs. Robinson delivered the meeting's keynote address on 11 November, former Indian Prime Minister I.K. Gujral chaired the inaugural session and also present was Ms. Asma Jahangir, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

The speakers were silent about Caste and the issue of Dalits throughout the entirety of the meeting. The High Commissioner, in mentioning the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) in Durban (held in September 2001) said that the Indian Government's attitude there was positive. In fact, the gigantic attempt made by the Indian Government to exclude the discussion on caste at preparatory sessions and at the conference itself was condemned by all civil society participants and NGOs who, in defiance of the Indian Government, passed a strong statement calling for the elimination of caste-based discrimination. Numerous governments also opposed the Indian government's stance, and the Dalit caucus went on hunger strike to protest the desperate actions of the Indian government to prevent any mention of this massive form of discrimination during the WCAR. Under such circumstances, calling the Indian position at Durban 'positive' is not only untrue, but a betrayal of the human rights of more than 200 million Dalits and others suffering from caste discrimination in South Asia.

AHRC is firmly of the view that the key issue in developing a human rights perspective in South Asia is to deal with Caste. This is not only because this form of discrimination and socio-economic exclusion affects such large numbers; the psyche of South Asia is conditioned by thousands of years of caste practices and South Asia is retarded in every way due to this practice. South Asian attitudes to torture, extra-judicial killings, right to life (including the right to food), rights of children, rights of women, in fact every right, is conditioned by this. It is nonsense to talk about South Asian Human Rights without addressing the fundamental issue of caste.

On several occasions during the last 18 months, AHRC has raised the issue of the High Commissioner's attitude to the caste issue. You would remember that in the Asia-Pacific Experts' Seminar in preparation for the WCAR (held in September 2000 in Bangkok), the theme was 'Migrants and Trafficking in Persons with Particular Reference to Women and Children' and we carried out a successful campaign of protest, calling for space to discuss other vital discrimination issues in Asia, including the caste issue.

A dalit representative present at the meeting in Delhi has already registered his protest during the meeting itself. Further, it may be noted that at a meeting in Geneva prior to the Indian visit, Mrs. Robinson was briefed on the need to raise and support the Dalit issue whilst in India, especially in the light that the issue had been suppressed at Durban. Nevertheless, she chose to remain silent, and to support the cynical role of the Indian government in the WCAR.

The niceties of diplomacy will always betray the most excluded and neglected. It may be that High Commissioner Mary Robinson is not culturally capable of understanding the problem. That of course is not the fault of those who suffer from such terrible exclusion. She has had enough time to learn and to consider the issue. It is not possible anymore to ignore that what she does results in playing games with the rights of vast millions of people. It is no surprise. After all, Mahatma Gandhi did the same. Like the Dalit leader Ambedkar did with Gandhi, we must not mince words about this betrayal of rights. Mrs. Robinson can decide to be against us, but we cannot go along and betray ourselves.

[For more information on the campaign against caste discrimination at the WCAR, please see our website: www.wcar.alrc.net ]

SUGGESTED ACTION

We suggest you write to Mrs. Mary Robinson, either by fax or by email, to let her know that it is completely unacceptable to neglect to mention the plight of the Dalits when speaking about human rights in South Asia, and that supporting the Indian government's stance in Durban is akin to betraying the movement of oppressed low caste masses who are finally being heard at the international level after millenia of neglect. A sample letter and contact details are provided below.

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear High Commissioner

I am surprised by a statement attributed to you at the recent South Asians for Human Rights conference held in Delhi on November 11, to the effect that the Indian Government's attitude at the Durban World Conference Against Racism was a positive one. You also excluded from your keynote address any reference to the caste discrimination faced by hundreds of millions of Dalits across South Asia. The Indian Government's position on caste and Dalits is quite well known to have been, both before and during the Durban conference, an appalling act of betrayal. This betrayal has had the blessing of not only your silence but now also your approval. I call upon you to take a clear stand on the issue of Caste and Dalits. Further, I request you to not betray the human rights of these people who have suffered so much for thousands of years and continue to do so.

Yours sincerely
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SEND LETTERS TO

Mrs. Mary Robinson
High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Fax: +41 22 917 9012
e-mail: webadmin.hchr@unog.ch
[PLEASE MARK: ATTENTION - HIGH COMMISSIONER MARY ROBINSON]


Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-38-2001
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.