European Parliament Opposes Dalit Discrimination
The European Parliament has brought hope to Dalits in India this week after it passed a resolution opposing caste discrimination.
by Jennifer Gold
Posted: Tuesday, February 6, 2007, 9:26 (GMT)
The European Parliament has brought hope to Dalits in India this week after it passed a resolution opposing caste discrimination.
Caste discrimination is most commonly associated with India, but the existence of similar discrimination in Japan, some South Asian countries, and a number of African states, is gaining wider recognition.
The European resolution did not pass easily but faced opposition from two British MEPs, Nirj Deva (Conservative) and Neena Gill (Labour), who claimed that some statements in the resolution were untrue.
Rev David Haslam from the Dalit Solidarity Network in the UK, said: "The prime minister of India said recently that caste discrimination is a blot on humanity.
"It is a blot on both the Conservative and Labour parties that their representatives in Europe should oppose such an important human rights resolution.
"It suggests that caste is alive and well in British politics and this should be addressed by our political leaders as a matter of urgency."
The resolution stated: "Implementation of laws protecting the rights of Dalits remains grossly inadequate, and that atrocities, untouchability, illiteracy, inequality of opportunity, manual scavenging, underpayment of wages, bonded labour, child labour and landlessness continue to blight the lives of India's Dalits.
"The Development Committee expresses its concern at the low rate of conviction for the perpetrators of such crimes and calls on the government of India to improve its criminal justice system in order to facilitate registration of charges against perpetrators of crimes against Dalits, to increase the conviction rate for such perpetrators, to significantly reduce the duration of court procedures; and to take special measures for the protection of Dalit women."
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Added: Sunday, April 8, 2007, 14:09 (BST)
It is rather a pleasant news to read from various sources that the world community
like the U.N and European Union are aware of the dreaded caste discrimination in
India, which was instituted by the so called upper class Hindus. I grew up watching this inhuman way of treating a voiceless group of people as a mass
of trash without any value. A handful of politically motivated radical Hindus
make a bad name for all the Hindus, of which most of them are non-violent and
tolerable people.
Christianity has played a key role, all over India to liberate the
Dalit community.
Now thousands of Dalits are finding liberation by embracing mostly Christianity, Islam and Buddhist religions. This has caused a lot of headache to some of the
political parties based on religious mandate. So, persecution in a ferocius degree began to spread all across India against Christianity, and the daily news began to reach the world. Now the world community is watching this deplorable
condition in India. It is high time to tell India that discrimination in the name of
religion, color or caste is unethical and immoral. India will listen to the world
community.
A. S. Mathew, Ringgold, U.S.A.
Added: Wednesday, February 21, 2007, 6:56 (GMT)
Yes the dalits are needed to be treated equals and stringent laws have to be formulated and enforced to protect their human dignity.
praveen, hyderabad India
