DISCRIMINATION BASED ON WORK AND DESCENT AND UNTOUCHABILITY: GLOBAL PROFILE AND A COMMON FRAMEWORK TO ELIMINATE THE PRACTICE DISCRIMINATION BASED ON WORK AND DESCENT AND UNTOUCHABILITY About Asia Dalit Rights Forum Asia Dalit Rights Forum (ADRF) is a platform of, and those working with Dalits in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Malaysia, committed to the empowerment and emancipation of communities subjected to descent and work-based discrimination including Untouchability. ADRF aims at addressing violations of the rights and entitlements of these communities, in particular, their women and children, in the respective countries as well as worldwide. Amnesty International Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 7 million people who campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all. Amnesty’s vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standard. Amnesty is independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion and are funded mainly by our membership and public donations. The Inclusivity Project The Inclusivity Project(TIP) is a non-profit organisation that is primarily focused on capacity building, collaboration, and research in support of those communities that face exclusion and what the UN calls “discrimination based on work and descent” under caste or caste-like social structures across the globe. The organisation aims to enhance the social, economic and political integration of these communities and increase their global visibility by creating a platform for international cooperation, providing opportunities for capacity building, and promoting and circulating policy-relevant research. Concept: Paul Divakar Namala Authors: Monica Vincent, Rahul Dandge & Deepak Nikarthil Editors: Paul Divakar Namala, Aloysius Irudayam & Deepak Nikarthil Co-ordination: Beena Pallical 2 GLOBAL PROFILE AND A COMMON FRAMEWORK TO ELIMINATE THE PRACTICE ABBREVIATIONS ADRF: Asia Dalit Rights Forum APFDC: Asia Parliamentarians Forum on Dalit Concerns CAT: Committee Against Torture CEDAW: Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women CERD: Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination CRC: Committee on the Rights of the Child DWD: Discrimination Based on Work and Descent ECOSOC: United Nations Economic and Social Council EU: European Union FIDH: International Federation of Human Rights HRW: Human Rights Watch ICERD: International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination IMADR: International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism MENA: Middle East and North Africa MRG: Minority Rights Group International NCDHR: National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights SC: Scheduled Caste UDHR: Universal Declaration of Human Rights UN: United Nations WCAR: World Conference Against Racism 3 DISCRIMINATION BASED ON WORK AND DESCENT AND UNTOUCHABILITY CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Concept of Discrimination 3. The concept of Discrimination based on Work and Districts 4. The situation of the DWD community Africa Benin Burkina Faso Ethiopia Ghana Mali Mauritania Niger Nigeria Senegal Somalia Togo Asia India Bangladesh Pakistan Nepal Sri Lanka South East Asia Malaysia Far East Asia Japan Middle East Yemen Latin America Brazil Europe United Kingdom Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain,Sweden 5. Conclution and Recommendations 4 GLOBAL PROFILE AND A COMMON FRAMEWORK TO ELIMINATE THE PRACTICE INTRODUCTION The social, hierarchical and intergenerational discrimination that is passed on to generations is prevalent across the globe. In the era of globalisation and global migration, these forms of discrimination are carried and practised across international borders. In Africa, such forms of discrimination exist and are practised against certain communities and passed on to generations. Such discriminatory practices against these communities often manifest whereby considerable population are forced ofSex Trade, Forced Labour, Child Slave Trade, witchcraft or witch children or women, cultural, traditional and ritual slavery. In South America, discriminatory practices exist in the form of Slavery, exclusion in access to land, education, employment, physical violence and exclusion from mainstream society. In European countries, discriminatory practices exist in the form of ‘antiziganism’,or ‘anti-gypsyism’.In South Asia, it identified as caste-based discrimination. The affected population referred to as Dalits. They are often harassed, beaten to death and face exclusion in socioeconomic development. The subsequent sections talk about the situation of DWD communities across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the UK and evaluate if there exists sufficient constitutional safeguards, legislative remedies, program and policies safeguarding for the protection of human rights of these affected population. 5 DISCRIMINATION BASED ON WORK AND DESCENT AND UNTOUCHABILITY This report speaks to a wide range of audiences such human rights defenders, activists, community leaders and people alike who have been fighting for the rights of the discriminated communities to understand and explore the similarities in the forms of discrimination existing in Africa, Asia, Europe, UK and Latin America. The primary objective of the report for the targeted audiences is to see if there live any similarities, look for the possibilities if these affected communities referred under the boarder umbrella term identified by United Nations as the communities discriminated based on work on the descent. Further, this report is envisioned to shed lights on each of the countries progress so far in addressing the issues of social and hierarchical discrimination at the national and international level through, constitutional amendments, legislation, program and policies. The report is a result of extensive desk research based on UN OHCR, Special Rapporteur and CSO reports.The researchers have timely consulted and received feedback from DWD community leaders from respective countriesand have sufficiently tried to deal with any discrepancies in the data and information. However due to time constraints; lack of grassroot level survey data, there may be possibility of scanty data especially relating to African countries. The research report is first of its kind and is written to act as a guiding document for further research on global DWD Human Rights Issues. Feedback and collaboration are welcomed from local or international civil society organizations, leaders from DWD communities and Human Rights Defenders working on the issues of DWD or from government agencies 6 GLOBAL PROFILE AND A COMMON FRAMEWORK TO ELIMINATE THE PRACTICE CONCEPT OF DISCRIMINATION Discrimination refers to intentional or unintentional behaviour for which there is no reasonable justification. Such behaviour adversely affects specific individuals or groups by characteristics defined by the 1992 B.C. Human Rights Act1. It is the selection for unfavourable treatment of an individual or individuals by some characteristics. These characteristics include age, race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, political belief, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, and unrelated criminal convictionsor any conditions or requirements that do not accord with the principles of fairness and natural justice. It can take a variety of forms and may include the following:2 • Direct discrimination, an individual is treated less favourably • Indirect discrimination, a rule or policy is madeto exclude a particular category of people • Discrimination by association, a person is discriminated because someone’s associations with is a person who is from discriminated communities. • Discrimination by perception, receiving unfair treatment because someone thinks that an individual belongs to a particular group or community • harassment, it comprises of unwanted behaviour that makes another person feel offended, humiliated or intimidated. 7 DISCRIMINATION BASED ON WORK AND DESCENT AND UNTOUCHABILITY • Victimisation, when a person is poorly treated or subjected to a detriment because they complained about discrimination or supported another victim of discrimination, this may be considered victimisation. Additionally, discrimination may distinguish from prejudice which is made up of hostile or discriminatory attitudes (not actions) towards persons of different categories. Racial, sexual and other types of discrimination can exist at the level of personal relations and individual behaviour as well as institutionalise as a legal or administrative policy. The term discrimination refers to modern industrial societies characterised by a generalised ideology of equality of opportunities and rights, but which exclude from them specific categories of persons, sometimes small minorities but often large and important ones or even majorities such as women. 8 GLOBAL PROFILE AND A COMMON FRAMEWORK TO ELIMINATE THE PRACTICE THE CONCEPT OF DISCRIMINATION BASED ON WORK AND DESCENT (CASTE) Discrimination based on work and descent (DWD) is the UN terminology for systemic discrimination like caste-based hierarchical system. The term has been used by several UN human rights bodies, including by Treaty Bodies and Special Rapporteurs, reaffirming that this form of discrimination is prohibited under international human rights law. DWD has various characteristics like caste, descent,