India Hidden Apartheid Caste Discrimination against India’s “Untouchables” Shadow Report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Hidden Apartheid was produced as a “shadow report” to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), in advance of its February 2007 consideration of a report by the government of India. CERD is a body of independent experts responsible for monitoring states’ compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. India ratified the Convention in 1968. The Convention guarantees rights of non-discrimination on the basis of “race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin.” In 1996, CERD concluded that the plight of Dalits falls squarely under the prohibition of descent-based discrimination. As a state party to the Convention, India is obliged to submit periodic reports detailing its implementation of rights guaranteed under the Convention. During the review session CERD examines these reports and engages in constructive dialogue with the state party, addressing its concerns and offering recommendations in the form of “Concluding Observations.” As part of this process, CERD uses supplementary or alternative information contained in non-governmental organization “shadow reports” to effectively evaluate states’ reports. The India report being considered by CERD in February 2007 (the report was more than eight years overdue when it was submitted) covers more than a decade of India’s compliance with the Convention (from 1996 to 2006) yet does not contain a single mention of abuses against Dalits—abuses that India’s own governmental agencies have documented and verified. This report fills that gap and presents CERD members with information that we believe is essential to a fair assessment of India’s record and, ultimately, to encouraging the government to live up to its treaty obligations. February 2007 Volume 19, No. 3 (C) Hidden Apartheid Caste Discrimination against India’s “Untouchables” Glossary............................................................................................................................. 1 I. Summary List of the Critical Issues Pertaining to India’s Periodic Report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination ................................................................2 Article 1 ......................................................................................................................... 3 Article 2......................................................................................................................... 4 Article 3......................................................................................................................... 7 Article 4......................................................................................................................... 7 Article 5.........................................................................................................................8 Article 6........................................................................................................................15 Article 7.......................................................................................................................16 II. Authors of the Report ....................................................................................................17 III. Scope of the Report ..................................................................................................... 19 Sources Used in this Report.........................................................................................20 Availability of Information from the Government of India.............................................. 21 IV. Response to India’s denial of ICERD’s prohibition of discrimination on the basis of caste .................................................................................................................................22 V. Article 2: States Parties’ obligation to end caste-based discrimination.........................26 A. Condemn caste discrimination and undertake to pursue by all appropriate means a policy of eliminating caste discrimination ...................................................... 26 B. Ensure the development and protection of certain groups or individuals belonging to them ............................................................................................ 38 VI. Article 3: Prevent, prohibit and eradicate caste-based segregation ............................. 45 A. Segregated housing colonies for Dalits............................................................. 45 B. Segregation in relief camps .............................................................................. 46 C. Segregation in schools ..................................................................................... 46 D. Segregation in public life.................................................................................. 46 VII. Article 4: Eradicate propaganda inciting caste-based discrimination ........................ 47 VIII. Article 5: Eliminate caste-based discrimination in the enjoyment of Fundamental Rights ...................................................................................................................... 49 A. Duty to ensure the right to equal treatment of Dalits before organs administering justice .............................................................................................................. 50 B. Ensure Dalits’ right to security of person and protection by the State against violence or bodily harm, whether inflicted by government officials or by any individual group or institution .......................................................................... 56 C. Ensure Dalits’ political rights ............................................................................ 64 D. Ensure Dalits’ other civil rights..........................................................................66 E. Ensure Dalits’ economic, social and cultural rights ...........................................80 F. Ensure Dalits’ right of access to any place or service intended for use by the general public ................................................................................................ 100 IX. Article 6: Assure effective protection and remedies against acts of caste-based discrimination.........................................................................................................107 X. Article 7: Adopt educational measures to combat caste-based prejudices .............. 109 A. Textbook and curricula in public and private schools distort the caste problem in India............................................................................................................... 109 B. Inadequate media representation of Dalit issues and lack of Dalit journalists ..110 XI. Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 111 Acknowledgements .........................................................................................................112 Appendix I .......................................................................................................................113 Glossary BJP: Bharatiya Janata Party CEDAW Committee: Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women CERD: Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination CHR: Commission on Human Rights CHRGJ: Center for Human Rights and Global Justice FIR: First Information Report ICERD: International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination NCDHR: National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights NGO: Non-governmental organization NHRC: National Human Rights Commission POTA: Prevention of Terrorism Act 2002 UN: United Nations VHP: Vishwa Hindu Prashad (World Hindu Council) 1 I. Summary List of the Critical Issues Pertaining to India’s Periodic Report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Human Rights Watch and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at New York University School of Law submit the following information to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (Committee or CERD) for consideration in its review of India’s fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth periodic reports under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Convention or ICERD). This joint-submission is based on in-depth Human Rights Watch investigations on caste discrimination in India and the findings of Indian governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on caste-based abuses. Discriminatory and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of over 165 million people in India has been justified on the basis of caste. Caste is descent-based and hereditary in nature. It is a characteristic determined by one’s birth into a particular caste, irrespective of the faith practiced by the individual. Caste denotes a traditional system of rigid social stratification into ranked groups defined by descent and occupation. Caste divisions in India dominate in housing, marriage, employment, and general social interaction—divisions that are reinforced through the practice and threat of social ostracism, economic boycotts, and physical violence. This report focuses on the practice of “untouchability”—the imposition of social disabilities on persons by reason of their birth in certain castes. This