Call for International Christian Solidarity to Overcome Caste-Based Discrimination

UN Durban Review Conference a New Opportunity for Further Advocacy

Church leader sand human rights advocates seek to further internationalize the struggle to overcome caste-based discrimination, a 3,500-year old scourge that affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The UN anti-racism review conference to take place in Geneva in late April will be the first test of this strategy. Caste-based discrimination severely affects some 260 million people worldwide, an estimated 200 million of them in India alone.

In India, considered the biggest democracy in the world,these discriminated people, once labeled and treated as"untouchable" due to Brahmanic ritual traditions viewing them as"polluted" or "polluting," now call themselves Dalits("oppressed", "crushed"). Caste-based discrimination is so deeply entrenched that churches and human rights groups in India and other caste-affected countries admit they can hardly solve the problem on their own."We need your solidarity," they appealed to participants at a four-day global ecumenical conference on justice for Dalits held in Bangkok, Thailand, 21-24 March.

Organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), and hosted by the Christian Conference of Asia, the conference drew 95 leaders and representatives of churches and human rights and development organizations worldwide. They learned about Dalit history and culture, the rape and abuse of Dalit women, forced labor,atrocities against Dalits, and recent killings of Dalit Christians by Hindu militants.

Participants at the Bangkok conference recognized progress in addressing caste-based discrimination by UN bodies such as the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and the International Labour Organization. Although they recalled the failure of the 2001 UN World Conference against Racism held in Durban, South Africa, to address caste-based discrimination, they saw the upcoming 20-24April Durban Review Conference in Geneva as a new opportunity to internationalize the issue.

In a statement titled the "Bangkok Declaration and Call,"conference participants called upon the international community“to offer a platform to those representing Dalit communities” at the Durban Review Conference, and urged “all participating governments to accept the inclusion of caste-based discrimination in those discussions.” Moral Statement and Solidarity But some Indian activists are not pinning too much hope on the Durban Review Conference.

"The Indian government has ensured that caste-based discrimination would not be taken up in Geneva," said Mr Vijaykumar Parmar of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights in India. Parmar appealed to the ecumenical family to make a “moral statement” and help churches around the world become aware of caste-based discrimination. Among the participants committing themselves to spreading the word within the churches globally was Rev. Dr Lesley Anderson, chair of the Caribbean Conference of Churches (CCC), who pledged to take up the concern with his Roman Catholic counterpart in the CCC. Noting that Guatemala supported the cause of the Dalits at the2001 Durban UN conference, Parmar suggested that enlisting the help of even small countries could advance the Dalit struggle for liberation.

Through the Bangkok Declaration, participants at the conference committed themselves to making Dalit liberation a central mission objective. The Declaration calls upon churches in caste-affected countries to be “in full solidarity with the Dalit movement sand to speak with a united voice in working towards Dalitliberation.” According to the declaration, churches are expected to implement awareness-raising programs, empower Dalits, monitor and respond to caste atrocities, encourage Dalits to express their culture in worship, liturgy and theology, and support Dalit women’initiatives. In addition the text appeals to the international community to campaign for an end to manual scavenging by the end of 2010.

This degrading, caste-based task forced upon Dalits, entails removing human excrement barehanded from dry toilets and transporting it in baskets to dumping sites. The declaration also calls upon churches in less or differently affected countries to provide resources for solidarity work in both their own and caste-affected countries, and to facilitate mutual exchange and exposure visits. Churches in less affected countries are expected to lobby their governments and to urge private sector companies and banks investing in India to ensure that their investments encourage equal job opportunities for Dalits.

Global Watch on Violence against Dalits To sustain an international campaign against caste-based discrimination, the Bangkok Declaration calls upon global ecumenical bodies to develop their ongoing work on justice for Dalits, particularly by initiating a global watch on violence against Dalits and communicating this to member churches and beyond. The declaration also asks for the establishment of a task group to follow up on the Bangkok conference. In the meantime, participants at the Bangkok conference pledged to help internationalize solidarity for the Dalits in their own countries.

"With Jesus' love in my heart, I’ll carry and beat the drums for justice and freedom for the Dalits, the Africans and other oppressed peoples, including my own, because, as Christians, we have to carry each other’s burden with courage and without fear," said Ashraf Tannous of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.