What has just happened?
8 years after the killing of Jyoti Singh Pandey, famously eulogised as ‘Nirbhaya’ (meaning “fearless”). Hundreds of people have once again gathered in New Delhi[1] to denounce the rape and murder of a young woman in Uttar Pradesh.[2] Sparking outrage in India, a 19-year old Dalit woman died in hospital, after being assaulted by four ‘upper Caste’ men.
Being the latest devastation of its kind, the case represents the insurmountable threat that continues to haunt Dalit communities in post-Caste India: calling into question the efficacy of international human rights laws and treaties that seek to dismantle and proscribe the former Caste system.
What does this mean?
Previously known as ‘untouchables’, the Dalit community has been countlessly reimagined in pursuit of reform. Referred to by Gandhi as ‘Harijan’, meaning children of God,[3] and by Ambedkar as the “depressed classes”, the now prevalent term ‘Dalit’ emerged in Indian societies in the 1970s, meaning “broken people”.[4]
Despite the Indian Constitution’s abolition of the practice of ‘Untouchability’,[5] a structure has been effectively manufactured for the continued discrimination and segregation of Dalit communities away from mainstream society.
In seeking progressive reform, India has ratified 16 HR treaties of the UN, of which, 6 principal treaties possess special bodies for monitoring and supervising the domestic application of international obligations:
· International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR);
· International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;
International Convention on the elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination;
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women;
Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Notwithstanding the “upliftment”[6] movements and the subsequent ratification of international treaties, a closer look into the reality of Dalit communities unveils an ominous, more widespread pattern of injustice, inequality and discrimination. Having seeped across socio-economic boundaries and contaminated much of Dalit life, human rights advocates have begun calling into question the efficacy of international laws and treaties, in entrenching these laws and protections across the globe.
Describing Caste and “analogous systems of inherited status”, the Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) sought to afford de jure[7] protection to Dalits from discrimination per se, by encompassing communities such as these.[8]
Yet, such discrimination persists.
Sujatha Gidla was born into India's lowest social caste, the untouchables. Despite moving to the U.S., the psychological toll of being ‘untouchable’ left her feeling inferior.
The de facto reality lived by Dalits is a reflection of century-old practices of social disability, with Dalits subject still to restriction in both their movement and relationships. Despite legislation that protects discrimination against women, the attitudes toward Dalit women, social attitudes seldom change quickly as legal reform. As recently seen in Uttar Pradesh, many Dalit women continue to be subject to social ostracism, used for their bodies by upper-caste men and temple priests, yet deprived of rights to justice by their preconceptions as impure and undeserving.[9] Regrettably, the occurrence of these violent abuses, used to assert power and reinforce caste, social and gender hierarchies,[10] show “no sign” of abating.[11]
In limiting their movement, many Dalits are denied or restricted access to public facilities such as wells, roads and post offices, and crucially, social epicentres for attaining justice such as courts and schools.[i]
How are they persecuted?
Observed by Dr Ambedkar on the importance of schooling for freedom, “there can be no freedom that is worthwhile unless the mind is trained to use its freedom”.[12] Knowledge, skills and values are crucial for self-determination and autonomy, meaning “deprivation of knowledge is denial of the power to use liberty for great ends”. Pursuing the availability of education and knowledge to all, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), requires education to promote “understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups”[13]. Only discrimination through many education systems endures. With Dalits receiving restricted access to meals, textbooks and uniforms; and being segregated in classrooms, dining and recreational areas, Dalit students have disproportionate rates for illiteracy and drop-outs. The capacity for UDHR provisions to bestow human rights protections here appear immensely limited.
Ultimately, the ongoing struggle to establish Human Rights in many countries across the world, reflects the poignant question of efficacy of international customs and treaties, to not only establish minimal human rights standards but to demand their adherence.
While academics struggle to find a solution that will garner more meaningful change, Dalits, among many other oppressed communities across the globe, continue to suffer without basic protections in the alleged “new era of human rights”.[14] The legal sector may very well see change to human rights law as we know it, tackling its systemic weaknesses and transforming the way in which these laws are enforced.
Yet it remains, notwithstanding international legal provisions, if social customs continue to “deprive a man of freedom”[15] they will make him “inevitably the slave of those more fortunate”.[16]
Written by Holly Crowder
References:
[1] On the 2nd October 2020.
[2] BBC News, ‘Hathras Gang Rape: India Victim’s Death Sparks Outrage’ (29th September 2020) < https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-54335895>
[3] This term has ongoing derogatory connotations. Under the system known as Devadasi System, unique to the Dalit Communities of South India, there is a custom of dedicating young Dalit women to god. Stripped of their right to marry, young women are sent to serve the sexual needs of the temple priests, often later becoming prostitutes.
[4] The word Dalit (दलित) comes from the Hindi Dalan, meaning ‘broken’ or ‘scattered’, and the Sanskrit ‘Dalita’ meaning ‘oppressed’ or ‘downtrodden’.
[5] ‘See, inter alia, the Untouchability Offences Act 1955, amended as Protection of Civil Rights Act 1976; and the Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989.
[6] Vijapur, Abdulrahim, ‘Education of Ex-Untouchables (Dalits): Plight of Human Rights Education in Indian Schools
[7] Latin: dē iūre ("by law"), describes practices that are legally recognised, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality.
[8] Recommendation XXIX, “[d]iscrimination based on ‘descent’ includes discrimination against members of communities based on forms of social stratification such as caste and analogous systems of inherited status”.
[9] Assaults on lower caste women are rarely investigated or prosecuted. The state of Uttar Pradesh has the “highest number of reported cases of violence against Dalits... however no arrests have been made”. Ellis-Peterson, H. ‘Dalits bear brunt of India’s endemic sexual violence crisis’ The Guardian (16th September 2020)
[10] ibid.
[11] (n 2)
[12] Chief architect of the Indian Constitution.
[13] Article 26(2).
[14] Powers, Matthew. ‘A New Era of Human Rights? Contrasting Two Paradigms of Human Rights News-Making’ (2016) 15 Journal of Human Rights 314, 319.
[15] Ambedkar, 1987, 39.
[16] Ibid.
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