Monthly Archives: October 2014
Letter and Leaflet sent to Government and Official Opposition
29th October 2014
20 October 2014
Despite EHRC reports condemning caste discrimination and saying it ‘cannot be tolerated and should be included in the protections against discrimination and harassment provided in the Equality Act 2010′ legislation in the UK making caste discrimination illegal is still pending until Spring 2015. Therefore a letter along with DSN-UK leaflets were sent to all members of Her Majesty’s Government and Her Majesty’s Official Opposition in an attempt to speed up the process.The letter points out the estimated 400,000 Dalits living in the UK and the disastrous impact this has on Dalit rights such as education and employment. The letter goes on to say the suspension of legislation until Spring 2015 resulting in Dalits’ rights continuing to be violated. To date, we have had no response from either Her Majesty’s Government or Her Majesty’s Official Opposition. Below are copies of the letters sent out to all members of Her Majesty’s Government and Her Majesty’s Official Opposition and the leaflet accompanying them
2014 DSN UK letter to Shadow Cabinet
Review of DSN-UK’s Annual General Meeting
29th October 2014
9th September 2014
DSN-UK’s Annual General Meeting took place on the 9th September. The meeting began with an introduction from Tom Palakudiyil the Vice Chair and was then followed by the business section in which finance, election of trustees and review of the year were covered. This was then followed by four highly engaging talks, the first talk being led by Bishop Yuhanon Meletius and covered faith in India. A talk on caste and labour rights in Indian supply chains came next given by Rana Alok Singh, India representative for Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) in India. Dr Aidan McQuade, Director of the oldest international human rights organisation in the world Anti-Slavery International then spoke about slavery and caste. The speeches ended with the personal story of DSN-UK’s own Ramesh Gautam and his triumph over all the odds.
Below are DSN-UK’s Review of the Year and the Annual Report and Account
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Caste Discrimination Debate comes to House of Commons
28th October 2014
9th July 2014
The subject of caste discrimination in the UK and lack of protective legislation implemented by the UK Government was put forward in the House of Commons. When asked about why the Government has prolonged the implementation of legislation to protect victims of caste discrimination, Mrs Helen Grant – The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Women and Equalities – responded ‘we (the Government) need to assess the feasibility of any further research into caste discrimination’. According to Mrs Grant, there are some people that ‘do not believe that caste discrimination exists and consider that legislation is, therefore, unnecessary’ and so a feasibility study is needed in order to assess whether caste discrimination is actually here in the UK. Facts were brought forward as both Jeremy Corbyn and Adam Holloway pointed out that caste discrimination does exist in the UK and on an incredibly large scale. It is estimated there are around 860,00 Dalits living in the Uk and of ‘58% of those surveyed believe they face discrimination because of their caste’ and ‘80% believe that the police would not understand caste discrimination if it was reported to them’. There is undeniable evidence that caste discrimination is present in the UK and although Mrs Grant says ‘the Government have always said that there is no place for unlawful discrimination or prejudice in society’ the fact of the matter is unlawful discrimination and prejudice is rife in caste society in the UK. ‘It was the will of Parliament that a duty be imposed to make caste an aspect of race for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, and we (the Government) are well aware of that duty’ remonstrated Mrs Grant but if 4 years on and no legislation whatsoever has been implemented to make caste discrimination illegal, is the Government’s awareness the only thing Dalits can rely on for protection?