Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Article 1

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.
Following this historic act the General Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories."

However, from my education, I really did not know all these 30 articles in the Act. This is one of the most important acts with respect to human rights and one ought to know about this. I would be covering all the articles of the declaration over the next few issues.

Article 1: All human beings are free and equal in dignity and rights

We do not have to go any further than India to understand dignity and rights. There still exists large discrimination based on descent. India has a large population at the bottom of the caste hierarchy and though there are protections from the law (note that the caste system is abolished in the Indian Constitution), there are still plenty of challenges faced to overcome these social barriers. Caste divisions in India dominate in housing, marriage, employment, and general social interaction. These divisions are reinforced through the practice and threat of social and economic boycotts, and physical violence.

Communities affected by caste include Dalits in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Baraku people in Japan, the Osu of Nigeria's Igbo people and certain groups in Senegal and Mauritiana[2]. I would be focusing on the case of Dalits.

The Dalits (sometimes called untouchables) fall outside the four traditional castes of Indian society. They are often called "outcasts". Dalits have historically been prevented from doing anything except the most menial of jobs like manual scavenging which has been termed as the "most indecent form of work" in a report by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights [4]. In the report, they have estimated that more than a million dalits earn their living through manual scavenging. Dalits are subject to exploitations such as bonded labour and forced prostitution. Dalit children are vulnerable to trafficking and other worst forms of child labor.

Status affects every aspect of the Dalits life. They are among the poorest and the most exploited. They suffer from discrimination in schools and in wages. They suffer from dehumanizing living and working conditions. They aren’t allowed to use the same well and not allowed to enter places of "upper castes". They even suffered from discrimination in aid during the Gujarat earthquake (2001) and the Tsunami (2004). According to government statistics, there were 110,000 registered cases of violence, murder, rape and other atrocities committed against Dalits in 2005[5]. However, hardly any of them got to trial. Manmohan Singh also rightly acknowledged on December 27, 2006 that "The only parallel to the practice of ‘untouchability’ was Apartheid in South Africa". The government has tried to address this issue on several occasions but has been largely unsuccessful till date. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) that the Indian government describes as the apex national institution to protect human rights and redress grievances has commented that the law enforcement machinery is the greatest violator of Dalits human rights. According to the NHRC, widespread custodial torture and killing of Dalits, rape and sexual assault of Dalit women, and looting of Dalit property by the police “are condoned, or at best ignored”[1].

The Dalits, given their substantial number (165 million in India) have a strong political presence, especially in Uttar Pradesh. In May, last year, the Mayawati led Bahujan Samaj party came to power with a clear majority after 15 years of a hung assembly. Though the ideology of the BSP is to "break the upper caste oppression", it has not delivered its promises yet. There seems to be a lack of leadership (apart from Mayawati) and there is just too much politics involved in getting Dalit votes in U.P. and there is hardly anything done on the issue of Dalits.

What exactly can be done to help the Dalits and other oppressed castes?
There have been various laws designed to eradicate exploitative labour such as
1) Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993,
2) The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976,
3) The Inter State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Service Conditions) Act, 1979,
4) The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986,
5) The Minimum Wages Act, 1948,
6) The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.

All of these have been largely ineffective. The state should see that the above laws are adhered to. Reservation is also one small way of helping fight this marginalization of Dalits. The onus is on the government to take major steps to overcome one of India's most challenging social issues. The government should see that reservation is effective. It should ensure protection from retaliation for Dalits in local elections where seats are reserved for Dalits and everywhere there is reservation for Dalits. Also it should ensure equal opportunity to them in both private and public spheres. National Hindu organizations like the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) have been to an extent responsible for spreading propagandas targeting Dalits. We should take measures to see that such hate speeches which promote discrimination be stopped and action taken against those involved. The states should provide information on the steps taken to protect Dalits and their results at a regular basis. We, the people of India have a major role to play to overcome this social stigma. We should not take caste as the basis for any decision and see that everyone enjoys their rights without discrimination.




Sources:

[1] Human Rights Watch - http://www.hrw.org
[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk
[3] http://www.wikipedia.org
[4] http://www.antislavery.org
[5] http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/03/02/india-dalits.html
[6] http://www.google.com