UN Set to Treat Caste as Human Rights Violation

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Aum Hari Aum

 

Anti-Dharmic Caste Bigotry Must End

A Message from Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya

 

Caste discrimination has been one of the most evil and damaging activities ever

to be falsely associated with the beautiful religion of Sanatana Dharma. The

mistaken notion that a person is born with a genetically-inherited " caste " is an

inherently anti-Dharmic, anti-Hindu, and anti-human fallacy that is not

supported by the scriptures of Sanatana Dharma, and that has repeatedly led to

Sanatana Dharma being wrongly accused of being backward and unjust. Sanatana

Dharma is neither.

 

If we, as Hindus, refuse to vociferously denounce such ludicrous and

anti-Dharmic theories as the caste system within our own ranks, then we have

lost all rights to denounce those anti-Hindu bigots who, in turn, wish to

tarnish our religion with unfounded stereotypes. If we support bigotry against

our very own people, then we must fully expect to become the victims of bigotry

ourselves. Such is the nature of karma. If we wish to be treated justly, then

we must treat others with justice. Let us be worthy of our Dharmic heritage and

end all caste-based bigotry against our fellow Hindus now.

 

I would urge anyone who considers themselves to be Hindu, who has any modicum of

pride in our religion, or who cares in any way about preserving Sanatana Dharma

to denounce the anti-Hindu caste system once and for all, and to support the

banning of all caste discrimination globally.

 

Please read the news article below for more information.

 

 

 

UN Set to Treat Caste as Human Rights Violation

Times of India

Manoj Mitta, TNN 28 September 2009, 06:10am IST

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/UN-set-to-treat-caste-as-human-rig\

hts-violation/articleshow/5063457.cms

 

NEW DELHI: If the recent genome study denying the Aryan-Dravidian divide has

established the antiquity of caste segregations in marriage, the ongoing session

of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva looks set to recognize caste-based

discrimination as a human rights violation. This, despite India's opposition and

following Nepal's breaking ranks on the culturally sensitive issue.

 

Nepal has emerged as the first country from South Asia -- the region where

untouchability has been traditionally practiced -- to declare support for the

draft principles and guidelines published by UNHRC four months ago for

``effective elimination of discrimination based on work and descent'' -- the UN

terminology for caste inequities.

 

In a side-event to the session on September 16, Nepalese minister Jeet Bahadur

Darjee Gautam said his county welcomed the idea mooted by the UNHRC document to

involve ``regional and international mechanism, the UN and its organs'' to

complement national efforts to combat caste discrimination. This is radically

different from India's stated aversion to the internationalization of the caste

problem.

 

Much to India's embarrassment, Nepal's statement evoked an immediate endorsement

from the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights, Navanethem Pillay,

a South African Tamil. Besides calling Nepal's support ``a significant step by a

country grappling with this entrenched problem itself'', Pillay's office said it

would ``like to encourage other states to follow this commendable example''.

 

The reference to India was unmistakable especially since Pillay had pressed the

issue during her visit to New Delhi in March. Pillay not only asked India to

address ``its own challenges nationally, but show leadership in combating

caste-based discrimination globally''. The granddaughter of an indentured

labourer taken to South Africa from a village near Madurai, Pillay recalled that

in 2006, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had compared untouchability to apartheid.

 

Adding to India's discomfiture, Sweden, in its capacity as the president of the

Europeon Union, said, ``caste-based discrimination and other forms of

discrimination based on work and descent is an important priority for EU''. If

this issue continues to gather momentum, UNHRC may in a future session adopt the

draft principles and guidelines and, to impart greater legal force, send them

for adoption to the UN General Assembly.

 

The draft principles specifically cited caste as one of the grounds on which

more than 200 million people in the world suffer discrimination. ``This type of

discrimination is typically associated with the notion of purity and pollution

and practices of untouchability, and is deeply rooted in societies and cultures

where this discrimination is practiced,'' it said.

 

Though India succeeded in its efforts to keep caste out of the resolution

adopted by the 2001 Durban conference on racism, the issue has since re-emerged

in a different guise, without getting drawn into the debate over where caste and

race are analogous.

 

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Sanatana Dharma Jayate!

 

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