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HYDERABAD – April 30, 2009 – All India Christian Council
(AICC) representatives recently returned from the UN
Durban Review Conference and expressed disappointment at
the silence on “work and descent based discrimination”
which affects about 250 million people in India.
Scheduled Castes, or Dalits, are 166 million and
Scheduled Tribes are 84 million people. The conference,
held April 20-24 in Geneva, was designed to assess the
implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme
of Action made during the 2001 World Conference Against
Racism.
Dr. Sam Paul, AICC National Secretary of Public Affairs,
said, “We appreciate efforts by the United Nations to
bring together member states and nongovernment
organisations to review antiracism strategies from the
2001 Durban conference. We also agree that progress must
be monitored and programs adjusted as societies around
the world fight the serious problem of racism and
related intolerances.”
The Durban Review Conference “outcome document” was
released on April 21, the second day of the conference.
Many NGOs were upset that their input wasn’t received
and the document was issued before the end of the
conference. “We acknowledge that NGOs gave some input to
the Durban Review Conference outcome document during UN
sanctioned preparatory meetings. However, there wasn’t
enough discussion with NGOs and we, like many
participants, were shocked to be holding the final
document in permanent black and white print before the
conference even ended,” said Paul.
“We are deeply disappointed that the Durban Review
Conference outcome document doesn’t mention work and
descent based discrimination. Racial discrimination
based on descent was included in the Durban Declaration
and Programme of Action from the 2001 UN conference.
Sadly, the elimination of this terminology excludes
India’s Dalits from the attention and resources of
international bodies. We hope this language is
reinstated immediately so that millions of Dalits will
benefit from assistance through the IMF, World Bank,
USAID, and other relevant organisations,” said Paul.
Media reports suggested that the UN High Commissioner on
Human Rights rushed to issue the “outcome document” to
refocus the conference after comments by Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad created controversy during
the opening session on April 20. However, the High
Commissioner denied this in a press conference. Sam Paul
noted, “A leader from a member state with unquestioned
success at fighting racism could have provided
inspiration instead of controversy. But we understand
that UN officials don’t have control over keynote
speakers who raise issues which sidetrack the attention
of attendees. Other forums exist for raising serious
issues not directly related to racism.”
Delegates spent much time discussing issues not related
to racism, including a defamation of religions campaign,
instead of hearing about the plight of major groups
facing “related intolerances.” Sam Paul said, “Besides
millions of Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes
communities in India, many people suffer from work and
descent based discrimination from Nepal’s large
untouchable population to the Buraku community in Japan.
Even in Sri Lanka’s conflict, there are innocent ethnic
victims. Since UN committees have repeatedly said that
work and descent based discrimination is a form of
racism, these people deserve the focus of any future
anti racism conferences.”
AICC representatives also suggested that the conference
needed a systematic presentation by each member states
on the progress made since 2001. They collected several
documents given to attendees that profusely praised
India’s record and treatment of Dalits. The documents
were unsigned and not on letterhead leading to the
suspicion that Indian government sources may have
distributed them.
The AICC sent Mr. K. Sam Paul, AICC National Secretary
of Public Affairs, and Mr. B. Dhanaraju, Chief Patron of
aicc Andhra Pradesh chapter, to attend the Durban Review
Conference in Geneva (www.un.org/durbanreview2009/). The
conference reviewed progress made by signatories to the
UN International Convention for the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination (ICERD) since the UN World
Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance held Aug. 31 – Sept.
7, 2001, in Durban, South Africa (www.un.org/WCAR/).
Both men attended under the auspices of the Indian
Social Institute, Bangalore, which has Consultative
Status with the UN ECOSOC.
The AICC, birthed in 1998, exists to protect and serve
the Christian community, minorities, and the oppressed
castes. The AICC is a coalition of thousands of Indian
denominations, organizations, and lay leaders.
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