Caste discrimination is a chronic human rights condition, which involves massive violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. Several UN human rights bodies have expressed serious concern about the human rights situation of Dalits and other persons affected by similar forms of discrimination based on work and descent. Over the years, a substantial number of observations have been issued as documented by this compilation. It is the first of its kind to provide a comprehensive overview of references made by the following bodies: UN treaty bodies (1997-2017), the Universal Periodic Review (2008-2017), and the UN Special Procedures (2005-2017)

While the term “caste” does not appear in the non-discrimination provision of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) or any of the international human rights treaties, subsequent practice by UN treaty and charter-based bodies has affirmed that caste-based discrimination fall under the purview of international human rights instruments. Indeed, an examination of the travaux preparatoires of the UDHR shows that caste was explicitly contemplated by the drafters as being encompassed in some of the more general terminology in the UDHR’s foundational non-discrimination provision.Furthermore, several treaty body committees have stated that caste discrimination falls under the terms “descent”, “social origin”, “birth”, and/or “other status” in recommendations and general comments.4 In particular, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has reaffirmed in General Recommendation 29 that discrimination based on “caste and analogous systems of inherited status” falls within the scope of descent in article 1(1) of the Convention

Caste discrimination has been defined as “discrimination based on work and descent” by the UN SubCommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, which has undertaken a comprehensive study on the issue.Discrimination based on work and descent is defined as “any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on inherited status such as caste, including present or ancestral occupation, family, community or social origin, name, birth place, place of residence, dialect and accent that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment, or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, or any other field of public life.”

A set of draft UN principles and guidelines for the effective elimination of discrimination based on work and descent, which were drafted as a result of the Sub-Commission study, constitutes the first comprehensive framework to prevent and address this form of discrimination globally. It offers a strong tool to encourage specific anti-discrimination legislation and relevant policy measures for governments and their agencies, UN and other international agencies, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. These principles and guidelines were published by the Human Rights Council in May 2009 .

Some of the UN Refrerences  on the issue of caste discrimination and similar forms of discrimination based on work and descent by the following three UN human rights monitoring bodies are listed below :

  1. UN Treaty Bodies: Concluding observations and general comments of relevance (1991-2017)
  2. Universal Periodic Review: Reports of the UPR Working Groups under the Human Rights Council from the first, second and third cycles (2008-2017)
  3. UN Special Procedures: Relevant annual reports, mission reports, and communications by thematic mandate holders (2005-2017)

Apart from  caste discrimination, such as “caste”, “Dalit” and “Scheduled Castes” which are common to the South Asian region, refrences also refer to the situation of communities affected by similar forms of discrimination, such as the “Buraku” community in Japan, the “Osu” community in Nigeria, and the “Al-Akhdam” community in Yemen.

  1. UN Treaty Bodies

The UN Treaty Bodies monitor the implementation of the core international human rights treaties by States Parties on a regular basis.They have been instrumental in bringing attention and recognition to the issue of caste-based discrimination as a global human rights concern. A total number of 84 Concluding Observations have addressed the issue of caste discrimination in the period 1991-2017.The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which has issued nearly half of these recommendations (33 in total), has played a particularly important role in monitoring governments’ obligations related to caste discrimination. In 2002, CERD adopted UN General Recommendation 29 on descent-based discrimination, which recommends that all states take “steps to identify those descent-based communities under their jurisdiction who suffer from discrimination, especially on the basis of caste and analogous systems of inherited status

The Treaty Body recommendations concern a relatively large group of countries in the following regions: 54 refer to countries in Asia, 19 to Africa, 9 to the Middle East, 1 in the Americas and 3 to Europe. The issue of caste discrimination among the South Asian Diaspora population has only been addressed in one country, the United Kingdom.Whereas CERD has addressed the issue in many different countries, other treaty bodies have mainly focused on caste discrimination in Asian countries (India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Japan). As such, the CERD General Recommendation 29 has played a critical role in providing a common framework for enhanced monitoring on this issue by CERD and other treaty bodies. Civil society has submitted a large number of reports on the issue, which has led to increased attention by the Treaty Body Committees. In many cases, governments are however far behind in their reporting obligations, which postpone critical reviews of certain countries. This is particularly relevant to the Human Rights Committee. Finally, some governments are not yet signatories to some of core human rights treaties

  • UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW

The Universal Periodic Review, which is a newly established mechanism under the Human Rights Council, is unique because it involves a state-driven review of the human rights records of all UN member states. First UPR cycle took place in the period 2008-2012, the second cycle took place in the period 2012-2016 and the third UPR cycle took place in 2017.Some of the UN compiled reports with information from “other stakeholders”, such as NGOs and human rights experts and bodies, contained extensive references to caste-based discrimination, e.g. in the reports on India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. However, if this information was not raised by other states during the review – or was not reflected in full length by the drafters of the report – it does not appear in the outcome reports. Finally, when the caste-specific recommendations are not accepted by the State under Review, they will not be followed up and implemented.Compared to the UN treaty body reviews of caste-affected countries, the UPR exercise has managed to secured more public attention to the issue; has increased the attention of other states to the issue; and promoted broader NGO cooperation on this matter at national and international level.

  • UN Special Procedures

The UN Special Procedures is a monitoring mechanism, which is established under the Human Rights Council to address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. The following 20 thematic mandates have specifically addressed the issue of caste discrimination and Dalits since 2005:

  • Special Rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
  • Special Rapporteur on minority issues
  • Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to nondiscrimination in this context
  • Special Rapporteur on the right to food
  • Special Rapporteur on the right to education
  • Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
  •  Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
  • Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief
  • Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation
  • Special Rapporteur on human rights and extreme poverty
  • Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health
  • Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the freedom of opinion and expression UN Working Group on discrimination against women in law and practice
  • Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, arbitrary or summary executions
  • Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association
  •  Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography
  •  UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
  • Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons