UK House of Lords adopts measure against caste discrimination

The (UK’s) House of Lords has adopted an amendment paving the way for caste discrimination to be made illegal. The move took place after a cross party consensus was achieved on 2 March 2010 during a debate on the UK’s new Equality Bill which is primarily consolidating a miscellany of equality measures adopted over recent decades.

The NSS decided to lobby for legal protection from discrimination on the grounds of caste following the first international conference on untouchability hosted by our international umbrella group IHEU held in London last summer. The large Indian diaspora in the UK results from historic imperial links with the subcontinent and unfortunately this problem has travelled with some of the migrants to the UK.

Most of the legwork was done by Lord Avebury and Keith Porteous Wood of the National Secular Society, both of whom spoke at the conference. Keith commented: "This victory is historic; the UK is the first Western country to pass such legislation. I hope it will encourage other states where caste discrimination is practised to do likewise, or — in the case of India — enforce the legislation it already has. We are particularly jubilant, because until very recently the chances of success seemed remote. We are privileged, and indeed proud, to have been party to one of those all-too-rare occasions when Parliament was visibly moved by the quality of debate to change its mind."

The Equality Bill has not quite finished its passage through Parliament, but it is almost certain that the amendment will survive unopposed. The Government has commissioned a survey into caste discrimination which will report in summer or autumn 2010. It is anticipated that, following this, the anti-caste discrimination measure will be activated.

Also active in bringing about this success have been NSS Honorary Associates Dr Evan Harris MP, Lord Desai (who also spoke at the London Conference) and Lady Flather and also Lord Lester of Herne Hill, QC. We thank them all. The victory was reported by the BBC.