Bigotry based on the idea of 'caste' has no place in modern Britain.
We want to see those at risk of caste discrimination protected by UK law.
'Caste' systems are rooted in ancient religious and cultural beliefs. They are imbued with inequality and discrimination, and are wholly incompatible with human rights.
There are an estimated 50,000 – 200,000 people in the UK who are regarded by some as 'low caste' (sometimes known as 'dalits') and at risk of caste discrimination. There is evidence of caste-based discrimination and harassment present in employment, education and in the provision of services.
Caste-based prejudice and discrimination is a gross violation of human rights and must not be tolerated. All individuals have the right to protection against discrimination on the basis of their caste or perceived caste, in the same way that they do on the basis of race or gender
Our equality laws do not explicitly deal with the issue of caste, meaning victims of caste discrimination have to use unclear and precarious case law to secure justice. Both parliament and the United Nation Human Rights Council have called on the government to explicitly outlaw caste-based discrimination, but it has delayed doing so for years.
It's time to outlaw caste discrimination.
Take action!
1. Have you experienced caste discrimination? Report it!
The Dalit Solidarity Network's "everyday casteism" campaign is cataloguing instances of casteist behaviour, including incidents of discriminatory or caste hate speech behaviour, experienced on a day to day basis by people perceived to be 'lower' caste in the UK.
If you have been affected by caste discrimination, please consider reporting it to them.
You can also report caste discrimination to the Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance here.
2. Write to your MP
Tell your MP that it's time to outlaw caste discrimination.
3. Join the National Secular Society
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
Government finally launches consultation on caste discrimination, but only asks “whether” law should change
Posted: Wed, 29 Mar 2017 09:58
The Government's consultation on caste discrimination was finally launched this week after years of delay.
The consultation will run until July 2017, "to ensure that everyone will have the opportunity to express their opinions", but it is limited to the narrow question of "whether caste is required to be an aspect of race in the Equality Act", rather than considering how to implement the legal change that Parliament has already sought.
The Equality Act 2010 currently mandates that a minister "must by order amend this section so as to provide for caste to be an aspect of race" as it is considered under the legislation.
NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood said: "It was expected but concerning that the consultation asks whether there should be legislation, given Parliament has demanded it and the UN strongly recommended it."
The foreword to the consultation document says that while no one "should suffer prejudice or discrimination on any grounds", the Government did not want to "create or entrench any notion of caste consciousness or caste-based practices into British society, which may prove counterproductive or divisive."
The Government said it did not want to "associate caste issues with any one particular community or religion".
The Government has also expressed concern that dealing with caste discrimination through legislation would create a stereotype of caste "as a discriminatory practice of certain ethnic groups creating potential problems in the harmony of the social fabric of modern British society."
Mr Wood said this kind of objection would be "unthinkable" in any other type of equality consultation. "A report commissioned by the UK Government concluded in 2010 that caste-based practices existed in quarters of British society. Far from introducing caste consciousness the required legislation would tackle existing prejudices," he added.
That report estimated that there were between 50,000 and 200,000 'low caste' people in Britain who could be "at risk" of caste discrimination. The authors said that a "major quantitative survey" would need to be carried out for a more accurate figure.
Currently those who do face discrimination due to their perceived 'low caste' status must rely on ambiguous case law and making a legal argument that an interpretation of the Equality Act can includes caste under race, but this is risky, expensive and does not provide expansive enough legal protection, the NSS said.
The Society has rejected the Government's assertion that allowing case law to develop would be sufficient in creating precedents that caste should be treated as a sub-section of race.
"An explicit reference to caste is required," Mr Wood said. "The Government is seeking consultation responses on the 'disadvantages' of relying on case law to implement a ban on caste-based discrimination, so at the very least this consultation will give us a chance to raise the serious problems with this approach."
Despite the limited parameters of the consultation, the NSS has welcomed the Government's statement in the consultation that "categorising or treating people by reference to their origins, in particular their caste" is unacceptable.
Conservative MP Bob Blackman criticised attempts to outlaw caste discrimination on the basis that it is "unwanted" by the Hindu community.
Conservative MP says anti-discrimination law is “unwanted”
Posted: Mon, 27 Mar 2017 15:22
A Conservative MP has criticised attempts to outlaw caste based discrimination on the basis that it is "unwanted" by the Hindu community.
Backbench Conservative MP Bob Blackman asked the Government for a statement "on the position of the promised consultation document on caste discrimination?"
Some 'high caste' Hindu activists have been resisting campaigns to explicitly outlaw discrimination on the basis of caste, and there have been extensive delays from both the current and coalition governments.
In response to Blackman's question, David Lidington MP, the Leader of the House of Commons, said he understood the matter was "very important to his constituents".
Mr Lidington added that "this particular decision involves not only a policy commitment but the allocation of legislative time," which he said was under considerable pressure from many government departments.
The Government originally promised a consultation on implementing anti-discrimination law in 2014.
The NSS described the most recent announcement, in September 2016, as "a further attempt to stall implementing what Parliament has instructed the Government to do."
The launch of the consultation was last promised for 2016 but it still has not been launched.
If and when the consultation is launched it will ask whether legislation is necessary, rather than how it should be achieved.
This is despite Parliament's requirement and a UN recommendation from 2016 to invoke the relevant section of the Equality Act "without further delay to ensure that caste-based discrimination is explicitly prohibited under law and that victims of this form of discrimination have access to effective remedies".
Mr Blackman claimed that the consultation "will allow the Hindu community in particular the opportunity to put its perspective on why this unwanted, unnecessary and ill-judged legislation can be removed from the statute book."
Keith Porteous Wood, the executive director of the National Secular Society, said: "Caste discrimination legislation is a further example that the Government's obsession with parliamentary sovereignty does not extend to anything the Government does not want to do.
"Its procrastination since the enabling power in 2010 and refusal to act since required to do so in 2013 show a contempt by the Executive for Parliament to which it should be accountable.
"Similarly, its refusal to abide by numerous UN recommendations to follow our international treaty obligations set an appalling international example, especially for a Government whose PM is keen to assure the world it is committed to the rule of law.
"A government report has shown there to be caste discrimination in Britain. The sad truth is that despite the PM's stated concern for people not to be disadvantaged by their racial background, the Government seem much more interested in listening to high caste Hindus who do not want legislation than listening to those who are discriminated against. We have no evidence that the Government have ever sought to listen to the victims. We would not seek misogynists' approval to legislate on sex discrimination."
