A resolution condemning Dalit untouchability in India and other South Asian countries has been introduced in the US House of Representatives, calling on the nations to recognise the human rights of Dalits and end all forms of such discrimination within their borders.
The resolution introduced yesterday by Delegate Elenaor Norton from the District of Columbia has been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. There is no other co-sponsor to the resolution.
Dalit untouchability continues to be widespread and persistent in India, Nepal, throughout South Asia and in the Asian diaspora in nations such as Nigeria, Senegal, Mauritania, Yemen, and Japan, affecting an estimated 260,000,000 people worldwide, with the highest number of victims found in South Asia, the resolution said.
Claiming that a crime is committed against a Dalit every 18 minutes in India, the resolution referring to the National Family Health Survey, said Dalits are among the poorest of the poor, living on less than USD 1.25 per day.
Most of India's bonded labourers are Dalits and half of India's Dalit children are undernourished, 21 per cent are severely underweight, and 12 per cent die before their 5th birthday, it said.
Condemning the practice of untouchability and the discriminatory treatment of the Dalits in South Asia and the Asian diaspora, the resolution demands that the international community put pressure on the governments of nations that still practice Dalit untouchability to take every necessary measure to end this horrific practice and to protect the fundamental rights of all Dalits within their borders.
It also calls on the governments of India, Nepal, the Asian diaspora and other South Asian nations to end all forms of untouchability and discrimination of the Dalit people, and to ensure respect for internationally recognised human rights for these minority groups within their nations.
