ACDA are pleased to announce that we successfully launched our report entitled “Hidden Apartheid – Voice of the Community – Caste and Caste Discrimination” in the House of Lords.
At present the UK law does not protect people where there has been discrimination based on Caste. Although this issue was discussed in the House of Commons during the Equality Bill 2009 Committee Stage in June this year, the Government made it very clear that evidence was lacking.
Over the summer, we conducted a study to establish:
a. how people know that the Caste system exists in the UK,
b. whether people have experienced or been victims of Caste discrimination in the UK,
c. in cases where Caste discrimination had occurred, the settings (e.g. employment, education, provision of goods and services, and places of worship) in which it occurred, and
d. the impact of the Caste discrimination on the victims.
Our findings are included in our report `Voice of the Community – A Study into Caste and Caste Discrimination in the UK’. The report has had extensive input from academics and captures the voices of over 300 people who participated in an online questionnaire and nine focus groups during August-October 2009. It provides clear evidence of Caste discrimination in the UK.
There was a lot of interest in the Launch event and we were pleased to see so many people attending and listening to the speakers making their points.
David Haslam was the Conference Chair and introduced each speaker in turn, giving a brief background on each one.
Meena Verma, Director DSNUK, gave a detailed and in depth exposition of the international arena and progress being made to counter caste discrimination by different stakeholders.
Tony Baldry, MP, delighted everyone with his recollection of his trip to Nepal, experiences with society and caste discrimination and aspects now being faced to counter it.
Pashori Lal, Chair ACDA set the scene by explaining the key factors and motivations for the research programme and the drivers which forced such focused actions in such a compressed time period.
Professor Green, University of Hertfordshire, explained the methodology used for the research project in simple, easy to understand terms.
Sat Paul, Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha UK, gave a short history and explained the significance of the Ravidass Faith in terms of the caste discrimination research.
Dr Raj Chand, Vice Chair ACDA, outlined the key findings of the research which are also captured in the Executive Summary and was assisted by other ACDA members who read out caste discrimination examples.
Lynne Featherstone, MP, recounted the main elements of the Bill Committee stage and the session held on the 9th June during which the amendment that ACDA had suggested was discussed and which she then withdrew.
