Two US-based human rights watchdogs have accused India of failing to uphold its international obligations to ensure that fundamental rights of Dalits are safeguarded.
"As a result more than 165 million Dalits are condemned to a lifetime of abuse because of their caste," the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice and Human Rights Watch claimed in a report in New York.
"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rightly compared untouchability to apartheid, and he should now turn his words into action to protect the rights of Dalits," said Professor Smita Narula, faculty director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law, and co-author of the report.
"The Indian government can no longer deny its collusion
in maintaining a system of entrenched social and economic segregation," she said.
The 113-page report, 'Hidden Apartheid: Caste Discrimination against India's Untouchables,' was produced as a 'shadow report' in response to India's submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which monitors implementation of the International Convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.
The committee will review India's compliance with the convention during hearings in Geneva on February 23 and 26.
"India needs to mobilise the entire government and make good on its paper commitments to end caste abuses. Otherwise, it risks pariah status for its homegrown brand of apartheid," said Brad Adams, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch.
