US Congressional resolution introduced to condemn untouchability

WASHINGTON: An influential American lawmaker has introduced a resolution in the US Congress asking India, Nepal and other South Asian countries to end all forms of untouchability and discrimination of the Dalit people.

Introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman Eleanor Holmes Norton, the resolution (H Res 566) condemns the practice of untouchability and the discriminatory treatment of the Dalits in South Asia and the Asian diaspora.

Sent to the House Foreign Affairs Committee for consideration, the resolution calls on 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 ensure respect for internationally recognised human rights for these minority groups.

The resolution demands that the international community put pressure on the governments of nations that still practice untouchability to end this practice and protect the fundamental rights of all Dalits within their borders, the independent Congressional Research Service said in a summary of the resolution.

Currently there are no other co-sponsors to the resolution that was introduced on May 2.

The resolution alleges that Dalit untouchability continues to be widespread and persistent in India, Nepal and 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.

Discrimination against the Dalits has existed for more than 2,000 years in India alone and has included educational discrimination, economic disenfranchisement, discrimination in medical care, and increased vulnerability to poverty, hunger, violence, rape, and humiliation; it notes.

The resolution says the status of untouchability significantly increases a Dalit's vulnerability to debt bondage, forced labor, child labor, domestic servitude, commercial sexual exploitation, and all forms of human trafficking and modern-day labor enslavements.