Published: Thursday November 12, 2009 MYT 8:37:00 PM
Caste discrimination in the UK
LONDON: Thousands of people of Indian origin, 71% of whom are Dalits, face caste discrimination in Britain, says a new report, leading to demands in the country for making it illegal, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported Thursday.
The report, titled Voice of the Community: A Study into Caste and Caste Discrimination in the UK, said that the caste system is widespread and that it affects thousands of people in the workplace, the classroom and even the doctor’s surgery.
The study suggests that 58% of the 300 people surveyed said they had been discriminated against because of their caste, while in another query 79% per said they did not think the police would understand if they tried to report a caste-related “hate crime.”
PTI said that British law currently does not protect people who suffer caste-based discrimination.
The issue was also discussed at the committee stage of the Equality Bill 2009 in the House of Commons in June this year, but the government said evidence of this was lacking.
The new study, whose main conclusion was that there is “considerable evidence of caste-based discrimination among the Asians in Britain,” was coordinated by the Anti-Caste Discrimination Alliance (ACDA), and included academics from three British universities.
ACDA hoped that the study will provide evidence for the government to make caste discrimination illegal.
In the survey, PTI reported that about 45% of respondents said they had either been treated negatively by co-workers or had comments made about their caste.
Nine per cent felt they had been passed over for promotion, 10% said they had been paid less because of their caste. Another 5% said they had experienced threatening behaviour because of their caste.
The study was conducted by academics from the universities of Manchester, Hertfordshire and Manchester Metropolitan University.
The report said that doctors from the Indian subcontinent now indicated “a potential for caste discrimination occurring in the healthcare sector.”
“There is clear evidence from the survey and the focus groups that the caste system has been imported into Britain with the Asian diaspora and that the associated caste discrimination affects citizens in ways beyond personal choices and social interaction.”
Meanwhile, Lynne Featherstone, Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, was quoted by The Guardian as saying that: “Caste discrimination, like other forms of discrimination, needs to be outlawed. This is the evidence that will prove the case for its inclusion in the equality bill.” -- Bernama
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