This press release is also avaliable in PDF format. Click here to download the PDF File.

PRESS RELEASE  
Asian Legal Resource Centre -- ALRC
ALRC-PL-08-2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, 23rd March 2004

For more information, please contact:
In Hong Kong, Sanjeewa Liyanage: +852-2698-6339

Statement on 'State-sponsored discrimination against indigenous communities in India' received by Commission on Human Rights

(Geneva, 23 March 2004) - The written statement of the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) on 'State-sponsored discrimination against indigenous communities in India' (E/CN.4/2004/NGO/25) was distributed today at the 60th Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. 

The full text of the statement follows.

This year, ALRC submitted 30 written statements to the Commission, on topics as diverse as caste discrimination in Nepal, food scarcity in Myanmar, custodial deaths and torture in India, extrajudicial killings in Thailand, policing in Pakistan, the National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, and impunity in Asia.

The complete list of statements, with full texts and links to the original versions, can be viewed on the ALRC website, at http://www.alrc.net/mainfile.php/60written/.

Asian Legal Resource Centre - ALRC, Hong Kong

###

State-sponsored discrimination against indigenous communities in India

1. Under the pretext of preserving the natural forests, the Government of India is evicting indigenous communities from their lands. Meanwhile, wealthy businessmen and farmers are given free reign to encroach onto these lands. These evictions cause loss of property and life, unemployment and utter poverty. They are coupled with police abuses, including torture and killing. The use of force against these groups has rapidly increased in recent years, as the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People draws to a close.

2. India has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), both of which prohibit discrimination and guarantee equal and effective protection. Irrespective, government officials in India have in 2003 evicted indigenous people from their homelands across the country. Among the many cases during the year, the Asian Legal Resource Centre wishes to draw the Commission's attention towards the maltreatment of one community in Kerala by the state government.

3. Over centuries, tribal people in Kerala have been deprived of their basic rights. They have been steadily evicted from their lands by wealthy farmers and businessmen, and forced into slavery and bonded labour. The state government did nothing to prevent this apart from introducing the Kerala Scheduled Tribes (Restriction on Transfer of Land and Restoration of Alienated Lands) Act, 1975. However, successive governments sabotaged the implementation of this Act out of allegiance to the wealthy business class. The illegal takeover of forestland by wealthy groups has been regularised, and on several occasions encroachers have been issued purchase certificates for thousands of hectares.

4. Tribal leaders negotiated with the State Government of Kerala for the return of lands, and finally the government promised to allocate land to 53,000 landless families by the end of 2002. However, the government backed off this promise and the villagers held hunger strikes and protests at its state headquarters for 100 days. Having failed to make headway, 400 families decided to occupy a part of the barren land in Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary, which was formerly their homeland. It had been allotted for cultivation of acacia trees for a newsprint manufacturer. For about 41 days, the government did not take any action.

5. On 19 February 2003, without warning, the police moved in and fired at the unarmed villagers at point-blank range, killing one and seriously injuring many others. The villagers fought back, and killed a policeman. In response, the police burned down 400 huts and arrested women, men and even children. The police tortured many of the detainees, beginning at the moment of arrest, when they assaulted their victims with rifle buts and heavy boots on their way to the police station. Some victims were later admitted to hospital, since the police were afraid that some might die in the police station. At the hospital the police reported that the injuries were sustained as a result of an escape attempt while they were rounded up in the forest. Many others were denied access to doctors. Families were displaced and children who had not been arrested were left in the forest while their parents and relatives were detained in custody. The courts failed to intervene and denied bail. The police charged the villagers with offences relating to interference in police action, possession of weapons and trespassing on reserve forest. The deceased and injured received meager compensation, whereas the police constable who died in the action was honoured and his family received a huge amount.

6. This attack in Kerala is just one example from one state in India. Similar instances are frequently reported from Maharastra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Madhyapradesh, and several other states. The Asian Legal Resource Centre has this year submitted a separate statement on the right to food and violence committed against a community in Maharashtra seeking to obtain land there. It has also submitted a statement on the widespread use of torture by the police in India, which invariably accompanies these attacks. The lethargic attitude of the judiciary has only contributed to the problem.

7. The Government of India has taken no steps whatsoever to address state-sponsored discriminatory attacks against these communities, and has instead tried to defend state agencies by making the spurious argument that tribal people in India do not fall under the definitions provided in the CERD. In its 49th session, in 1996, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed deep concern about the numerous reports of discrimination based on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin in India (CERD/C/304/Add.13). However, the Government of India has categorically stated before the Committee that scheduled castes and tribes in India do not come under the Convention, thereby reiterating its discriminatory attitude towards indigenous people. The government has not only ignored the Committee but also is systematically violating the CERD and undermining its principles. Its fifteenth periodic report to the Committee was due in 1998, but to date has not been submitted, again demonstrating the utter disregard it has for this body and its mandate.

8. In light of the above, the Asian Legal Resource Centre recommends the Commission, and in particular the Committee against Racial Discrimination to:

a. Insist that the Government of India recognize that the tribal and the scheduled castes in India fall under the CERD.

b. Urge the Government of India to stop its discriminatory attitude towards indigenous communities and take creative steps for timely intervention when local state governments commit acts of discrimination and violence against the indigenous people.

c. Encourage the Government of India to amend the Human Rights Act to permit the National Human Rights Commission to conduct independent inquiries and provide it with executable authority.

d. Assist the Government of India to educate law enforcement personnel in human rights and establish the means to monitor their behaviour to ensure compliance.