PRESS RELEASE
ALRC-PL-10-2005

"Administrative brutality" the cause of child deaths in India ALRC tells U.N.

(Geneva, March 31, 2005) Children in India are dying due to "administrative brutality and systemic neglect" the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) told the United Nations on Thursday. 

In an oral statement to the annual session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the Hong Kong-based rights group pointed to the death of five-year-old E. M. Lachhmi on March 11.

"Lachhmi was not living in a remote village, unseen by the outside world, beyond the reach of assistance. She was living next to a rubbish dump in greater Kolkata, because her family was thrown out of their house in 2003, and given nowhere else to go," Michael Anthony, spokesperson for the ALRC, told the commission. 

The Howrah Municipal Corporation, backed by a court order, evicted roughly 7000 persons together with the family.

"For the authorities, these 7000 people were irrelevant. The municipal corporation and state government offered them nothing. They got nothing," Anthony said. 

Lachhmi's brother and sister also both died from hunger as a result of the eviction, and her father from tuberculosis. Her mother and surviving sister are both sick.

The sister organisation of the ALRC, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), has in recent weeks expressed outrage over the wilful neglect of these people by the local and state administrations and also by international agencies.

"When the Indian Red Cross was told about the case, it referred the matter elsewhere. When UNICEF was notified, it expressed disinterest," Anthony informed the U.N.

On March 23, hundreds of hungry people gathered outside the UNICEF office in Kolkata, demanding action rather than mere words.

The ALRC observed that international agencies are confused over how to achieve even the most basic economic and social rights in India because their enforcement depends upon government officials, who are the main violators of rights.

Until the rule of law is effectively established in Asia, countless children like Lachhmi will continue to go hungry, it said.
 
"In her death we see the nexus between the right to food and the rule of law. Where the latter is absent, as it was from Lachhmi's short life, the former also can never be guaranteed," Anthony said. 

On March 24, the ALRC addressed the commission on the worsening human rights catastrophe in Nepal.

It is due to speak on human rights in Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Full text of the March 29 statement follows. 


UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS 61st SESSION
ITEM 10: ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
Starvation in West Bengal, India
Statement read by Mr Michael Anthony, of the Asian Legal Resource Centre

Mr/Madam Chairperson

I speak on behalf of the Asian Legal Resource Centre.

What I have to say is about a little girl in West Bengal, India. Her name was Lachhmi. I say was, because Lachhmi is dead. She starved to death on March 11. Her brother and sister also died from hunger, and her father from tuberculosis. Her mother and surviving sister are both sick.

Lachhmi was the victim of administrative brutality and systemic neglect. In her death we see the nexus between the right to food and the rule of law. Where the latter is absent, as it was from Lachhmi's short life, the former also can never be guaranteed.

Lachhmi was not living in a remote village, unseen by the outside world, beyond the reach of assistance. She was living next to a rubbish dump in greater Kolkata, because her family was thrown out of their house in 2003, and given nowhere else to go.

About 7000 people were thrown out along with Lachhmi's family, their houses destroyed by the Howrah Municipal Corporation, backed by a high court order, on the pretext of beautification. In fact they were thrown out because they were poor Dalits, so-called 'untouchables', and scavengers: unwelcome in an increasingly prosperous urban area.

For the authorities, these 7000 people were irrelevant. The municipal corporation and state government offered them nothing. They got nothing. Some were told to stay at the rubbish dump. Some went to the embankment of a nearby railway track. Others scattered.

Some organised, and approached the government seeking relief. The Asian Legal Resource Centre also contacted local and state authorities and the West Bengal Human Rights Commission on their behalf; still nothing.

The response from international organisations was no better. When the Indian Red Cross was told about the case, it referred the matter elsewhere. When UNICEF was notified, it expressed disinterest. So little Lachhmi died anyhow.

This March 23, hundreds of villagers gathered outside the UNICEF office in Kolkata in an effort to make it interested. Why are so many starving to death, they asked. Where is all the money going?

More people across Asia are asking the same question, particularly since the Indian Ocean tsunami. The Secretary General has wisely proposed that a Special Rapporteur be appointed to monitor the spending of money on tsunami relief. Perhaps the mandate should be extended to cover all relief work involving United Nations agencies.

But the main problem is not accounting. It is confusion over how basic economic, social and cultural rights can be achieved in a place like India.

Every day, the Asian Legal Resource Centre receives stories of how the food rights of people in India are trampled underfoot by police, mayors, and state government officials: the same persons who are supposed to protect these rights.

Here is the nexus between the right to food and the rule of law. A full belly, like other fundamental rights, can be had only when a state party sets in place measures to guarantee it.

In West Bengal, where these do not exist or do not function, little Lachhmi's death is a poignant reminder of the all-too-human consequences.

The Asian Legal Resource Centre urges the Commission to engage in more meaningful discussion of how fundamental economic, social and cultural rights are to be addressed through sound institutions built on the principles of the rule of law.  This discussion is urgently needed, to save the lives of many more Lachhmis.

Thank you, Mr/ Madam Chairperson


# # #

About ALRC The Asian Legal Resource Centre holds general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The Hong Kong-based group seeks to strengthen and encourage positive action on legal and human rights issues at local and national levels throughout Asia.