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CARJ welcomes UK legislation banning caste discrimination


The Catholic Association for Racial Justice (CARJ) has welcomed new legislation which make making caste discrimination illegal in the UK.

In a statement CARJ said: "The passage of new legislation, making caste discrimination illegal in the UK, marks the end of a long struggle for justice. The new legislation requires the Secretary of State to bring forward regulations to include Caste as an aspect of Race (under Section 9(5) of the Equality Act. Some 480,000 Dalits, living in the UK, will now be protected. The government has also asked the Equality and Human Rights Commission to look into this and consider what more might be done.

"The lengthy process was partly due to the difficulty many people had in accepting that caste discrimination was a problem in the UK. Nonetheless, anecdotal evidence accumulated, and in early 2010, the Government commissioned the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) to conduct independent research. Their report Caste discrimination and harassment in Great Britain was published on 16 December 2010. It found that caste and caste discrimination does exist in the UK in areas covered by the Equality Act.

"For the past few years, CARJ has worked closely with Voice of Dalit International (VODI) and been part of a broad alliance of organisations seeking to support Dalit communities and raise awareness of caste discrimination. In 2011, CARJ decided to develop a wider mission to urge Catholics and Catholic organisations to support the implementation of caste discrimination legislation for the UK.

"There have been partial victories and setbacks at different points along the way. The House of Lords, led by Lord Avebury and Bishop Harries, have repeatedly agreed changes to legislation. Most recently, the Coalition Government decided to accept the change of legislation that the House of Lords has been suggesting.

"CARJ welcomes the new legislation and wishes to express gratitude to the many individuals and organisations who have worked tirelessly to bring about this change. Not least, we found that this is an issue on which we in the churches and the National Secular Society have common ground, with both of us supporting the new legislation."

For more information see: www.carj.org.uk/index.html

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