Mr. President and respected Heads of States from across the globe, thank you for this opportunity.

I am Paul Divakar from the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, India, representing the Dalit communities who are discriminated against under the caste system. We have come a long way to express our concerns before this world assembly of the UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

A few days before I left India for this Conference, two incidents haunted me and the other members of the Dalit delegation, further pushing our resolve to place our concerns before this august body:

Namala Balaswamy aged about 30 years, was beaten, tortured and thrown into a burning haystack pyre by the non-Dalit dominant castes in Kalavakol, a village in Mahabubnagar district in the State of Andhra Pradesh, India. What was his crime? He was born into an untouchable caste, making him, his family and his community a Dalit. Beyond that, he had gained the ire of the non-Dalit dominant castes by protesting against the practice of untouchability against his community. He had encouraged other Dalits and entered the local temple that was barred to their community, and he had protested against the two-glass system in the local hotel, which prevents Dalits from using the same tea glasses as that of non-Dalits even though they pay the same price. Therefore, on the pretext that he was responsible for a hay stack that had caught fire in the village, the dominant castes woke him up in the dead of the night, as he was sleeping with his young wife, small children and old parents in his hut in the Dalit colony outside the village, tortured him and burned him alive. Why did this happen to him? " because he was born into the Dalit outcaste and dared to oppose the system. Would this happen to anyone else of a non-Dalit caste in India?" certainly not.

The other incident - a young couple was hanged to death in the presence of the whole village in Uttar Pradesh. They had fallen in love across the caste boundaries and dared to cross the barriers of the caste norms of strict caste endogamy. The girl came from the Dalit community and the boy from a non-Dalit community.

Such incidents are by no means few or isolated, but are daily news, every corner of the country being strewn with incidents of this sort. We in India have laws that have outlawed untouchability and discrimination based on caste. We have special laws for the prevention of atrocities against Dalits. We have many protective and proactive measures in our excellent Constitution, including affirmative action measures.

As the Dalit delegation landed here in Durban we were very much encouraged with the stories of victory against similar atrocities here in South Africa. I can recall a similar situation in South Africa a few years ago under the apartheid system- the long drawn struggle, the agony, the lives it cost, the humiliation and violence.

South Africa has emerged victorious in fighting this discrimination. One of the important aspects that made the struggle successful in my opinion, in addition to the many, is the ‘naming of the system – Apartheid’, which paved way to effectively address the Apartheid system.

Here at this World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, we welcome the efforts of the Secretary General and other delegates to include Para No. 73 on ‘Discrimination on the Basis of Work and Descent,’ in the Programme of Action. This refers to discrimination based on Caste, affecting at least 260 million such people in South Asia, Japan and several African countries.

Mr. President, victims in these communities and many others in support and solidarity with their cause, have come here with many hopes that the voices of the victims of current forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance will be heard. We have come with the hope that the States will take a stand against these forms of violations of rights; will strengthen their resolve to put an end to these forms of violence; and that they will actively protect and promote the rights of Dalits and other communities discriminated against based on caste, wherever they may be. We would also like to bring to your notice the similar plight of the Roma community in Europe, which is affected due to racial discrimination and violence.

Mr. President, I appeal to you on of behalf the entire community of victims, and those who continue to suffer and struggle against this form of discrimination, and I request you to ‘name’ the Caste System as a source of discrimination and ‘name’ the communities - Dalits, Burakumin, Osu and Oru – as the victims of the caste system. This will be a positive step in the right direction to addressing the issue squarely.

We also appeal to you to encourage various States concerned to institute protective measures for these communities where there are no constitutional and legal provisions and to enact laws to protect and promote their rights; where there are laws, to insist on their proper implementation.

Thank you again Mr. President for this opportunity to express our concerns.