|
India slams European Parliament resolution on Dalits
WSN Network
Brussels: A resolution adopted by the European Parliament (EP) on
the human rights situation of the Dalits in India has come under
strong fire from several sides. "It is unfortunate that the EP could
come out with such a resolution which lacks balance and
perspective," Amar Sinha, an Indian embassy spokesman in Brussels,
told INEP news agency.
"It indicates a highly negative mindset on the past of the people
who have drafted it," he said, adding that the "report focuses only
the negative aspects and has selectively used statistics to prove
its hypothesis."
In a strong-worded resolution put forward by the Development
Committee, the EP resolution said that implementation of laws
protecting the rights of Dalits remains "grossly inadequate, and
that atrocities, untouchability, illiteracy, inequality of
opportunity, continue to blight the lives of India's Dalits."
The EP resolution noted with concern "the lack of substantive
European Union (EU) engagement with the Indian government, notably
within the EU-India summits, on the vast problem of caste-based
discrimination." British MEP Neena Gill condemned the report saying,
it "is riddled with inaccuracies and does a clear disservice to the
Human Rights cause! The value of this report is seriously drawn into
question by the whole lack of scrutiny applied to it."
Gill, chair of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) delegation in the EP, noted that of the 785 members of the
EP (MEP), less than 30 took part in the vote. Sunil Prasad,
secretary general of the Europe India Chamber of Commerce (EICC) and
President of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin
(GOPIO), Belgium, also condemned the resolution.
The resolution followed a hearing in the EP's Development Committee
Dec 18 on the human rights situation of the Dalits with Ruth
Manorama, president of the National Federation of Dalit Women (NFDW)
and Paul Divakar, national convenor of the National Campaign on
Dalit Human Rights in India.
Both alleged that human rights of the 165 million Dalits were being
violated in India. The meeting was chaired by Margrete Auken, a
Danish MEP for the Greens. She is also the rapporteur of the EP
report.
7 February, 2007
|
Read Also