'Racism meet not right forum for social engineering'

DURBAN, SEPT. 2. India today strongly rejected the campaign for inclusion of casteism in the on-going World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) even as its draft declaration incorporates reference to discrimination on the basis of ``work and descent'' which New Delhi may not approve.

Maintaining that the first U.N. conference was not the appropriate forum for engaging in ``social engineering'', the Minister of State for External Affairs and leader of the Indian delegation, Mr. Omar Abdullah, said, ``We are here to ensure that States do not condone or encourage regressive social attitudes. We are not here to engage in social engineering within member States,'' he said and described the campaign by the Dalit activists and the NGOs from India in the conference run-up as a ``highly exaggerated and misleading propaganda'' which was often based on anecdotal evidence regarding caste-based discrimination in India.

Mr. Abdullah said it was neither legitimate nor feasible for the conference or for that matter the U.N. to ``legislate, let alone police, individual behaviour in our societies. We in India have faced this evil squarely. The issue has remained at the top of our national agenda,'' he said.

The Minister recalled that to ensure that New Delhi's participation in this conference was meaningful, constructive and in consonance with India's national policies, the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, had constituted a national committee under the chairmanship of External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh.

The committee recommended that there was need to strengthen the national structures and institutions to ensure effective implementation of the constitutional and legislative provisions, affirmative action programmes and transform social attitudes within the society.

The former chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Ms. Mohini Giri, said the Dalits would have no objection if caste per se was not mentioned in the final declaration but demanded that paragraph 73 be retained.

While Guatemala has sought incorporation of the paragraph, Switzerland, which had made the demand for its retention at the preparatory conference at Geneva, has withdrawn its stand.

The conference is expected to adopt the final declaration and the programme for action on September 7.

Tamils demonstrate

Several hundred supporters of the Tamil struggle in Sri Lanka today staged a demonstration near the venue of the conference here. The demonstrators represented Tamil cultural and religious organisations from in and around Durban. South Africa has a Tamil population of about 6,00,000.

The demonstrators carrying placards shouted slogans calling on the Indian Government and the international community to intervene and stop the ``genocide'' of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Israel racist state: NGOs

Earlier in the day Israel was branded a ``racist apartheid'' state by thousands of non-governmental organisations.The harsh anti-Israeli languageinjected new tension .

Worsening Israeli-Palestinian violence has cast a shadow over the meet.

The NGO forum accused the Jewish state of ``systematic perpetration of racist crimes, including war crimes, acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing''. It called Israel ``a racist apartheid state in which Israel's brand of apartheid as a crime against humanity has been characterised by separation and segregation... and inhumane acts.'' The declaration, adopted by 3,000 NGOs in 44 regional and interest-based caucuses, shocked Jewish groups. Jewish delegates walked out.

Hours after the declaration was adopted, the New York-based Human Rights Watch, distanced itself from the NGO stance.

In Jerusalem, the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr. Shimon Peres, accused the NGO forum of promoting hatred and anti-Semitism by branding Israel a ``racist apartheid'' state.

- PTI, Reuters

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Section  : International
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