NHRC for discussing rights issue at international fora

DURBAN, SEPT. 4 Disassociating itself from India's official position against discussing casteism at the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today said exchange of views on human rights issues at the international fora could help combat discrimination and inequality all over the world.

``This conference provides a singular opportunity to the international community to deal openly and courageously such vexed issues, including forms of discrimination that persist in India,'' the NHRC member, Mr. Justice K. Ramaswamy told the conference.

Mr. Ramaswamy, who along with the NHRC member, Mr. Virendra Dayal, are here, said it was not so much the nomenclature of the form of discrimination that must engage the commission's attention, but the fact of its persistence that must cause concern.

The commission, Mr. Ramaswamy said, accorded highest priority to ending discrimination against the SCs and the STs and in seeking to eradicate, in particular, two practices affecting them - manual scavenging and bonded labour. He said the NHRC had also taken up the issue of rights of persons displaced by mega projects, specifically those affected by construction of large dams, many of whom are tribals.

- PTI

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