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CasteWatchUK held its third
conference on Tuesday 6th November 2007 at The Palace of
Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA under the theme of Caste and
Discrimination Law. The Westminster Conference addressed
issues relating to incorporation of Caste based discrimination
into British Law. The conference was attended and supported by
Parliamentarians, Human Rights activists, Lawyers, Academics
and Community Leaders and individuals.
It was a proud moment for the Charity when several Members of
Parliament attended this conference that coincided with
opening of Parliament & Queen’s speech. The group
lobbied 650 MP’s and many organisations by inviting them to
attend this conference.
The chief guest of the conference was Mr Ashok Bharati,
convenor of National Conference of Dalit Organisations (NACDOR)
India. He spoke on Caste Paradigm and Identity and the need to
address Caste issues arising on the world stage. He
congratulated CasteWatchUK for the active way it was engaging
with communities to tackle Caste Discrimination in the UK. He
echoed the sentiments of CasteWatchUK to eliminate Caste
discrimination not only from British Society but from around
the world to where it has spread.
Ms Annapurna Waughray, Senior Lecturer in Law at the
Manchester Metropolitan University was one of the key speakers
who addressed the conference under the topic of ‘Caste &
British Discrimination Law’. Annapurna was able to make the
Conference aware of the various legal strands dealing with
discrimination law and how Caste could be factored into
British Legal Framework. Ms Waughray spoke with great passion
and demonstrated great understanding of the pit-falls involved
in addressing Caste issues and proposed a number of ways
forward by which law could be progressed.
Rob Marris MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Virendra Sharma MP, Andrew
Stunell MP also addressed the Conference and supported the
work of CasteWatchUK. Mr Shiva Gharu gave a moving testimonial
of his experience of Caste discrimination that he faced as a
young man growing up in Britain. Mr Savio Award also delivered
an anonymous testimonial of a young professional whose young
niece had to endure Caste related queries at the hands of a
schoolteacher at a local school in Birmingham.
The Westminster conference achieved phenomenal success in
garnering support around the issue of Caste Discrimination
Please see Westminster Conference Programme
Please see
Westminster Conference Video Clips
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