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Opnieuw aandacht voor kastendiscriminatie in Europees Parlement


Op 6 april 2004 stemde het Europees Parlement in met rapport van rapporteur Véronique de Keyser over mensenrechten in de wereld in 2003, met daarin de volgende passages over kastendiscriminatie:

European Parliament again urges EU to take up caste discrimination


On April 6th the European Parliament adopted a report of rapporteur Mrs. Véronique de Keyser on human right in the world in 2003, with the following statements about caste:

The European Parliament
  • Reiterates its call on the Commission and the Council to strongly support initiatives to promote and enhance the fight against caste discrimination in all relevant United Nations Fora; and calls on the Commission and the Council to ensure that the issue of caste discrimination and policies to combat this wide-spread form of racism, is properly addressed in all country strategy papers, mid-term reviews of these and communications on countries affected by it.*

  • Deplores that no action has been taken by the Commission and the Council to enhance the political and human rights dialogue with caste afflicted countries on the issue of the continued dehumanising practice of caste discrimination, and that the effectiveness of EU's human rights policy in terms of addressing caste discrimination still remains to be assessed.


* Deze uitspraak is onder meer van belang in verband met de komende Communicatie (dit voorjaar) van de Europese Commissie over de relatie tussen India en de Europese Unie, waarin de strategische relaties op diverse terreinen tussen beiden opnieuw worden gedefinieerd.

* This statement is especially relevant with regard to the upcoming Communication of the European Commission on the relations between the EU and India, in which the strategic relations on various issues will again be defined (the last Communication dates from 1996).

India Committee of the Netherlands / Landelijke India Werkgroep - 6 april 2004