The ‘Caste’ as ‘Discrimination Based on Work and Descent’ in International Law: Convincing or Compromising?

The difficulty in categorising caste discrimination into standard categories of human rights violations has forced Dalit activists into comparing caste discrimination with racial discrimination – a highly condemned practice in international law. This strategy materialised through the word ‘descent’ in Article 1 of the icerd. Currently, caste discrimination has become important on the human rights agenda under the guise of ‘discrimination based on work and descent’ (dwd), and by extension, ‘racial discrimination’. The main theme of this article is to address the capability of the dwd mechanism to comprehensively capture the intricacies of caste discrimination. Upon analysis, it was found that dwd dilutes the religious aspect of the caste system. Hence, this article advocates a caste-specific Convention, which focuses on both religious and secular aspects of the caste system. This won’t happen soon; therefore, caste should be maintained as a unique form of dwd in the meantime.