Westminster Conference 2007
‘Caste and UK Discrimination Law’

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 successfully 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 abd 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