Ensuring protection against caste discrimination in Britain: Should the Equality Act 2010 be extended?‘ (with Meena Dhanda) (pre-publication text); published at International Journal of Discrimination and the Law Vol.16 (2-3) (2016) 177-196 (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, 2016
Section 97 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 requires the addition of caste to the Equality Act 2010 by secondary legislation as ‘an aspect of’ the protected characteristic of race; but despite being mandated, no secondary legislation has been introduced and the addition of caste remains contested by some academics, civil society organizations and politicians who question the adequacy of any definition of caste, the estimates of the extent of caste discrimination, and whether legal protection against caste discrimination already exists under the Equality Act. In this article, we assess whether legal protection against caste discrimination is now assured following the Employment Tribunal judgement in September 2015 in Tirkey v Chandhok & Anor which held that discrimination on grounds of caste, depending on the facts, might be capable of falling within the scope of race as currently defined in the Equality Act. We argue that Tirkey is significant but not decisive and th...
Modern Law Review Vol. 72 (2) 182-219, 2009
Discrimination based on caste affects at least 270 million people worldwide, mostly in South Asia. Caste as a system of social organisation has been exported from its regions of origin to diaspora communities such as the UK, yet despite the prohibition of caste-based discrimination in international human rights law caste is not recognised as a ground of discrimination in English law. The overhaul of its equality framework and the proposed new single equality act present the UK with an opportunity to align national legislation with international law obligations. The Government's decision not to include protection against caste discrimination in the new legislation leaves race and religion as the only possible legal ‘homes’ for caste. This article considers the argument for legal recognition of caste discrimination in the UK, the capacity of race and religion to subsume caste as a ground of discrimination, and the role and limitations of law in addressing ‘new’ forms of discrimination such as casteism.
Caste in Britain: Socio-legal Review: Equality and Human Rights Commission Research Report no. 91
2014
Research on caste in Britain 1.5 Methodology 1.6 Scope of the report 1.7 Guide to the report 2. Caste in British law 2.1 Key feature and principles of British discrimination law 2.2 Equality Act: race, ethnic origins and caste 2.3 Equality Act: religion or belief and caste 2.4 Existing caselaw relevant to caste 2.5 Equality Act: exceptions and caste 2.6 The Public Sector Equality Duty and caste 2.7 Conclusion 3. Caste in international law and other jurisdictions 3.1 Introduction 3.2 International human rights law and 'descent' 3.3 Caste in the legal jurisdictions of other States 3.4 Caste and India 3.5 Relevance of international examples 3.6 Conclusion 4. Conclusion 4.1 Introduction 4.2 The legal formulation of caste as an aspect of race 4.3 The definition of caste 4.4 Future work References i In researching and writing the 'Caste in Britain' socio-legal review report we have been very fortunate to benefit from the expertise, advice, and support of many people. On behalf of the project team, we acknowledge support from our Advisory Group, particularly from Professor Eleanor Nesbitt (University of Warwick), Dr Sushrut Jadhav (University College London) and Professor C. Ram-Prasad (University of Lancaster). We thank Professor Aileen McColgan (King's College London and Matrix Chambers) for closely reading and commenting on the report and Dr Tarunabh Khaitan (University of Oxford) for helping to clarify key issues in its final stages. We also thank Professor McColgan and Colm O'Cinneide (University College London) for their generosity in meeting with us to discuss caste in the context of British discrimination law. This report was enriched by the contributions made by experts and stakeholders, through written statements and at the experts' seminar and stakeholders' workshop.
Caste in Britain: Socio-Legal Review, EHRC Research Report 91
2014
In April 2013, the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act was enacted. Section 97 of the Act requires government to introduce a statutory prohibition of caste discrimination into British equality law by making caste an aspect of the protected characteristic of race in the Equality Act 2010. In the context of this direction, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) contracted a team of academics drawn from different research institutions to carry out an independent study on caste in Britain. This report is one of two reports published by the research team led by Meena Dhanda.
South Asia Research, 2016
handling difference. Creating new laws may, as in this case, conveniently serve as a tool to make more hay out of hazy notions and allows academics to proudly talk of ‘impact’. Shah’s subsequent chapters confirm that the real story of caste and its abuse in England is much more complex than Parliament and those who assisted or manipulated it wanted to know. This reviewer’s advice is that this well-written book needs to be read in depth by those who want to understand what may trouble South Asian Studies specialists that seem to despise India and Indians, and thus often themselves. Shah himself, a British kenyan Asian academic working on law and cultural diversity, provides a sharp lens for examining a topic about which we will soon hear more. Fake cases of alleged discrimination, relying on ill-conceived legislation that did not sufficiently care about its potential implications, as Chapter 6 confirms, will make interesting future reading. Yet, the problems of handling and balancing difference, however grounded and justified, will not go away. So whom or what do we blame, if not simply ‘tradition’? Returning to the blaspemy scenario, it becomes evident that state systems and their advisers can be implicated today as propounders of such violence by permitting obnoxious claims. Academics as handmaidens of such violence should then perhaps hang their heads in shame, rather than making self-righteous claims about caste the way they do and boasting about their impact.
Equality and Human Rights Commission Research Reports, 2014
In Spring 2014 the UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission published two research reports which look into issues surrounding caste in Britain. Both reports are from the Commission’s Caste in Britain project which was undertaken at the request of government to help inform the introduction of a new statutory law. This followed the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 requirement that government introduce a statutory prohibition of caste discrimination into British equality law.