Incorporation of Rights Based Approach in the ICT for development programs

1. Introduction

The gap between privileged and underprivileged with regard to access to information is increasing through out the world. The developed countries enjoy the benefits of ICT, on the other hand, the least developed and developing countries are lagging behind the facilities of it. The poor nation with less access to ICT can be characterized by indicators e.g., personal computer (per100 people), fixed telephone lines (per 1,000 people), mobile phones (per 1,000 people), Internet users (per 100 people), Internet hosts (per 100 people) television in use (per 1,000 people), radios in use (per 1,000 people)[i]. If the technology can be used as a tool for development programs, developing countries can be benefited out of it. Initially ICT was accounted for telephone, telegraph, fax, photocopier, radio and television. Computer and Internet with the help of satellite communication have occupied the business, trade, education, health, communication and administration of today’s world. Mobile phone communication has brought revolutionary changes in socio-economy developed of developing countries. Mobile phone can be a tool in empowering poor people of the village community. On the other hand a Community Technology Center (CTC) can be another kind of tool to increase capacity of a community. Generally the concept of CTC consists of various ICT equipment e.g. telephone, computer, internet, fax, photocopier, television etc. Application of ICTs for empowering village community is a growing field adapted by developing organizations. Donor organizations also encourage flowing fund for this purpose but these development attitude should adopt Rights Based Approach (RBA) that will ensure inclusion of disadvantaged and will not be confined within a particular group as a project itself.

RBA must fulfill the elements e.g. participation, empowerment, non-discrimination, and accountability of duty bearers. RBA should ensure that development programs deal with the extreme poor and not only serving purpose by creating a pro-poor group in the community. ICT for development program carried out by governments and other local and international agencies should meet the requirement of RBA. There is a need to develop a frame work of RBA and evaluate the existing ICT for development programs with respect to the frame work of RBA.
Thus, concept of capacity development of poor villagers has been raised to reach the target group to bring socio economic changes in their lives. Empowering villages using ICT is a micro level approach to development. Basically it is bottom up process even though combination of top down and bottom up is required initially to set up a project. Inter governmental (IG), governmental, International, national, local non governmental organizations (NGOs), donors, specialized United Nations (UN) agencies have realized the need to keep balance in capacity of people between the developed and underdeveloped countries. Therefore, different development projects on education, poverty alleviation, health, housing, food, information and communication, skill development have been conducted at the community level of the developing countries. ICTs can play a significant role in the rural economy with proper financing mechanism like micro credit that may lead self-employment and self-reliance. Sengupta (2000: 15) says, “…if a group of destitute or deprived people have to have a minimum standard of well-being, a simple transfer of income through doles or subsidies may not be the right policy. They may actually have to be provided with the opportunity to work or to be self-employed, which may require generating activities…” The right policy should include ICT applications in terms of capacity building of the village people that directly contributes to involve villagers in income generating activities and indirectly affects improvement in education, health, employment, skill, communication, and access to information village households. The incorporation of rights based approach in ICT for development program may result in over all well-being and also meet the human development approach as a by product of the whole process, which should focus specially on extreme poor and disadvantaged.

2. WSIS and poverty reduction by ICTs

WSIS (2004) in its Principle 3 says, “…we reaffirm the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelation of all human rights and fundamental freedom, including the right to development enshrined in the Vienna Declaration.” WSIS in its Principle 12 says, “…we should mainstream a gender equality perspective and use of ICTs a tool to that end”, and in Principle 14 mentions, “we are resolute to empower the poor, particularly those living in remote, rural and marginalized urban areas, to access information and to use ICTs as a tool to support their efforts lift themselves out of poverty.” Principle 43 of the WSIS reflects the realization eradication of poverty as a means of development by the ICT application as it says, “Distribution of benefits of ICT-driven growth contributes to poverty eradication and sustainable development.” The ‘interdependence’ and ‘interrelation’ of all human rights are lays on the common ground of development that urges for poverty eradication. Empowerment of poor is the only way to push them out the poverty line, which requires rigorous implementation of ICT programs to ensure sustainable development that can create a sound environment where people can enjoy their rights. Thus the bottom up approach for creating favorable environment for the realization of rights can strengthen the top down approach of human rights promotion and protection by International Human Rights Instruments, National Jurisdiction or by other mechanisms.

2.1. Human Rights and ICT based development

ICTs have enormous social and economic impacts. It can change people’s living standard. The widening gap between the countries of north and south and urban and rural areas can be minimized by the implementation of effective economy driven ICT projects. OHCHR (2003)[ii] says about the human rights approach to ICTs that, “…ICTs not only as a means of exchanging and disseminating information, but as a tool to improve the enjoyment of human rights such as the freedom of expression, the right to education, the right to health, the right to food and other rights, seeking universal access by all to information and services. The human rights approach seeks to bring individuals and communities, particularly the disadvantaged, vulnerable and socially excluded, squarely into the Information society, upholding the principles of non-discrimination, participation and accountability.” Poor villagers of Asia Pacific and African countries can be considered as ‘disadvantaged’ and ‘vulnerable’ in terms of poverty and accessibility to ICTs. Hence, it could be a human rights approach to ‘uphold’ these people and let them have the opportunity to participate in the progress of rural economy. Unless these people are self reliant and generate income, they can not improve their livelihoods to enjoy ‘human rights’ including freedom of expression, education, health, food, and an adequate house. Governments of poor countries have lack of resources besides inadequate commitment and inappropriate integration plans to eradicate poverty. ICTs can be more effective than agriculture, livestock, poultries, and fisheries for income generating activities because of less risk of losing investment. Caspary and Connor (2003: 7) says, “besides the strictly economic benefits, there can be important social benefits of maintain long-distance contact with family members working abroad or in the city. The experience of Bangladeshi women who make up the majority village phone operators for the Grameen network suggests that social status can be enhanced by virtue of control over a valuable resource-information access. ” Therefore, village phone have removed the physical distance between relatives working in cities and family members living in villages. Village phone operators are benefited by giving phone service for fee basis and the villagers are advantaged by exchanging important information over phone. The Community Technology Centers (CTCs) can also enhance accessibility for the village community for having better communication with their relatives living at distant places. Thus, ICT can increase access to information besides economic benefits which in turn can enable village community to know about their rights.

3. Why RBA?
Human race has been struggling through out the history to reach the consensus and establish a set of rules that will eradicate injustice from the society they live. As an outcome of the struggle religion and different theologies based on religion and faith came to enable people to remove exploitation and abuse on basis of moral commitment. Justice, legitimacy, and rule of law came into existence to ensure equality and justice. The series of declaration of International Human Rights Standards are the examples of struggle of human race in the 20th century after experiencing the catastrophe of two world wars.

RBA is a paradigm shift. Hence, the concept of RBA is quite new in the area of development programs. Development programs have wide range of issues and applications for community empowerment. ICT in the development program have been appeared as a tool to empower poor, disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in the communities. Therefore, it is necessary to know about whether the existing approach of ICT based development programs can really empower the disadvantaged people in the community or it creates new type of well-off class than the rest within a community. By examining the development programs, it can be possible to know about the success and failure of these programs to include disadvantaged.

3.1. Linkage with right to development
The demand for linking human rights and development policy was put forward especially at the World Conference on Human Rights (1993) in Vienna, the World Conference on Women (1995) in Beijing, and the world summit for Social Development (1995) in Copenhagen.
After attainment of certain level while the basic needs are met, and additionally quality of life of the people are improved, it is reasonable to make these people realize about their civil and political rights. Declaration on the Right to Development of 1986 reflects the aims of “constant improvement of well-being of the entire population and of all individuals on the basis of their active, free and meaningful participation in development.” According to the Article 1 paragraph 1 of the Declaration on the Right to Development:
“The right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized.” Hence the development is ‘inalienable’ from other human rights because it is a nucleus of all rights.

3.2. Elements of Rights Based Approaches

The RBA is a conceptual framework that has the following elements, which ensures the human development in terms of minimum standard of life that individual essentially should have as a human being. The basic elements of RBA are Non-discrimination, Participation, Empowerment, Accountability, Good governance, and linkage to rights, which should be adapted at ICT for development programs.

Non-discrimination

A development project or programs meet the requirement of RBA when it includes people irrespective of differences e.g. age, sex, religion, ethnicity, language, gender, age, property, and birth status etc. Non-discrimination is the basic principle of RBA. This core concept of non-discrimination is also reflected in the declarations and conventions of UN. Development projects run by state or non state actors should follow the core concept of non-discrimination.

Attention to vulnerable groups:
One important aspect of non-discrimination is to put especial attention towards vulnerable groups. Women, children, elderly people, poor, diseased people can be considered as the vulnerable people in the community. Development programs should emphasize these vulnerable groups in the community and execute programs and projects to uplift into a level where they can meet minimum standard of life at least and can claim their rights.

Participation

Active and meaningful participation of people in a development oriented projects and programs can bring empowerment in turn. RBA identifies participation as rights rather than a kind of tool or program.
Participation is recognized as having a central and decisive role in development models. ‘Participatory development’ and ‘people-centered development’ are frequently linked to sustainability. The notion of participation is always associated with the terminology of ‘empowerment and ownership.’ But it is not enough. (Cheria et al. 2004: 36)

Participation is more than ‘empowerment’ and ‘ownership’. Mostly the trend of development programs and policies are formulated and implemented from the state, donors or organizations. People, for whom the project is, do not have much involvement in determining their needs and eventually they do not take part in policy level. Participation enables these people to find their needs and to decide appropriate measures and activities to meet the need. Therefore, Cheria et al. (2004: 37) mentioned, “participation in a human rights approach includes control of planning, process, outcome, and evaluation…people are the subjects, the active players, who determine and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.”

Participation brings claim-holders and duty-bearers in the same table where they can make strategies and decisions. The policies and strategies should include special attention to the poor and disadvantaged people. Through the active, free and meaningful participation people can design development policies to fulfill their needs. To enhance the capacity for participation the adequate access to information, adequate organizational capacities, and necessary supports have to be ensured.

Empowerment

Empowerment is to make poor and disadvantaged people powerful economically, socially, culturally or politically. The development projects and programs usually have set of objectives to empower people in a community. Empowerment is giving powerless a power so that they can meet their basic needs from the economic perspective and can achieve the ability to claim their rights from duty bearers. Income generating capacity and self-reliance type programs are the present trend of development projects that represents the concept of empowerment in practice. RBA focus on what specific capacities are required for a group of poor or disadvantaged people so that they can claim and exercise their rights.

Accountability

Accountability is the responsibility of duty bearers to create a socio, economic, and politically sound environment where the people in their communities can avail the level to communicate with duty bearers. Transparency, honesty, reliability, trust and willingness of the duty bearers can only create such a situation.
Accountability refers to the effectiveness with which the governed can exercise influence over their governors. Trust and reciprocity are not easily sustained without specific rules of holding leaders accountable to civil society. (Cheria et al. 2004: 41)

Good governance

Good governance has link with accountability and transparency of the governors. Good governance is the core requirement for flourishing human rights values. Effective administration with legitimacy is a key area of good governance. Good governance consists of many elements that in all ways ensure justice, rule of law, free from corruption and abuse, empowerment of poor, consideration of vulnerability, transparency, honesty, efficiency, effectiveness, participation, human rights. The definition ‘good governance’ defined by OHCHR, United Nations Development programme (UNDP), ESCAP, Commission on Global Governance, and others except World Bank have more or less the common elements mentioned above. World Bank, IMF, and their allies’ agencies and governments stress on creating space by state for market, which is contrast to the others’ concept.

Asif (et al. 2004) says:
A dictatorship that delivers basic needs to the citizens is no doubt better than a dictatorship that does not, but it is not good governance. Similarly, regular elections alone do not translate into ‘good governance’. Rule of law that is transparent, but unjust – such as Apartheid – is certainly not ‘good governance’. It is only when all these three conditions are fulfilled that governance becomes ‘good governance’ (P.13).

Government is an institution and governance is the process. In the context of development projects and programs donor agencies can make State accountable to their people for offering good governance. But the efficiency, moral values, and good desires of government are basic requirements for spontaneous growth of good governance besides external international and donor driven pressure. Most of the LDCs do not have good governance even though the so-called democracy is quite visible in many of them. Unless, states offer good governance, only through development programs a little change may happen in the lives of poor and disadvantaged. Therefore, to implement RBA successfully, good governance is unavoidable element.

Linkage to rights

Human rights are indivisible, interrelated and interlinked. RBA agrees that these civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights are integrated and inseparable. National, regional and international legal standards should be taken into consideration, which protects and promote rights of individuals. These normative and legally binding laws guarantee the protection of rights that are offered to people. Therefore, good governance can honor and implement these legal standards for benefiting their people.

- Non-discrimination

- Participation

- Empowerment

- Accountability

- Good governance

- Linkage to rights

This RBA scale is developed here that can be used to evaluate specific ICT for development programs. An ideal development project must meet all the elements that substantially determine the project’s RBA. RBA of any development program can be measured with the help of this RBA scale. RBA is still being nurtured in the conceptual level; few INGOs e.g. Save the Children, Action Aid, Oxfam and UN agencies have started brain storming to implement this approach in practice. At present the concept of RBA is under development for further clarification by INGOs and UN agencies. Different authors and agencies have come up with definition and elaboration, which have some commonness in terms of the elements discussed above. This paper develops RBA frame from the experiences of what already exist and proposes RBA scale to measure the effectiveness in terms of betterment of poor and disadvantaged of existing ICT for development programs.

4. Conclusion

Millions of poor people live in the villages and struggle to survive; ICTs can bring significant socio-economic improvement in the villages. As illiteracy and poverty are the two major constraints for expansion of ICTs, appropriate applications can be an effective tool to make this technology beneficial to uplift people from their poverty line. And unless well-being of these people are improved, complete realization of human rights is not possible. Therefore right to development is inalienable from civil and political rights as well as from economic, social and cultural rights. As long as development is not done, freedom will not be achieved to understand human rights. To open up the door of freedom state and non state actors should come up with affordable ICT application with innovative financing scheme especially for the rural areas. The government and non government organizations should adapt RBA in ICT based development programs, which can bring good result by stopping exclusion and discrimination in practice. Once RBA is implemented, the development programs may not be accused of pro-poor oriented programs, which may lead a new era of empowerment that believes in totality, equality and nondiscrimination.

References

Mander Harsh and Asif, Mohammed (2004), ‘Good Governance’, Bangalore: Books for Change.

Caspary, George (2002), ‘Information Technologies to Serve the Poor: How Rural Areas can benefit from the Communication Revolution’, D+C Development and Cooperation (No.1, January/february 2004, p. 4-5), Deutsche stiftung fur internationale Entwicklung, available at www.dse.de/zeitschr/de102-3.htm, accessed on may 30,2004.

Caspary, George and O’Connor, David (2003), ‘Providing Low-Cost Information Technology Access to Rural Communities in Developing Countries: What Works? What Pays?’ Working Paper No. 229, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, available at www.oecd.org/dataoecd/13/52/7112502.pdf

Edwin et al. (2004), ‘A Human Rights Approach to Development’, Bangalore: Books for Change.

OHCHR (2002), ‘Human Rights in Development’, available at www. unhchr.ch/development/right-04.html, accessed on May 25, 2004.

OHCHR (2003), ‘Background Note on the Information Society and Human Rights’, available at www.unhchr.ch/pdf/noteinfsociety.pdf , accessed on April 07, 2004.

Sen, Amartya (1999), ‘Development as Freedom’, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Sen, Amartya (1999), ‘Poverty and Famines’, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Sengupta, Argun (2003), ‘Development Cooperation and the Right to Development’, available at www.hsph.harvard.edu/fxbcenter/FXBC_WP12–sengupta.pdf, accessed on May 30, 2004.

Sengupta, Arjun (2000), ‘The Right to Development as a Human Right’, available at www.harvard.edu/fxbcenter/FXBC_WP7–sengupta.pdf, accessed on May 30, 2004.

UNDP (2004), ‘ICT and Human Development: Towards Building a Composite Index for Asia’, Technical Paper, New Delhi: ELSEVIER
Wakelin, Oliver and Shadrach, Basheer, ‘Impact Assessment of Appropriate and Innovative technologies in Enterprise Development’, available at www.itcltd.com/docs/ED%20Impact.pdf, accessed on May 30, 2004.

WSIS (2003), ‘Report of the Geneva Phase of the World Summit on the Information Society’, Document WSIS-03/Geneva/9(Rev.1)-E, 18th February 2004, available at www.itu.in/wsis, accessed on May 29, 2004.

End Notes
[i] See United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2004: 22), ICT and Human Development: Towards Building a Composite Index for Asia, New Delhi: ELSEVIER
[ii] Back ground Note on the Information Society and Human Rights (October 2003), see detail at www.unhchr.ch/pdf/noteinfsociety.pdf, accessed on May 30, 2004

Internet an Alternate Powerful Medium for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights

1. Introduction
The Internet is a unique communications medium. Like no other medium before, it allows individuals to express their ideas and opinions directly to a world audience and easily to each other, while allowing access to many more ideas, opinions and information than previous media have allowed. Consequently, there is a vital connection between the Internet and human rights. The Internet is a democratizing medium; Uniquely Suited to the Promotion of Human Rights.It is more than a mere industry. The current regulatory framework is compatible in the context of the traditional print media, and the relatively newer media of radio and television broadcasting, telecommunications, films and videotapes. If censorship on Internet is to be enforced on an agreeable way, the present laws should be updated. In fact legislation always lags behind the changing technologies. Mailing lists via email and bulletin boards on the Internet enable people to speak out without the fear of being heard. It allows them to step out of their cultural and political boundaries as well by encouraging a true participatory democracy. Preventing this means it would be impossible to create a vocal and active global community, which transcends race and geography. This is insufficient to have a look at the Internet from one perspective. There are many human rights issues regarding the Internet. In this paper I will see it from three different perspectives. This paper will analyze the prospects of Internet medium for promoting human rights and how this medium can be a tool for organizations. It is also highlighted here in this paper that what international laws protect freedom of expression and privacy. The paper critically analyzes the nature of repressive government’s censorship on Internet and how they violate freedom of expression and interfere with privacy of individual.

2. The Internet and Human Rights Work: why Internet is powerful medium?
The Internet is one of the best means for communicating on human rights, because it is inexpensive and global. E-mail makes point-to-point communication between human rights workers and among NGOs (non-governmental organizations) cheap and easy, and allows for better coordination of actions. Furthermore, the Internet has the potential of reaching global audiences, including those most in need of such information. The Internet is important to those working for human rights, as it can provide a secure means of communicating between and coordinating the work of human rights groups. Internet in human rights is as a great tool for NGOs and activists to be in touch with each other, to share information privately, and to coordinate actions. Activists can expose human rights violations and let people know about them over Internet. Many human rights organizations throughout the world have instituted e-mail lists to propagate their press releases, alerts and denunciations vis a vis human rights violations[i]. Internet Access is important for the promotion of Human Rights. Net access without civil liberties guarantees in technology and in law may not benefit individuals and may be coupled with government control and extended surveillance capability[ii]. Governments take out the benefit of laws to impose censorship on Internet. Unfortunately autocratic governments make and use law as slave to work in favor of them and violate the right to access Internet. A good government should provide full disclosure of information infrastructure development plans and encourage democratic participation in all aspects of the development process. The idea of extra-territoriality is what the Internet is able to offer. Books can be physically turned back at the border or destroyed during a raid, but work published on the Internet is permanent and there is a greater potential of reaching the millions out there. As Internet is a global technology having fastest and cheapest communication channel, it has the ability to work for the universality of Human Rights. Internet is the network of networks; therefore, I believe it can help to integrate human rights activists’ networks worldwide.

2.1 Human Rights NGO: prospects and problem
Internet is the revolutionary medium for human rights NGOs. Large NGOs such as Amnesty International (AI), with over 60 offices and a million members, rely heavily on e-mail and the Internet for sharing information, consulting about strategy, debating new ideas, maintaining archives and initiating quick responses to current events[iii]. Similarly Human Rights Watch, Save the children, Action aid and many other international NGOs have adopted Internet technology not only by using e-mail and developing web sites but also by introducing net conferences, net messages, news groups, bulletin boards and online publications. On the contrary hundreds of small and medium scales local or national NGOs of developing countries are struggling to adopt Internet. Lack of Internet infrastructure, budget, technology skill, and training about Internet know how are the barriers to popularize Internet as a medium among these NGOs. In some countries where governments have control over other type of media as radio, television and print, Internet medium can be the only way for human rights activists to fight against government repression. Human rights communities that would find it difficult and dangerous to acquire hardcopy reports have been able to obtain and circulate them through cyberspace[iv]. Repressive governments have realized the power of Internet medium and started imposing restriction on free flow of information through Internet and nowadays maintain extreme control over it. These governments especially target to suppress human rights NGOs. For most human rights communities, therein lies the dilemma: it is precisely those communities in greatest need of empowerment that is least likely to have access to the Internet[v]. The de-centered, anti-hierarchical, network oriented, democratic natured and electronic modes of communication like the WWW encourages new ways of thinking, writing, reading, creating, communicating, organizing and learning. For grassroots organizations these attributes of the Net allow them to utilize technology which reflects their ideals of networking, inclusion and participation[vi]. From my point of view promotion, dissemination and awareness building programs can be run in faster pace through Internet by the human rights organizations that have been working for civil and political rights as well as for economic, social and cultural rights.

2.2 Freedom of expression and privacy: why these are essential to strengthen Internet as medium?
Online communication must therefore be fully protected by international guarantees of the right to freedom of expression. Let us see how we can strengthen the platform of Internet media by understanding international laws. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and other international human rights agreements enshrine the rights to freedom of expression and access to information.

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, and regardless of frontiers.” Article 19, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

“Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.” Article 19, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

“Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of borders.” Article 10, European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

The Internet is a medium for both public and private exchange of views and information. People must be able to express opinions and ideas, and share information freely when using the Internet. The potential of the Internet to allow public participation in governance processes, at international, national and local levels, should be utilized to its full. At the same time, there should be mechanisms in the public domain to oppose - or in extreme cases, ban - the publication of content that is harmful to women, children and other vulnerable groups, or content that can incite violence and hatred[vii]. Applying laws and licenses, content filtering, tapping and surveillance, pricing and taxation policies, telecommunication markets manipulation, hardware and software manipulation can restrict freedom of expression and limit access to information. Government-mandated use of blocking, filtering, and label systems violates basic international human rights protections. Efforts to force all Internet speech to be labeled or rated according to a single classification system distort the fundamental cultural diversity of the Internet and will lead to domination of one set of political or moral viewpoints. Free expression should not be restricted by indirect means such as excessively restrictive governmental or private controls over computer hardware or software, the telecommunications infrastructure, or other essential components of the Internet. Governments in Western democracies often appear guilty of violating human rights, especially the right to privacy and freedom of expression, and then governments in less democratic countries will use all infringements of the principle of freedom of expression on the Internet as excuses to strictly control how citizens use the system. Human Rights Watch seeks to encourage governments to strengthen protections for freedom of expression at this early stage of the Internet’s development.

The Universal Declaration, the European Convention and international human rights instruments protects the right to privacy. These core documents explicitly protect the privacy of correspondence and communication:

“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.” Article 12, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation.” Article 17, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

“Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.” Article 8, European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
Privacy is becoming increasingly important for citizens in the information society. Electronic communications can be very easily intercepted by anyone who wants to. Sending an e-mail message is thus the equivalent of sending a postcard. In the human rights arena especially, many matters discussed among NGOs are extremely confidential. Names of witnesses to human rights violations, for example, need to be kept from those who would harm them. Repressive governments commonly use their intelligence services to tap the phone communications of human rights groups and intercept their mail. It is very likely that they are also intercepting electronic mail. A global study of Internet censorship in over fifty countries and regions finds that Internet restrictions, government secrecy and communications surveillance have reached an unprecedented level across the world[viii]. Singapore’s citizens are still fearful. A bureaucrat told a local Internet service provider to scan 80,000 e-mail accounts of university researchers for pornographic material and in April, Singapore’s internal-security agency secretly scanned 200,000 private computers[ix]. Similarly the government of Burma and China has dishonored Internet privacy of individual, families and organizations. Basically repressive governments fear from the accessibility of Internet medium. I think that the nature of such ruling system is to oppress the freedom of speech and expression. In the early age it was quite easier to control press, audio and visual medium but the emerging Internet medium has unpredictable technical capacity that ensures privacy of users. Nevertheless Internet has encouraged millions of people around the world to exchange their ideas, visions, cultures, political debates and beliefs. Internet has become a threat for the dominating rulers. As it is difficult to have control over Internet medium, some governments have been installing filtering and baring technologies by spending millions of dollars. I believe governments are imposing censorship on Internet users to protect incoming- outgoing information and ideas because they scare from free flow of information. Governments should not require the identification of Internet users or restrict the ability to express political beliefs on the Internet anonymously.

2.3 Censorship on Internet: how has it become an evil force of repressive governments?
The Internet has the ability to explode information onto every user. More information can be gathered and distributed at a faster speed, meaning that the flow of information in circulation increases at an exponential rate. Technology and censorship are often seen as opposing forces in the information age. The problem of censorship and new technology is best highlighted by the Internet. The Internet is an example of a convergent medium: it has a mail function, a news-reading function and a computing-software function. Convergence poses problems for censorship because it becomes difficult to classify the new medium and to decide who regulates them and how. Singapore’s current censorship regime assumes that the media are distinct and separate from one another. Censorship does not sit well with computer culture, where maximum freedom is celebrated. Cyberspace culture privileges free speech and the free flow of ideas as a route to social and intellectual progress. For example, the US Senate Commerce Committee’s proposal to ban obscene material in cyberspace faces strong opposition from Internet users. I think the process of censorship in the age of new technologies is problematic, as new laws tend to be inadequate modifications of old laws applied to older technology. The National University of Singapore, for example, has different servers for staff and students. The idea is that staff will get materials with less censorship than students. The lesson from the West, however, appears to be that censorship using technology does not work well. Filtering and prohibiting technologies may not always work with accuracy. It may create some adverse effects or interruption to normal data transmission. Currently, Usenet groups in Singapore are censored using guidelines issued by the Ministry of Information and the Arts, the government body in charge of media censorship[x]. There are no widespread, uniform guidelines or procedures for restricting use of any Internet services, and local administrators have to make arbitrary decisions on access. Harish Pillay, who heads Singapore’s Internet Society, says “Singapore Internet users are always fighting the censorship in their own mind, the perceived fear .. that someone will come knocking on your door.” This is important to point out that Singapore government has already created panic among Internet users by the activities of censorship. I am quite sure that freedom of expression of the citizens is violated in Singapore as well as arbitrary interference of right to privacy is committed by ruling authority.

So when does it require to censor the Internet? Perhaps it is becoming obvious that the Internet now plays an important tool in politics, particularly for oppressed societies who can only transmit stories of state crime, in the hope that the global community will respond with help. It is therefore imperative that the Internet should not be permitted to be censored. In Burma, a law passed in September 1996 obliges anyone who owns a computer to declare it to the government. Those who fail to comply may face up to 15 years in prison. The introduction of the Internet to the Burmese diaspora in mid-1990 changed the power equilibrium, while the Internet has become the single most important medium among Burmese exiles in terms of debating issues, discussing ideas, drawing up strategies, and doing the lobbying work that helps to mobilize effective international pressure on the regime.[xi] Realizing the influence of Internet, Burmese military rulers have upgraded themselves with latest Internet infrastructure. In addition they have restricted the expansion of Internet among the Burmese people and the ISP is totally state controlled. Cyber cafes are very few in numbers and also monitored by the state officials. According to me Burmese government have brutally prohibited the citizens from accessing Internet or having an e-mail address, which is a massive violation of human rights regarding access to information.

Like Burma some governments take numerous steps to prevent their citizens from gaining access to the Internet. Nations such as Belarus, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Vietnam put lot of efforts to prevent Internet access. Also identified countries are of Central Asia and the Caucasus, like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. China’s authorities have spent the summer tightening up supervision of the Internet, clamping down first on domestic web portals, then Internet cafes and foreign-owned portals such as Google and Yahoo.[xii] Digital spying is part of China’s online economy that has received major investment. Human rights activists believe the effort employs 30,000 people. Since 2000, they say, China’s web filtering has overtaken Saudi Arabia’s in scale. The firewall now surrounds the country, not just a few cities. It works by scanning for suspect words as digital documents cross the international gateways and needs big banks of servers. In China over the past year, new regulations and controls have been imposed on use of the Internet, including censorship of foreign news sites, the creation of special Internet police, and actions to shut down Internet sites posting information on corruption or articles critical of government. Internet cafes are required to register and inform the police about their customers. The Ministry of State Security has installed tracking devices on Internet service providers to monitor individual email accounts. And bulletin boards critical of the government have been shut down. There is no doubt that these censorship activities have weakened freedom of expression of the mass. Monitoring individual e-mail account is severe interference of individuals’ privacy.

3. Conclusion
The vast new potential of the Internet for expanding access to information and participation in government and civil society has already begun to show itself with concrete contributions to democracy and human rights. The Internet has opened up new opportunities for matters on political, intellectual, and personal. The Internet’s architecture allows for a diversity of views and exchange of information that is simply not possible in any other media. As of August 1998, one service identified 29,000 IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channels, 30,000 Usenet newsgroups, and 90,095 mailings lists — each one representing a network of individuals worldwide interested in a particular subject. The rise of the Internet also requires a reexamination of the meaning of the concept to “seek and receive” and to “impart” information. National restrictions on local speech have a direct and negative impact on the ability of Internet users around the world to “seek and receive” information and ideas, as well as their right to “impart” information. For example, if citizens of one country are prohibited from discussing political issues critically online, then not only are their rights infringed upon, but also the right of others around the world to “seek and receive” that information is directly implicated. In Internet citizens from the most repressive regimes are able to find information about matters concerning their governments or their human rights records that no local newspaper may dare print, while denouncing the conditions under which they live for the world to hear. The Internet allows us an intimate look at other countries, other people and other cultures that few before were ever able to attain. This power to give and receive information, so central to any conception of democracy, can be truly achieved on the Internet, as nowhere before. Attempts to suppress information and communication on the Internet, therefore, not only violate international human rights laws; in the end they are likely to be futile.

References
Censorship and Internet A Singapore Perspective, Dr. Peng Hwa Ang and Ms. Berlinda Nadarajan, http://normative.zusammenhaenge.at/beitraege/sg-censorship.html
Grassroots Organisations and the New Information Technologies: the Personal Computer, Email, the Internet and the World Wide Web, BY REBEKAH PASQUALINI, http://communication.students.rmit.edu.au/projects/burma/grassroots.html
Human Rights NGOs: Our Love Hate Relationship with the Internet, Patti Whaley, Human Rights and the Internet, Edited by Steven Hick, Edward F. Halpin, Eric Hoskins, p.30.
Huridocs-tech Singapore to relax Internet censorship laws From: Debra Guzman, Edited/Distributed by HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network, http://www.hrea.org/lists/huridocs-tech/markup/msg00252.html
Internet for social justice and development, The Associations for Progressive Communications, Internet and ICTs for Social Justice and Development, APC Internet Rights Charter, http://www.apc.org/english/rights/charter.shtml#7
Mobilizing online, The Burmese diaspora’s international lobby against the junta, Zaw Oo.
Silenced, an international report on censorship and control of the Internet, http://www.privacyinternational.org/survey/ The cost of China’s web censors, By Mary Hennock, BBC News Online business reporter , http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2264508.stm
The Internet and Human Rights: An Overview, Center for Democracy and Technology, http://www.cdt.org/international/000105humanrights.shtml

End Notes
[i] The Internet and Human Rights: An Overview, Center for Democracy and Technology, http://www.cdt.org/international/000105humanrights.shtml
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Human Rights NGOs: Our Love Hate Relationship with the Internet, Patti Whaley, Human Rights and the Internet, Edited by Steven Hick, Edward F. Halpin, Eric Hoskins, p.30.
[iv] Ibid. p.32
[v] Ibid. p.38
[vi]Grassroots Organisations and the New Information Technologies: the Personal Computer, Email, the Internet and the World Wide Web, BY REBEKAH PASQUALINI, http://communication.students.rmit.edu.au/projects/burma/grassroots.html
[vii] Internet for social justice and development, The Associations for Progressive Communications, Internet and ICTs for Social Justice and Development, APC Internet Rights Charter, http://www.apc.org/english/rights/charter.shtml#7
[viii] Silenced, an international report on censorship and control of the Internet, http://www.privacyinternational.org/survey/censorship/
[ix] huridocs-tech Singapore to relax Internet censorship laws From: Debra Guzman, Edited/Distributed by HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network, http://www.hrea.org/lists/huridocs-tech/markup/msg00252.html
[x] Censorship and Internet A Singapore Perspective, Dr. Peng Hwa Ang and Ms. Berlinda Nadarajan, http://normative.zusammenhaenge.at/beitraege/sg-censorship.html
[xi] Mobilizing online, The Burmese diaspora’s international lobby against the junta, Zaw Oo.
[xii] The cost of China’s web censors, By Mary Hennock, BBC News Online business reporter , http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2264508.stm

Anti Conversion Law: to stop Dalits escaping from the prison of Caste System

Introduction
Dalits have been excluded from the caste structure of India since long and the discrimination against dalits are also found in the Indian mythology as well as in history. Varna system created different class in the ancient Indian society where the dalits were marked as untouchables as they had been involved or systematically forced to engage at lower end jobs e.g. agricultural labor, disposing dead bodies, working with leather, cleaning toilets and sewage etc. in the society. Dalits are known as the depressed class in the society as they have failed to receive respect as dalit identity. After a century long struggle, dalits are still discriminated in the contemporary India. They are not happy with their religious identity as Hindu because of low caste, untouchable status, social, occupational and economic backwardness. Therefore, they fall in identity crisis and hanker after for religious identity. High level of discrimination and inequality within Hindu religion stress them to convert to other religion especially Islam, Christianity and Buddhism. The reason why they choose other religions is that these religions do not have any caste hierarchy and inequality at least theoretically. B. R. Ambedkar, who is known as the founder of dalits movement in India, had embraced Buddhism along with half-million other dalits in 1956 (Vedantam: 2002). The trend of conversion was fueled and encouraged by Ambedkar among the dalits to escape the caste system as well as to exert their anger against the beneficiaries of caste system. Recently Tamil Nadu and Gujrat provinces have enacted anti conversion law on the line of the existing Acts in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Arunachal Pradesh. This law is criticized by the Christian missionaries, dalits and other religious institutions as a tool of provincial governments for curbing the conversion tendencies among dalits.

The main research question in this paper is why this anti conversion law was imposed. Simultaneously two other questions are derived from the question are: What are the intensions of government behind the law? And, why do dalits convert? Subsequently a third question is required to analyze, are not they still ignored in a rigid structure after being converted?
The objectives of the paper are to criticize intension of the governments and the criticism done against government in this connection, to analyze the discrimination practiced against dalits for centuries, to assess the struggle of dalits within a rigid structure.

Hierarchical caste system

Manusmriti is a Hindu doctrine that provided formal sanctions to social inequality in society based on a hierarchical caste system. Varna, derived from Manusmriti, has four layers of caste. These layers are,

Brahmins
Kshatriyas
Vaisyas
Sudras

In the Manusmriti, dalit is described as polluted. Ghose (2003) has explained the origin of the dalits exclusion, “The dalit is the “unborn,” with no physical link with the supreme being.….from the body of Brahma comes the four main categories of Hindu society, namely the four varnas (colors or castes): brahmins (priests), kshatriyas (warriors), vaishyas (businessmen), and shudras (servants). The priest is born from the mouth of the Creator, the warrior from the arm, the businessman from the stomach, and the servant from the foot. Untouchables are born from outside the body of the Creator, almost a different species from Brahma’s children.” In fact, dalit segregation is rooted in the Indian mythology from which the Hinduism was derived. They are not children of God; they are partitioned from caste Hindu through religious beliefs and practices. Hierarchical caste system is practiced over the centuries and thus has planted the seeds of discrimination against dalits.

Anti Conversion Law in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu government has recently enacted the Anti Conversion Law that bans religious conversion “by force, allurement or fraudulent means”. According to the section 3 of the Anti Conversion Ordinance, “No person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any person from one religion to another by the use of force or by allurement or by any fraudulent means.”[i] The ordinance was issued on October 5, 2002. Jail and monetary punishment are applied if anybody is accused under this law. This ordinance[ii] requires all conversions to be reported to a magistrate. The issue of dalits conversion had been annoying state and central governments of India for last couple of decades. Venugopal (2003) has supported the central government’s influences on state governments to enact such a law to curb the conversion rate as the Ministry of home affairs of government of India had advised the state governments to enact laws that prohibit change of religion on the line of the existing Acts in other states following the Meenakshipuram event in February 1981 when many Hindus converted into Muslim in Tamil Nadu.

Intention of Anti Conversion Law: Why the law was imposed?
To curb the mass conversion from Hindus to Christianity, Islam and Buddhism is the main intention for imposing the anti conversion law. A good evidence to prove this intention could be to refer Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s argument during the debate on the Bill of Anti Conversion.[iii] She has defended her good decision to pass the law by giving some examples of conversion that were took place in her state, which means if the law is there, no such free conversion process can take place that indicates the intension to prohibit individual’s freedom to choose his or her religion. Ordinance’s requirement for reporting to Magistrate for each conversion may have bureaucratic intention to create hassle, harassment and delay in the conversion process. Thus, the anti conversion law has two fold hassles for people who want to convert. One is reporting to a magistrate and the other is heinous interpretation of the words “force or by allurement or by any fraudulent means”. These words can be utilized sharply and brilliantly by the government administration to color white case into a black case that may lead accusing innocent into guilty. If it happens, the law can turn in to an evil law that could be manipulated by government to curb the conversion by shutting down the freedom of individual to choose religion.
Hindu leaders claim that the Christian missionaries are converting innocent and ignorant people by offering inducements such as free education, free medical facilities and employment opportunities.

Hindu leaders explain social services of Christian missionaries as inducement or bribe that attract dalits. Poverty stricken dalits are truly impressed by the chapel services and these good offers attract them to convert to Christianity. Therefore, Hindu leaders are happy as the new law is a way to resist these poor dalits to enjoy civilized facilities by conversion.

The law may encourage many vindictive groups to bring false charges against religious institutions and new believers that may escalate violence and riots between Hindus and other faiths. Even the promise for spiritual blessings and eternal life could be considered as the ground of accusation under this law. Anti conversion law reflects basically the interest of upper class Hindu fundamentalism that accuses low cast Hindus for converting to other faiths. In my opinion, unverified reports may increase the rate of administrative hassle against dalits and the term ‘forcible or induced conversion’ may transmit phobia among them about the conversion process.

Venugopal (2003) says, “In a predominantly Hindu Society, a large-scale conversion of Hindus to Christianity or Islam has a tendency to disturb the local custom and faith as well as indigenous institutions…”. As a retired justice and a member of the upper caste Hindu society, Venugopal criticizes large scale conversion process and claims it as disturbance that should be prohibited by law, and thus he indirectly approves that anti conversion law can stop conversion process. Therefore, there is no doubt about it that the state government of Tamil Nadu has enacted anti conversion law, which is highly appreciated by caste Hindus in India for curbing conversion rate among dalits.

Impact of the Law on dalits, Human Rights and religion
In response to the ordinance, Pope John Paul II has expressed concern, Christian leaders and churches rejected the concept of forcible or induced conversion. They claim that conversion is the exercise of free choice by an individual in fulfillment of his or her own spiritual needs, this is a basic Human Right, and is guaranteed in the Indian Constitution and by the United Nations. Such ambiguous terminology has been used to harass and intimidate Christians in the States of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, and Arunachal Pradesh. Even Christian education and spiritual blessings and rewards have been treated as ‘allurement’ and divine judgment has been interpreted as ‘force’. Some Christian leaders fear that the chapel service in school, hospitals and children home may be considered as violating the new law.

The anti conversion ordinance is strongly criticized by leaders of different religious groups.[iv] Muslim and Buddhist institutions do not have chapel services like Christianity but they are accused of spiritual inducement by the fanatic Hindus. Hindu-Muslim religious conflict and riot is a well known phenomenon in India. Hindus preserve the beliefs that Islam and Christianity are the religion of invaders in the Indian subcontinent. Mughol Empire ruled by the Muslims and British Empire governed by the Christians might have raised such beliefs. Hindus have been encountering Muslim and Christians over the centuries and thus they have developed a sense of rivalry and intolerance among each other. Conversion of dalits into Muslim and Christianity is major assault on Hinduism. After the partition in 1947 Hindu-Muslim relation has reached at the pinnacle of rivalries especially among the fanatic Hindus and radical Muslims. Enacting such law may raise Hindu fundamentalism, which in turn may trigger angers and anguishes among oppressed.

A large number of Christian missions and institutions are based in Tamil Nadu. Christians have already built many Churches in Tamil Nadu and the process is continuing. Increasing demand of Churches was because of the increasing Christian community and most of them are converted from low caste Hindus. Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bharatia Janata Party (BJP) have appreciated Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for her bold step to enact anti conversion law and eventually criticized leaders of other religious groups who have expressed their discomfort with the law. Dalits have become more desperate after their right to conversion has been outlawed. I think, dalits at post Ambedkar movement era are well organized and have strong network to survive for their rights. Even though the ordinance is passed, dalits still have arranged mass conversion program in front of police resistance and obstacles.

Escaping mistreatment: Why do dalits convert?
Over 200 million dalits have been subjected to discrimination. For the last 2,000 years dalits have continued to suffer humiliation and ill-treatment. Though the discrimination was initiated from the mythology of ancient India, it still persists in the modern India that is known as the world largest democracy with a progressive, secular and liberal constitution. Dalits are mostly landless labors who are often oppressed by the landlords and live segregated quarters in inhuman conditions. There are approximately more than hundreds of mistreatments that are committed against dalits.

Dalits are treated worse than buffaloes, cows and pigs that have access to the pond. Caste Hindus not only avoid dalits touch but also stay away from their shadow, pass up the wind blows across their body, keep away the water used by them. Dalits have been barred from entering into Hindu temple, other holy places, and from participating festivals. Dalits are symbol of pollutes in Hindu theology. After being excluded from the society they have habituated living in segregated quarters or residences separated from caste Hindus. Some time the local doctors do not treat them, grocery shops ostracize them and they do not have access to local restaurants and other public places. Bonded labors, sexual abuses and exploitation have become a regular phenomenon in the hand of upper caste. Due to lack of education, economic, social progress, and unwritten sanctions imposed by the upper caste, dalits adopted inhuman occupation e.g. scavenging, carrying night soil, leather work, beating drums, cleaning toilets, skinning, disposing dead animals, and digging graves etc. Dalit women have been recruiting as the ‘Devadasi’ by the ‘Purohits’ (priests) of Hindu temples for last 2000 years. The duty of ‘Devadasi’ is to entertain Purohits and other guests in the temple by dancing and singing. They are vulnerable to sexual abuses. Rape complaints made by dalit women are dismissed as false by the local police officer without investigation.

The discrimination against dalits existed and still exists in the modern India. Therefore, the dalits desperately convert to other religion because they believe in escaping exclusion by conversion.

Violation of human rights: examples of discrimination
Some examples can be analyzed to have a clear picture of violation of human rights against dalits by the caste system in India.

The Case of Ramvathi Chandra[v]
The case of Ramvathi Chandra exemplifies the types of abuse and discrimination faced by women in India. Ramvathi Chandra and her husband owned land that was coveted by her neighbors who belonged to an upper caste. In January 1999, Ramvathi was raped by five higher caste men. Amnesty believes the rape was a means of isolating her and her husband within the community because of the stigma attached to this crime in India. Ramvathi attempted to bring her attackers to justice, but police refused to file a report on her behalf or conduct an investigation of her allegations. Sometime later, both Ramvathi and her husband were severely beaten. He barely survived; she died.

Numerous cases of rape and kill of dlait women like Ramvathi are the evidences of discrimination against dalits in India. From this example it can be assumed that upper caste can violate the human rights without slightest hesitation because they are backed by corrupted police administration. The pathetic death of Ramvathi weakens the faith on justice and administration of the democratic secular India. Police do not register the case, and caste people dismiss witnesses, destroys evidences by accessing influence, bribe and power. Some time police also commit abuses against dalits. In the case of Ramvathi upper caste men are left unpunished even though she was raped, beaten and died at the end, which indicates the worse form of violation. It may give the impression from the case that Ramvathi does not have right to life because she born as dalit.

A Dalit woman in Madhya Pradesh, India, was raped on February 8 and set on fire by her landlord and one of his friends. They poured kerosene on her and set her ablaze when she threatened to speak up about the rape, according to rediff.com. The woman is hospitalized in critical condition with burns on 90 percent of her body.[vi]

This is another recent example of gross violation of human rights that is committed on February 8, 2004. The inhuman act committed against this woman shows the persistent evil within the caste system in India as well as existence of fanatic Hinduism within government that allows upper caste Hindu to commit violence.

Expectation from escaping

Choo-o, choo-o, na chee! O je chandalini’r jhi!
Noshto hobe je doi, she kotha jaano na ki?

(Don’t touch her, don’t touch her, ugh!
She’s the daughter of a Dalit woman!
Your yogurt will get spoiled, don’t you know?)

–Song from Rabindranath Tagore’s
Bengali dance drama Chandalika[vii]

Ghose (2003) has recited Tagore’s, a famous Bengali poet who got noble prize in literature in 1921, ‘Chandalika’ for showing desires of dalit woman to be respected, “In Chandalika, Prakriti, a young dalit woman, falls in love with a Buddhist monk, Ananda, who wins her heart by drinking water from her cup…. who encourages her to take to Buddhism to escape the cycle of degradation.” It is earlier mentioned that caste people do not touch water, food, and even shadow of dalits. Expectation of dalits from escaping their own religion is to get rid of degradation and inhuman treatment. Christian missionaries have chapel services that might be considered as the attracting factors for having a better life. A question may arise why dalits also convert to Muslim and Buddhist because these religions do not have chapel services. The answer is to get rid of century old caste system that has crashed their identity and respected as human being. A religious identity is very crucial for dalits in India. Being Hindu they do not feel proud as Hindu. Shah (2001) has explained the identity that dalits search for with some basic questions that may insist dalits to convert, “…who are WE?…What positions do we have in the society vis-à-vis other communities?….how are we related to others?… ”

Government of India has quota system in education, employment, in legislature and in parliament. When dalits convert, they usually fall out of the caste quota that is allocated for them. Either a religious identity and community is more important to them than government provided facilities or a negligible part of the dalit community is benefited by the quota system that does not fulfill dalits’ needs in general.

Very rigid structure: no where to escape
Dalits, in fact, trapped within a rigid structure of India society form which they can not escape, even after religious conversion. Dalits’ struggle against Bhaminis has encouraged them for converting to other faiths, which offers an identity and equal status. Vedantam (2002) has persuaded that dalis realized their similar kind of discrimination in other religion too, “…such a change neither improves their social status nor remedies their economic problems of unemployment and poverty… Sikh places of worship have separate quarters for dalit Sikhs. High-caste Muslims do not marry dalit Muslims. Dalit Christians can hardly hope to reach any high position within the church.” They may not face other form of assault like rape, abuse, and discriminations but still there is a gray line that alienates them. In the recent days dalits convert to Buddhism, they might have been realized the sense of equality in Buddhism as well as are encouraged by the idol Ambedkar who said, “…of all religions only Buddhism advocates equality of all human beings as a fundamental principle” (Vedantam: 2002).

Gandhi had taken initiatives to reconstruct Indian society, he named dalits as ‘Harijans’, which means ‘the children of God’ and he put lot of efforts to upgrade dalits living standards and quarters even though Gandhi was criticized by the Ambedkar. An argument can be raised from Prashad (1999) that a benevolent leader like Gandhi was not able to come out from the rigid structure, “when a dalit gave Gandhi some nuts, he fed them to his goat, saying that he would eat them later, in the goat’s milk. Most of Gandhi’s food, nuts and grains, came from Birla House…..” Either Gandhi’s efforts to break the wall of discrimination by the term ‘Harijan’ might have been a political hypocrisy or a wholehearted initiative but as an upper caste Hindu his rigidity with the caste society was widely criticized by dalit leaders.

Dalits have their umbrella organization National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), which is quite capable to negotiate with national, international and United Nations treaty bodies. NCDRH works closely with many dalit movements, activists, academics and organizations. NCDRH worked hard in the UN CERD 61 Session that was held in Geneva, Switzerland on 10th August 2002, where the decision was made by the committee to draft a General Recommendation of the caste based discrimination. However, dalits have continued fighting for rights with a goal to bring changes within the rigid structure.

Conclusion
Article 18 (1) of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) ensures the freedom of religion and religious beliefs, “…..Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice…. ” Therefore the anti conversion law enacted in Tamil Nadu and Gujrat has gone against the interest of U.N. even though defenders of the law may argue strongly on the ground of words like ‘force’ and ‘allurement’ that sounds legally accurate and defendable but the intention behind the law is vicious and evil. In the presence of protests and criticism why government is in its full pace to implement anti conversion law, which could be a relative question. Firstly, BJP, VHP, Congress and leaders of other political parties and groups keep the concept of caste based discrimination away from racial discrimination to divert the argument of international community on the ground of racial discrimination because these parties’ ideology represent hierarchical Hinduism and Casteism. Secondly, Indian bureaucracy and Judicial body are mostly consists of caste Hindus. Therefore, atrocities against dalits occur in spite of constitutional guarantees, and administration harasses dalits under the power of anti conversion law. And this is a worse example of the victim of evil law that fulfils the desires of majority caste Hindus.

References
Behind Jayalalithaa’s Ordinance, Volume 19 - Issue 22, October 26 - November 08, 2002, India’s National Magazine from the publishers of THE HINDU, (URL: http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1922/stories/20021108002903300.htm). Site visited on March 09, 2004.
Dalit Raped and Set on Fire (02/18/04), (URL: http://www.dalit-awakening.org/docs/news/2004/dalit021804.html). Site visited on March 09, 2004.
Discrimination Against Women, (URL: http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/india/women.html). Site visited on January 16, 2004.
Ghose, Sagarika (Spring, 2003) ‘The dalit in India. (caste and social class )’, (URL: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m2267/1_70/102140949/p1/article.jhtml). Site visited on March 09, 2004
Lindner, John (Editor, Christian Aid Mission) ‘India State Enacts Anti-Conversion Law’,(URL: http://www.crosswalk.com/). Site visited on March 09, 2004.
Prashad, Vijay (1999) ‘Untouchable Freedom: A Critique of the Bourgeois-Landlord Indian State’, Chapter 6, Subaltern Studies X, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, p.175
Shah, Ghanshyam (2001) ‘Dalit Movement and the Search for Identity’, Chapter 9, Dalit Identity and Politics, New Delhi: sage, p. 195.
Vedantam, Vatsala (June 19, 2002) ‘Still untouchable: the politics of religious conversion’, Christian Century, (URL: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m1058/13_119/88581910/p1/article.jhtml). Sited visited on March 09, 2004.
Venugopal, Dr Justice P. (Retd) (May 11, 2003) ‘Why Anti-Conversion Law needed’, Organiser, (URL: http://www.organiser.org/11May2003/p14.htm). Site visited March 09, 2004.

End Notes
[i] Contravention can attract a jail term up to three years and a fine of Rs. 50,000. If the convert is “a minor, a woman or a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe,” the jail term can be for five years and the fine Rs.1 lakh. For details see, , visited on March 09, 2004.
[ii] The ordinance follows the pattern of those passed by the Madhya Pradesh state government in 1968, and the Arunachal Pradesh state government in 1978. Orissa enacted the “Orissa Freedom of Religion Act” in 1968, which was overturned by a higher court, and then restored by India’s Supreme Court in 1973. For detail see, , accessed on March 09, 2004.
[iii] Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said existing laws were not adequate to curb conversions. There had been reports of such conversions from Virdunagar, Ramanathapuram and Theni districts, she said. “More recently, there were similar reports from Kancheepuram district,” she said. For detail see, rediff.com: Anti-conversion bill passed by Tamil Nadu assembly , accessed on March 09, 2004.
[iv] The Dalit Panthers of India leader, R. Tirumavalavan, termed the law “anti-Dalit”, as it would force Dalits to accept untouchability crimes without seeking refuge in other religions. Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam president, M.H.Jawaharullah has termed the law as a black law. Tamil Nadu Bishop Council president and Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore, Arul Das James, said Christians were “greatly shocked, distressed and disappointed” at the “draconian” ordinance. For detail see, , visited on March 09, 2004.
[v] The case of Ramvathi Chandra is quoted here from ‘amnestyusa’ web site, for detail see Discrimination Against Women, , site visited on January 16, 2004.
[vi] The news ‘Dalit Raped and Set on Fire (02/18/04)’ is quoted from , site visited on March 09, 2004.
[vii] Quoted from Sagarika Ghose’s ‘The dalit in India.(caste and social class )’ for detail see(URL: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m2267/1_70/102140949/p1/article.jhtml). Site visited on March 09, 2004.

Response Paper on The UN Security Council, Indifferences, and Genocide in Rwanda by Michael N. Barnett

Michael N. Barnett’s the key argument in the article is the indifference of UN bureaucracy that is focused as responsible for the Security Council’s (SC) failure in Rwanda. Barnett’s realization from his Rwanda experience has been also echoed from the voice of Secretary-General Kofi Annan[i], “In Rwanda 1994, and at Srebrenica in 1995, we had peacekeeping troops on the ground at the very place and time where genocidal acts were being committed” (press release: 1). Barnett has sorted out Bureaucracy as responsible for the production of indifference within UN system; on the other hand Annan’s realization is the lack of will of UN. But it would be interesting to see that how indifference raised the lack of interest as well as concerned about the reputation of UN which in turn can be claimed as the reason for lack of will.
Barnett’s topic “The UN Security Council, Indifference, and Genocide in Rwanda” is very significant in the context of growing conflicts in the world. Especially the role of UN is important to deal with the conflicts and save the innocents and sufferers of arm conflict, war and genocide. What can make UN effective and useful organization is a growing concern. Barnett has dared enough to criticize what is wrong within UN. From the bitter experiences of Burundi, Bosnia, Srebrenica and Rwanda it is well proven that UN is an institution of normative, customary and legally binding documents that is unable to take action against genocide. Barnett has argued the bureaucratization within UN was responsible for the lack of response in Rwanda. His findings could be a logical guideline for reforming UN.
Barnett has adopted story telling approach to share his experiences about Genocide in Rwanda. The Author was appointed as the political officer at the U.S. mission to United Nations (UN) with the assignment to cover Rwanda. As a political officer, Barnett had to read and write cables on many issues. The author spent time extend the mandate of UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) (page 551). UNMAIR was assigned to monitor the implementation of Arusha Accords to end the civil war between Tutsi-backed Rwandan Patriotic Forces (RPF) and the Hutu dominated Rwandan Government. According to the Author’s view the U.S. emphasized on notifying the Rwanda government for the establishment of transitional government.
The author has expressed his feeling of how had he become a bureaucrat by slowly adopting the norms, practices, words, languages and slang used by his colleagues. At the very beginning of his career in Rwanda the following questions about the bureaucracy popped in to his mind:
Who handled what issues?
Who had accessed to key decision makers?
Who are the counterparts at other missions to UN and other department in Washington?
What had transpired in the Security Council (SC)?
(page 554)
As a process of becoming a bureaucrat the author had started understanding the arguments, debate, culture and practices of bureaucracy that mark insiders from outsiders. The author came to know from the discussion with participants of peace keeping mission that the UN lives in “ivory tower”. The bureaucrats of UN live in the unreal world, which is straight far away from reality. The author realized during performing his duties as cable writer how the text of the cable should reflect the language of his superior boss. Barnett has experienced the difference of thoughts and beliefs between his colleagues in Washington and New York. Over the passage of time he learned how to respect and reflect U.S. national interest. Thus the author had successfully adopted the bureaucratic style to work at UN and started thinking in terms of “us” instead of “me” and “them” (page 557).
After the mysterious crash of Habyarimana’s plane on April 6, the fear of bloodshed fueled across the Rwanda where UNAMIR was not prepared to control the deteriorating situation. It was the beginning of Genocide and UNAMIR became helpless. Barnett has mentioned some factors for explaining the debate over Security Council’s (SC) decision to reduce the mandate and presence of UNAMIR. “…Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s office and DPKO gave an impression of distance and aloofness from the emerging tragedy” (page 558). Secretariat could not decide how to deal with the crisis moments and as a result of it the troops of UNAMIR was in trouble. Member states distrusted UN to provide with soldiers. The author has indicated the Boutros-Ghali’s indecisions. Death of Belgian peacekeepers, Belgian government’s indecision on the withdrawal of Belgian troops, and member countries unwillingness to contribute troops in the UNAMIR came out as the silence of SC, which in turn interpreted as disapproval to intervene in Rwanda. Finally the withdrawal of Belgian troops pulled out the backbone of UNAMIR. It is also exclaimed by Kofi Annan that while the UNAMIR deserved more troops, UN astonishingly withdrew. Annan says, “… the gravest mistakes were made by Member States, particularly in the way decisions were taken in the Security Council” (press release: 1).
Barnett has shown how SC was in trouble to ensure the peace keepers security and on the other hand SC was very much concerned about the reputation of UN. On April 21, SC was decided to withdraw the bulk of UNAMIR. SC failed to respond effectively with the UN Force Commander General Dallaire, which proved that UN lives in “ivory tower” where peace keepers were in the real world. Barnett has argued that SC reduced the UNAMIR rather than increasing intervention force when the massacres had been taken place in Rwanda. The inaction and frustration of UN experienced in Rwanda can be simply highlighted from Anna’s speech, “there can be no more important issue, no more binding obligation, than the prevention of genocide” (press release: 1).
Barnett has taken side of the U.S. in this paper to criticize UN’s plan of deploying 5,000 troops to Kigali as “….the troops had no real idea what they would do once they arrive” (page 560). The author has defended U.S. by saying that the media represented U.S. as the major obstacle for UN intervention but U.S. in his view, “…only blocked the adoption of a proposal that was designed to save the face for the Security Council…”. In my opinion, this could be considered as Barnett’s weakness in this paper that he carefully saved the face of U.S. and he hesitated to be critical about U.S. role to UN.
Barnett focused SC’s lack of interest at French intervention and SC feared that French would tie with Hutus but later on reluctantly approved. U.S. and other countries came up with humanitarian assistance and UNAMIR increased in number while “… 500,000 and 800,000 people had perished, and 2 million had become refugees” (page 561).
The author has made a pessimistic comment, “…UN could not be expected to intervene whenever danger and bloodshed occurred” (page 561). Barnett raised some vital questions, which he tried to analyze though out the paper. He was critical to UN’s role in Rwanda and had answered reasons behind the inaction of UN.

• Why the needs of UN overrode the needs of those who were the targets of genocide?
• Why neither Secretariat nor any member state petitioned the S.C. to assemble an intervention force?
• Why most of the member states restrained UN from further involvement?
• How did desire to protect UN’s reputation become a justification for not intervening?
  (page 561)

Barnett has identified bureaucratization of peacekeeping as the source of production of indifference that is responsible for the sufferings of peacekeepers as well as the failure of UN. Therefore, the author raised the questions that have doubt about UN’s ability to deal with genocide.
Why the Security Council agonized over its decision?
Why I and the others were adamant that the UN’s reputation was part of the moral calculus?
How the decision not to halt the genocide came to be understood and defined as ethical and moral?
(Page 562)
Barnett has analyzed Michael Herzfeld’s five observations to strengthen his concepts of relationship between peacekeeping and indifferences. Barnett has found that state bureaucracies create boundaries between people and itself; bureaucracy is marker between members and non members of the community and citizenship; bureaucracy applies rights on identity basis as race, religion, and gender etc.; bureaucrats have dual identity, as a member of particular national community they create boundaries between themselves and those outside the national state, as a member of bureaucracy they separate bureaucracy from society; bureaucrats pursue their own goals in such a fashion that it appears as if they follow societal or bureaucratic interest (page 562-563). The author pointed similar bureaucracy within UN that defines member and nonmembers of the community, applies rights on the members, and thus produces differences and indifferences. The author has applied Max Weber’s and Herzfeld’s theories to explain the indifference of UN bureaucracy and “persistence of evil in a divinely ordered world” (page 563). State sovereignty and non interference had been given importance over universal rights of people by the UN. Hence the comment of author has made it more significant, “Throughout the cold war, the UN favored the security of states over the security of peoples and individuals” (page 565).
UN over the passage of time especially at the post cold war era raised voice for human security that the UN should be concerned about the security of people and citizens beside states. The argument is here about whose security, state or citizens of the state. Peacekeepers responsibilities have been modified for not only to monitor a cease fire between states but to take part in the nation building process. Hence Barnett has identified the UN’s shift in policies from intervention to peacekeeping, “…as officials in and around the UN took greater care to protect the organization’s interest, reputation, and future” (page 569). Barnett has explained about the SC’s inaction to intervene in Burundi and Bosnia on the ground of neutrality and impartiality. The bureaucracy of UN is too much concerned about its failure and success. The author has criticized UN’s shift in policies during post cold war and pointed out why UN has slowly shifted its role. In authors opinion this shift is because UN bureaucracy fears from failing in case of intervention and scares from loosing reputation and future. Bureaucratization has limited UN’s capacity for the sake of its reputation by imposing conditions of where to act and where not to act. Annan’s comment on the fall of Srebrenica is relevant to support Barnett’s evidences about the inaction of UN, “…I dew attention to serious doctrinal and institutional failings within the United Nations…..‘pervasive ambivalence regarding the role of force in the pursuit of peace’…institutional ideology of impartiality even when confronted with attempted genocide” (press release: 2).
Barnett has argued that there is tension between international community comprised of sovereign states and international community comprised of individuals and people. Therefore, the members of the Security Council are not just representatives of their states but also representatives of international community. Member states had not interested to provide UN with their troops to strengthen UNAMIR at a risky intervention because Rwanda was out of the national interest of them as well as out of strategic consideration of permanent member states. Hence Barnett has answered the question he raised earlier, “why neither Secretariat nor any member state petitioned the S.C. to assemble an intervention force?”
Even though General Dallaire was optimistic to halt the genocide by limited military intervention but secretariat did not communicate UNAMIR’s recommendation to security council, which led us to rethink Annan’s comment, “…a lack of resources and a lack of will to take on the commitment which would have been necessary to prevent or to stop the genocide” (press release: 2). Barnett realized that the ‘experts’, an expert like himself, work in UN mission were concerned about UN and reluctant about Rwanda. This expertise is derived from the bureaucratic responsibilities that train up bureaucrats to be committed about their bureaucratic institution. Distance from the reality is another lacking of UN where officials were discussing in New York while the tragedy took place in Rwanda. The irony is that Rwanda’s member in the SC, who was a member of ruling coalition and was not expelled from SC, did not bridge the gap between Secretariat and the Rwanda to stop genocide (page 573). While the member states were unwilling to increase intervention force, UN was busy in constant sessions and producing flood of documents that results in no action where UNAMIR was witnessing the massacre in Rwanda. Annan truly feels the urge to reform UN when he says, “…I felt obliged to warn General Assembly of the dangers of inaction in the face of such massive violations” (press release: 3).
The strength of the Barnett’s paper is, he has clearly identified and analyzed the limitation of UN to deal with genocide. He has noticed that bureaucratization of peacekeeping has produced indifferences, which shapes UN as a secular cathedral where evils like genocide in Rwanda can persist along with UN’s inaction. Therefore, Barnett has come up with recommendation for professionalizing peace keeping without giving proper explanations and directories of how peace keeping can be professionalized. Major weakness of Barnett is that he has not given other strong recommendation for UN’s reformation even though he has proved UN’s inaction with respect to genocide that indicates UN requires a reformation. A few good ideas for reforming UN have been cited by Annan in his speech where he is suggesting, “…State parties to the Genocide convention should consider setting up a Committee on the prevention of genocide …..which would make recommendation for action…”, he also suggests, “…we should also consider establishing a Special Rapporteur on the prevention of genocide…” (press release: 3). Hence Annan has come up with some concrete suggestions. A new question may arise that how effective the Committee and Special Rapporteur could be to react against genocide. Are these Committees and Special Rapporteurs free from Barnett’s bureaucratic indifferences and sluggish process of action that is unable to response quickly against genocide?
In my opinion, another weakness of Barnett is that he has avoided being more critical on U.S. policies in Rwanda and UN’s dependency on U.S. policies. UN’s poverty of policies for the dependency on U.S. is strongly criticized by Richard Falk[ii] (2003) regarding the U.S. invasion in Iraq as he says, “…The UNSC responded timidly with its own opportunistic compromise in the form of 1441, seeking to preserve their relevance by imposing some conditions on the authorization to make war…”.
However, this is for sure from the criticism of Barnett and from the speech of Kofi Annan that UN must be upgraded with some reformation. I agree with Barnett because as long as the bureaucratization of peacekeeping is not eradicated, UN would not be able to protect the victims of genocide and unfortunately world has to watch the catastrophe of arm conflicts. If the evil like genocide persists within the human civilization and UN fails to stop it, UN will loose its reputation that it fears from to loose for its inaction. Annan’s optimistic comment is ended with a doubtful question as he says, “…as an international community we have a clear obligation to prevent genocide….the question is, do we have will?” (press release 4). Quite similar frustration echoed from Barnett (page 577), “…UN, as an international community’s secular cathedral…”, where the evil persists.

End Notes:
[i] Secretary-General tells Stockholm International Forum (26/01/2004), ‘Genocide is threat to peace requiring strong, united action’, Press Release SG/SM/9126
[ii] Richard Falk (March 19, 2003), ‘Challenging the United Nations’,, accessed on February 7, 2004.