Child Labour, Caste Discrimination Closely Interlinked In India: UN Report

The Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur said deep-rooted intersecting forms of discrimination, in combination with multiple other factors, are the main causes of contemporary forms of slavery affecting minorities.

Child labour, caste-based discrimination and poverty are closely interlinked in India, according to a UN report which highlighted contemporary forms of slavery, including severe discrimination against Dalit women in South Asia due to which they are systematically denied choices and freedoms in all spheres of life.

Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Tomoya Obokata, in his report on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, said that deep-rooted intersecting forms of discrimination, in combination with multiple other factors, are the main causes of contemporary forms of slavery affecting minorities.

They are often the result of historical legacies, such as slavery and colonisation, systems of inherited status, and formalised and state-sponsored discrimination, he said.

Obokata said in the report to the UN General Assembly Wednesday that child labour (among children 5 to 17 years of age), including its worst forms, exists in all regions of the world.