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AIM Australia > The National Community Consultation for Caste Discrimination-NCCCD

Caste in Australia: A Phenomenology of Casteism

Australia’s National Anti-Racism Framework (NARF) recognises caste-based discrimination as a form of intersectional racial discrimination and need for improving protections in anti-discrimination laws. To that effect NARF in recommendation 17 calls upon ‘The Australian Government [to] investigate options for legal protections against caste discrimination, including potential reform of existing legislation.’ A standalone recommendation on prohibiting caste discrimination in Australian law is a significant achievement and a step toward the ultimate goal of amending the Federal Racial Discrimination Act, of 1975, to include caste discrimination as a ground for discrimination. This recognition was only due to the advocacy strategy led by SGRS and AIM within a short span of six months based on the report Caste in Australia: A Phenomenology of Casteism.

The commissioning of the community consultations, of which this report is an outcome, by FECCA and AHRC was to identify statuses of existing forms of racial discrimination and to locate emerging forms of racism in multicultural communities by relying on lived experiences of racialised communities in Australia was with the key aim to inform the development of the National Anti-Racism Framework.

Using this strong foundational base, I developed a multipronged legal advocacy strategy, after submission of this report to FECCA in May 2024 to urgently undertake advocacy on three pillars. First, recognise the existence of caste discrimination in Australian society as a form of pervasive and systemic intersectional racism and not just an inter-personal diaspora community issue. Second, to highlight the extent of casteism in Australia in all aspects of public and private life relying on empirical realities by the data; Finally, adopt a proactive human rights approach to advocacy which involves identifying and engaging government and civil society organisations and media representation to share the insights exhibited from the grassroots.

Full Report

Advocacy

Advocacy based on the report which led to the recognition of caste-based discrimination as a form of intersectional racial discrimination in Australia

As a direct consequence of the advocacy efforts of the Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha Sydney (SGRS) and the Ambedkar International Mission (AIM), the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance issued a formal communication to the Australian Government, Specifically urging the Australian Human Rights Commission and the government to acknowledge caste discrimination as a component of the National Anti-Racism Framework (NARF) and to incorporate it into the Australian Federal Anti-Discrimination Law.

This was possible due to weeks of advocacy and lobbying efforts at the United Nations on behalf of SGRS and AIM. The UN Special Rapporteur on Racism leveraged their mandate from the UN Human Rights Council, which was bolstered by the extensive lobbying efforts, to garner national support for our anti-caste advocacy and the development of the NARF.

  1. Caste in Australia: Lead Researcher Asang Wankhede’s report presentation at FECCA Conference 2024.
    https://youtu.be/RvvRk7M1YOY?si=Psfz9vy8Eiyv_KQ2
  2. ABC News Australia, Prime Time: Caste in Australia report discussion.
    https://youtu.be/nofzv9Ym28c?si=XlrMI433oBbTcCP8
  3. Asang Wankhede ‘Even in Australia, alarming levels of caste discrimination exist. We must fight it with evidence’, The Guardian, 29 October 2024.
    Available at:     https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2024/oct/30/even-in-australia-alarming-levels-of-caste-discrimination-exists-we-must-fight-it-with-evidence