UNPFII - joint statement on migration of women to the cities to work as domestic help

7^th Session of United Nations Permanent forum on Indigenous Issues

April 21- May 2, 2008

New York

Agenda item no. 8

Joint statement by Meenakshi Munda -Mundari Literary Council, Rashmi Ekka Chotanagpur Rising Association

Madam Chair, Distinguished member of the UNPFII

Honorable Representative of the observer States, UN special agencies

Fellow Indigenous brothers and sisters from around the World

Ladies and Gentleman

I bring cordial greeting to you from our people. Madam i wish to speak in general. Firstly, we have been raising on this platform several issues affecting our people.

After the formation of new state Jharkhand, there has been sudden increase in the migration of the indigenous people from our state. Most of the female leaving their home working in the metropolis cities as a domestic helper the local data says about more than 70,000 females have been migrated.This migration is forming a pattern and this being followed. The natural calamities have frequently affected most of the regions of Jharkhand in the from of drought, poor crop production and failure of of supporting produce. On the other hand Government policies have failed to handle the issue of development and the problem of migration and on the other the ignorance of the tribals of the region have promoted their migration from the native place. There are in numerous government policies and program for tribals but benefits at the ground level seems negligible. Poverty, demographic pressure the means of income or the land available for the cultivation is fixed but the population of the family is increasing by each generatin other factors are lack of education, lack of employment, naxal activities are the prime factor that promotes migration, all these factors are interlinked.

Early 21st century has witnessed a large emigration especially from the wester region of Jharkhand. The district like Gumla, Simdega,Lohardaga, latehar, Palamu and Daltenganj are the most affected ones.Every individual who is distressed and is deprived develops a wish to visit metropolitan world for the betterment of life. Though this kind of shift of natives from their original habitat enhances their economic status but they are definitely at losers' end regarding social status, particularly in case of females, many young girls returning to their native place as unmarried mother which is culturally not acceptable in my place. Recently there has been death caused by the AIDS. Moreover, these young women face a high degree of physical and economic exploitation. This causes psychological stress and strain.

Our Recommendations:

• Let all the placement agencies get registered
• Let there be one Directory of the Forum, where there will the names and addresses of placement agencies and domestic workers
• Let the girls names and addresses be registered properly at Placement Agencies.
• Awareness program should be given at native place and place of destination
• Placement agencies should become the member of Domestic Workers Forum
• Terms and conditions for girls should be made in a concrete way in Agencies and there should not be any kind of ambiguity in rules and procedures.

Thank You Madam Chair.

UNPFII - Joint statement on education and migration

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Seventh Session, April 21 - May 2, 2008

Agenda Item 8

Joint Statement by: Stephen Ekka, PAJHRA (Promotion and Advancement of Justice Harmony and Rights of Adivasis); Anjali Tirkey, Dorothy Kujur, John B. Ekka, Rashmi Ekka, Vincent Minz, Chotanagpur Rising Association; Meenakshi Munda, Mundari Literary Society; Nicholas Barla, Rourkela Social Service Society,

Respected Madam, Chairperson, Distinguished Member of Permanent Forum, Honorable representatives of the UN agencies, delegates and friends,

JOHAR! Greetings from us, the representatives of the Adivasis from India.

We are the Adivasis meaning aboriginals or original inhabitants or tribals of India. We would like to present some of the prevailing conditions of the Adivasi youth and children, related to Education and Migration.

We all know that education and awareness is the pre-requisite of any change we can dream of. But the very literacy rate amongst the Adivasi in India throws light on the pathetic situation of our people. I state some examples from Assam. The Adivasis are about six million in Assam which is approximately 20% of Assam's population. The Literacy rate amongst Adivasis is as low as 5% where as the overall Literacy rate in Assam is 57%.

Studies show that the then British Government in India, who brought the Adivasis as indentured labourers to work in the tea-estates wanted the people to remain illiterate and cocooned to a life in tea-plantations so that there was a continuous supply of cheap labourers. Even when the country gained freedom, nothing really worthwhile happened in the tea-gardens. The attitude of the tea-planters remained by and large the same. Shrouded by a slave like life in the tea-gardens, struggling with the economics of survival, unaware of their rights and the opportunities, the majority of people of the tea garden and ex- tea garden do not value education. The tea garden management does not provide adequate facility for education for the fear that if the Adivasis are educated; they would refuse to work in the tea garden as labourers for a meagre wage which is not even a dollar a day. Ineffective implementation of Government Education Schemes in the Tea & ex-Tea Garden area is another dominant factor which has deprived the Adivasi children from education.

Majority of the Adivasis work in the tea garden for their sustenance. Those in the villages too work seasonally in the tea garden. This total dependency in the tea garden has created a psyche that they don't have a future outside tea garden. Adivasi children are deprived of education because a large number of them are engaged in child labour. Many remain at home to take care of their younger siblings. There is no middle and high school within the tea garden. The dropout rates are more than 90% among the Adivasis. Even those who venture to go to nearby middle school have to face many challenges because they become alien amid the non Adivasi children. The management and the government do not pay attention to the requirements for promoting education. It is worth mentioning that lack of quality infrastructure; teachers and non-functioning of schemes like mid-day meal scheme etc. fail to attract the parents and children. The medium of instruction being a non Adivasi language add to their disinterest and disadvantage. The syllabus of the primary school is no way related with Adivasi life. There is no mention of their language, culture, history etc and hence the subjects too become alien to the children.

The about 50,000 children and youth in the relief camps (an aftermath of the 1996, 1998 ethnic clash) still have no education or even health facilities, making a whole generation illiterate.

Lack of education and job opportunities have forced the people to migrate to cities looking for daily wage jobs or join the unorganised sectors like that of domestic workers. This has led to further exploitations of Adivasis. In Delhi alone it is estimated that there are about 85,000 to 100,000 female Adivasi domestic labourers, most of them are unmarried and in the age group of 12 to 25.Likewise their numbers may run into thousands in other metropolitans of India like Kolkatta, Mumbai and Chennai. In these unorganised sectors, the Adivasis become easy prey to exploitations of many kinds like instances of girls being sold, missing, physical torture and punishments, brutal sexual abuses. What is still more serious, frightening and pitiful is that this young adivasis are compelled to become a generation of exploited, oppressed, abused, rejected, passive, non-reactive because of the way they are being ill-treated. This is going to have its terrible negative impacts on the generation to come.

Migration and Land alienation is also causing the cultural alienation of Adivasis. When the whole community migrates for survival strategy the tribal life is not much affected. However, when the migration is forced or induced as in the case of Assam, Bengal, Andaman and Punjab the tribal life, values, identity are disastrously and sometimes irreversibly affected. Invariably this uprooted group has been marginalized socially, politically, culturally and in fact in every sphere of life. For example in Assam, the Adivasis are not even recognized as Scheduled Tribes unlike their counterparts in other states of India.

Our Recommendations:

· We would like your office to impress upon the Indian government to take special interest in the Education of its Adivasi children. For we understand that education is liberation.

· To make policies and schemes which makes education a must and also to see its proper implementations. Implementation is an area where the Indian Government is wanting.

· To introduce free education at least in primary and lower levels and to see that there exists conducive environment to act as incentive for children to study.

· To introduce schools in the rural areas so that children do not have to travel long distances and to have hostels in cities for adivasi children and youth so that they can live in the cities and acquire education.

· To introduce learning in ones own mother tongue especial in primary and lower level of education. This becomes more important where the regional language or the state language is not ones own mother tongue.

· While child labour is banned there are many loop holes in the policy and also in the implementation process. The government must check this and see that every child receives education.

· To make adult education a reality.

· To introduce schools with good infra-structure and human resource and to revive and revitalise the existing schools.

· To introduce mother tongue as a medium of instruction and to include our history and culture as a part of the curriculum.

· To make policies which give opportunities of jobs and work in the ones own area so that it mitigates migration.

· To introduce laws and to make the domestic workers sector more organised with proper work and wage policies.

· To do a proper research and study on migration to urban areas. Some of such induced or forced migrations are man- made and hence man can find solutions for them. One must analyze the historical forces and constraints which normally create causes and nuances of migration. And therefore one must find out the processes, forces and constraints that can become appropriate strategies for relieving them and for migration planning in order to help alleviate those human problems.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

PAJHRA

Chotanagpur Rising Association

Rourkela Social Service Society

Mundari Literary Society

In the News

Lalit K Jha

Thursday, May 1, 2008 (United Nations)

Participating in the ongoing meeting of the United Nations Permanent Mission on Indigenous Issues, tribal leaders from Assam have sought help of international community in safeguarding their interests and protecting their basic rights in this North-Eastern State.

In two different memorandums submitted to the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedom of indigenous people, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, a group of about half-a-dozen tribal organizations, have urged him to impress upon the Indian Government to recognize adivasis of Assam in the Schedule Tribe list. These tribal had migrated from Jharkhand during the British era to work in the tea garden.

''In Assam the adivasis are not even recognized as Scheduled Tribes unlike their counterparts in other States of India. Long years of subjugation and suppression have made the adivasi people suffer from low self image,'' it said.

In a meeting with the Special Rapporteur, they also raised the issue of attack on a rally of All Adivasi Student's Association of Assam (AASAA) on November 24 in which a large number of people were injured.

''We urged the Special Rapporteur to seek information on this issue from the Government of India and also to visit the country for his own assessment of the situation in Assam,'' Stephen Ekka, director of the Tejpur-based PAJHRA told NDTV.com in an interview. PAJHRA stands for Promotion and Advancement of Justice, Harmony and Rights of Adivasis.

The memorandum requested the Special Rapporteur to impress upon the Indian Government to do a fair enquiry and punish the guilty of the 24th November incident.

It also sought his help in urged the Indian Government for quick rehabilitation of the displaced adivasis and victimization and atrocities committed against them.

The alleged Guwahati incident was also brought to the attention of Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; Human Rights Council; Council on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and Committee Against Torture.

''The Government has been very unsympathetic towards the community,'' said the memorandum.
However, the participating tribal leaders are not sure if their voice would be heard or not, if this help in getting their demands meet back home. ''How, far it would be helpful, I am not sure,'' Anjali Tirkey Ekka of Chotanagpur Rising Association, said. She was disappointed with the poor response from the Special Rapporteur, who according to her said could only visit India if allowed and only after he was given all the documented proof of the incident.

To read it on NDTV, click here.