C O M M E N T

Britain hikes visa fee to make more money from immigrants

THE British Government on March 7 sharply hiked the visa fee for non-European migrants, including students and visitors. In some categories, it would cost twice as much to get a visa than it does now, but the proposed increase in student and visitor visa fee is comparatively modest. The new rates will come into effect from April.

A student visa will now cost £99, against the existing £85, and the price of a visitor visa will go up from £50 to £63 (from Rs. 4250 to Rs. 5355 approximately)

Those seeking a work permit visa will be among the hardest hit with the fee going up from £85 to £200.

Migrants applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain in the U.K. (residency permit) will have to pay £750, against the existing fee of £335. The fee for Highly-Skilled Migrants such as doctors, IT professionals and entrepreneurs will go up from £315 to £400. The fee for nationality will rise from £200 to a whopping £575.

The hike, second in the past two years, will affect all categories of non-European Union migrants.

The Government logic was that those who benefited from living in Britain should pay more to fund the immigration system. But the real purpose of the increase was  intended to deter illegal migrants.

Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said: "We believe that it is fair that those who benefit most from using our immigration system - those who come here to live and work - should pay more to fund it. The extra money will help pay for a firm but fair immigration system, tackling illegal working, organised crime, extremism and terrorism. We are committed to making the system easier for those we want to come but tougher on those abusing it.'' But immigrant groups assailed the hike, calling it "unfair'' and "arbitrary''

 Would Britain remain competitive in a global market by improving services for genuine visitors and making the immigration regime more efficient?  Perhaps not.

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India: Open Apartheid

India has failed to uphold its international legal obligations to ensure the fundamental human rights of Dalits, or the so-called untouchables, despite laws and policies against caste discrimination, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice and Human Rights Watch said in a new report. More than 165 million Dalits are condemned to a lifetime of abuse simply because of their caste.

The 113-page report, "Hidden Apartheid: Caste Discrimination against India's 'Untouchables'," was produced as a "shadow report" in response to India's submission to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

On December 27, 2006 Manmohan Singh became the first sitting Indian prime minister to openly acknowledge the parallel between the practice of "untouchability" and the crime of apartheid. he described "untouchability" as a "blot on humanity" adding that "even after 60 years of constitutional and legal protection and state support, there is still social discrimination against Dalits in many parts of our country."

Professor Smita Narula, faculty director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at New York University School of Law, and co-author of the report called it, "The Indian government can no longer deny its collusion in maintaining a system of entrenched social and economic segregation."

The report said, ”Dalits endure segregation in housing, schools, and access to public services. They are denied access to land, forced to work in degrading conditions, and routinely abused at the hands of the police and upper-caste community members who enjoy the state's protection. Entrenched discrimination violates Dalits' rights to education, health, housing, property, freedom of religion, free choice of employment, and equal treatment before the law. Dalits also suffer routine violations of their right to life and security of person through state-sponsored or -sanctioned acts of violence, including torture.”

Caste-motivated killings, rapes, and other abuses are a daily occurrence in India. Between 2001 and 2002 close to 58,000 cases were registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act – legislation that criminalizes particularly egregious abuses against Dalits and tribal community members. A 2005 government report states that a crime is committed against a Dalit every 20 minutes. Though staggering, these figures represent only a fraction of actual incidents since many Dalits do not register cases or fear of retaliation by the police and upper-caste individuals.

Both state and private actors commit these crimes with impunity. Even on the relatively rare occasions on which a case reaches court, the most likely outcome is acquittal. Indian government reports reveal that between 1999 and 2001 as many as 89 percent of trials involving offenses against Dalits resulted in acquittals.

A resolution passed by the European Parliament on February 1, 2007 found India's efforts to enforce laws protecting Dalits to be "grossly inadequate," adding that "atrocities, untouchability, illiteracy, [and] inequality of opportunity, continue to blight the lives of India's Dalits." The resolution called on the Indian government to engage with CERD in its efforts to end caste-based discrimination. Dalit leaders welcomed the resolution, but Indian officials dismissed it as lacking in "balance and perspective."

"International scrutiny is growing and with it the condemnation of abuses resulting from the caste system and the government's failure to protect Dalits," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "India needs to mobilize the entire government and make good on its paper commitments to end caste abuses. Otherwise, it risks pariah status for its homegrown brand of apartheid,” the report added.

Attempts by Dalits to defy the caste order, to demand their rights, or to lay claim to land that is legally theirs are consistently met with economic boycotts or retaliatory violence. For example, in Punjab on January 5, 2006 Dalit laborer and activist Bant Singh, seeking the prosecution of the people who gang-raped his daughter, was beaten so severely that both arms and one leg had to be amputated. On September 26, 2006 in Kherlanji village, Maharashtra, a Dalit family was killed by an upper-caste mob, after the mother and daughter were stripped, eaten and paraded through the village and the two brothers were brutally beaten. They were attacked because they refused to let upper-caste farmers take their land.

After widespread protests at the police's failure to arrest the erpetrators, some of those accused in the killing were finally arrested and police and medical officers who had failed to do their jobs were suspended from duty.

Exploitation of labor is at the very heart of the caste system. Dalits are forced to perform tasks deemed too "polluting" or degrading for non-Dalits to carry out. According to unofficial estimates, more than 1.3 million Dalits – mostly women – are employed as manual scavengers to clear human waste from dry pit latrines. In several cities, Dalits are lowered into manholes without protection to clear sewage blockages, resulting in more than 100 deaths each year from inhalation of toxic gases or from drowning in excrement. Dalits comprise the majority of agricultural, bonded, and child laborers in the country. Many survive on less than US$1 per day.

Dalit children face consistent hurdles in access to education. They are made to sit in the back of classrooms and endure verbal and physical harassment from teachers and students. The effect of such abuses is borne out by the low literacy and high drop-out rates for Dalits.

The Indian government should identify measures taken to ensure appropriate reforms to eliminate police abuses against Dalits and other marginalized communities. It should provide concrete plans to implement laws and government policies to protect Dalits, and Dalit women in particular, from physical and sexual violence. It should also   outline plans to ensure the effective eradication of exploitative labor arrangements and effective implementation of rehabilitation schemes for Dalit bonded and child laborers, manual scavengers, and for Dalit women forced into prostitution.

"International outrage over the treatment of Dalits is matched by growing national discontent," Smita Narula said. "India can't ignore the voices of 165 million citizens."

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BBC Survey: Public Hates Pursuit of Naked Power
Israel, Iran, USA and North Korea Top the List

A majority of people from around the world hold predominantly negative views of Israel, Iran, and the United States. A survey of over 28,000 respondents from 27 countries sponsored by the BBC World Service revealed. Designed by Globescan and the Washington-based Programme for International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), found that 56 percent and 54 percent of all respondents  held mainly negative views of Israel and Iran, respectively. Same way 51 percent and 48 percent said the same about the United States and North Korea, respectively. "It appears that people around the world tend to look negatively on countries whose profile is marked by the use or pursuit of military power,” PIPA director Steven Kull concluded. Countries that relate to the world primarily through soft power, like Japan, France, and the EU in general, tend to be viewed more positively.

And, people admired those countries that cared for their citizens and where peace prevailed.  54 percent said they felt "mainly positive" about both Canada and Japan, while the European Union and France, with a 53 percent and 50 percent "positive" rating, were the next highest among the 12 countries rated in the survey.

Israel and the U.S. have recently used military force, and North Korea and Iran are perceived as trying to develop nuclear weapons are not appreciated.  Respondents in the multi-nation survey, some findings of which have been previously released, included randomly selected samples of between 800 and 1200 people in the three nations of North America; the U.S., Canada, and Mexico and three South American countries; Chile, Argentina, and Brazil besides six Asian countries; India, the Philippines, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, and China; and two African countries, Nigeria and Kenya were part of the survey.  Nine European countries; Russia, Italy, Britain, France, Portugal, Greece, Germany, Poland and Hungary besides four predominantly Muslim countries; the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Lebanon, Egypt, and Turkey were included.

Each respondent was asked to assess whether the influence of the 12 subject countries, which also included Britain, China, India, Russia, and Venezuela, was either "mainly positive" or "mainly negative.”

Israel stood out as having not only the largest number of respondents expressing  a negative opinion about it, but also majorities in the largest  number of countries -- 23 out of 27 disliking it for its hegemonic attitude.. Iran was regarded unfavourably in 21 countries, and the U.S. and North in 20 out of the 27. An average of about one out of four respondents declined to express an opinion one way or another Israel, whose war with Hezbollah last summer in Lebanon undoubtedly affected the results, was seen most negatively in the Arab world and Turkey, only two percent of respondents gave it a "positive" rating and in much of Europe. In Lebanon itself, 85 of respondents said they had a negative opinion of the Jewish State, followed by 78 percent in Egypt, and 76 percent in Turkey.

At the same time, 77 percent of German respondents expressed a negative opinion, as did around two-thirds of Greek, French and British and Australian respondents. In Latin American and Asia, Brazil (72 percent) and Indonesia (71 percent) were the most negative, respectively.

Nations that were most positive about Israel were Nigeria (45 percent positive), the U.S. (41 percent), and Kenya (38 percent).

For Iran, the strongest negative opinions came from Europe, particularly in France (86 percent), Italy (84 percent), Germany (78 percent), Portugal (77 percent), and Britain (76 percent). Three out of four Canadians and Australians also expressed mainly negative opinions about Iran, which Washington and other western powers have accused of pursuing nuclear weapons. In the U.S., 63 percent of respondents gave a negative assessment, a remarkably sharp drop from the 81 percent who expressed a negative opinion in a similar BBC poll take in late 2005.

In Lebanon, opinions on Iran were roughly evenly split, while positive views of the Islamic Republic were most prevalent in Egypt (51 percent positive, 18 percent negative) and Indonesia (50 percent positive, 31 percent negative). In Latin America the greatest negativity was found in Brazil (69 percent); in Africa, Kenya (60 percent); and in East Asia, South Korea (69 percent).

On North Korea, opinions were most negative in Anglophone North America, Australia, and South Korea. Nearly nine out of ten Germans and Australians expressed negative views, nearly eight of 10 South Koreans expressed similar views, as did three out of four U.S., Canadian, and French respondents.

Several countries, however, leaned slightly positively toward Pyongyang, including Lebanon (38 percent positive, 27 percent negative); Turkey (31 percent positive, 22 percent negative); Nigeria (42 percent positive, 28 percent negative); Indonesia (40 percent positive, 37 percent negative); and India (26 percent positive, 18 percent negative).

Among the more positively-viewed countries, Japan was seen most favoured by Indonesians (84 percent), Kenyans and Canadians (74 percent), and Filipinos (70 percent), despite Tokyo's occupation of the archipelago during World War II. Less surprisingly, the most negative views were found in South Korea (58 percent negative) and China (63 percent), both of which have long demanded apologies by Tokyo for abuses committed by its occupation forces.

The EU was viewed positively in 24 out of 27 nations in the survey and given particularly high ratings in EU member-countries themselves, and by Canada, Chile, and South Korea. On the other hand, it was given slightly negative ratings by Turkey (30 percent positive, 32 percent negative), Egypt (10 percent positive, 33 percent negative), and Brazil (31 percent positive, 38 percent negative).

France was given ratings of 54 percent or greater in all European countries, with the exception of Poland (51 percent) and Hungary (40 percent); the two African nations, Lebanon and Canada. In Asia, favourable views were most prevalent in China (62 percent) and South Korea (55 percent).

The most negative views toward France, whose outspoken opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq has won it wide notice, were found in Turkey (69 percent negative, nine percent positive), and the U.S. (41 percent negative, 38 percent positive). The latter finding actually marked an improvement over the previous year two years. In 2004, 52 percent of U.S. respondents said they had mainly negative views of Paris.

On China, the most negative views were found in Europe and the U.S, while the most positive opinions were found in Africa, the Arab world, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Chile. An average of 42 percent of all respondents (except those in China itself) said they had a positive view of Beijing; 32 percent said their view was mainly negative.

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