Hidden Apartheid was produced as a “shadow report” to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), in advance of its February 2007 consideration of a report by the government of India.

CERD is a body of independent experts responsible for monitoring states’ compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. India ratified the Convention in 1968. The Convention guarantees rights of non-discrimination on the basis of “race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin.” In 1996, CERD concluded that the plight of Dalits falls squarely under the prohibition of descent-based discrimination.