New York: It was a proud and unthinkable moment for about two score women scavengers from remote parts of India who staged a catwalk with prominent fashion models in front of the representatives of over 150 countries at the United Nations headquarters here Wednesday.

The group of 36 former sanitation workers, with names like Usha Chamour and Sushila Chauhan, from Alwar in Rajasthan, who now hold other respectable jobs, thanks to a rehabilitation programme run by the Indian NGO Sulabh International, also participated in a series of events organised at the UN to mark the International Year of Sanitation 2008.

"On display at the show were traditional couture and silhouettes. The clothes for the fashion models were stitched by these women. The 10 models included Indrani Dasgupta, Aryan Vaid, Tapur and Tupur Chatterjee sisters and Sharad Kapur in a show choreographed by Marc Robinson," a spokesperson for the event told IANS.

The women were invited to New York by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs to showcase to other NGOs how determination can help to uplift the most suppressed women.

Their presence at the world body also highlighted that the basic sanitation facility still eludes millions in India and thousands of low caste women are in the trade of cleaning human excreta from open-air (non-septic) toilets, that too for a pittance.

Addressing dignitaries including Vijay Nambiar, Indian chief of staff of the UN secretary-general, gathered to witness the unique event, Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh International, said: "This is for the first time that these people are being brought to the forefront. This is to spread a message to the entire world that they are not untouchables, they too have a life."