admin – Race and Equality

16Apr 2021 by admin No Comments

Call for Photography: “Portraying Diversity”

English, LGBTI, Race and Equality, Regional

Washington D.C., April 16, 2021- The call for photography: “Portraying Diversity” is a regional initiative of the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality). This project is part of the commemoration of the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (May 17) and the International LGBTI+ Pride Day (June 28), with the aim of making visible the diverse identities in Latin American and the Caribbean, as well as demanding for the respect and guarantee of rights of the LGBTI+ population. “Each year we commemorate these dates in order to create more visibility around people with diverse sexual orientation and gender identities, as well as make visible the situations they face in their respective countries. This year, among the commemorative actions that we have proposed, we include this…

16Apr 2021 by admin No Comments

Three years of impunity in Nicaragua: Race and Equality Demands Truth, Justice, Reparations, and Non-Repetition

Nicaragua

Washington, D.C., April 16, 2021 – On this third anniversary of the unleashing of the sociopolitical crisis in Nicaragua – which has left more than 300 people assassinated, hundreds of political prisoners, thousands of exiles, and numerous cases of grave human rights violations – the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race and Equality) joins its voice to the appeals for truth, justice, reparations, and non-repetition, and urges the State to cease the repression and guarantee the conditions of freedom and democracy that Nicaraguans yearn for. Context A de facto state of emergency exists in Nicaragua that is manifested in the growing restrictions to civic space; grave human rights violations; more than 100 political prisoners continuing to languish in Nicaragua’s jails; the inadequate management of the health crisis…

12Apr 2021 by admin No Comments

Cuba: activists demand an adequate response to the “silent pandemic” of gender-based violence

Cuba, English, Race and Equality

Washington, D.C., April 12, 2021.- On International Women’s Day 2021 (March 8th), the Cuban government published Presidential Decree 198/2021, which inaugurated the National Program for the Advancement of Women (known by its Spanish initials, PAM). According to the decree, the PAM “forms the cornerstone in the development of pro-women policies, while furthering the advancement and development of gender equality in Cuba and the institutionalization of this right.” The decree comes as Cuban activists and civil organizations demand a law against gender-based violence in response to alarming levels of violence against women and girls on the island. So far in 2021, civil society organizations have documented 10 murders of women; civil society counted 32 women, including two girls, murdered in 2020. Cuban women’s demands On November 21, 2019, 40 women representing…

09Apr 2021 by admin No Comments

IACHR begins formal process to determine the State of Cuba’s responsibility for human rights violations against activists

Cuba, English, IACHR, Race and Equality

Washington, D.C. - April 8, 2021.- The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has agreed to process a petition presented by the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality). In the petition, Race and Equality requested that the Commission find the State of Cuba responsible for human rights violations including arbitrary detention, unjust imprisonment, and torture against members of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) between October 2019 and April 2020. The petition lists José Daniel Ferrer García (UNPACU’s founder and leader), Fernando González Vaillant, Roilan Zarraga Ferrer, and José Pupo Chaveco as victims, documenting that the four men were detained without an arrest warrant on October 1st, 2019, in violation of both Cuban law and Cuba’s international human rights commitments.[1] Race and Equality has requested…

09Apr 2021 by admin No Comments

Cuba: The International Community Must Demand Accountability from the Cuban Government For Its Actions and to Immediately Stop Unlawful Short-term Arbitrary Detentions, House Arrests, Forced Exile, and Smear Campaigns against Dissenting Voices

Cuba, English, Race and Equality

In response to the aggressive acts committed by police officers in recent weeks against Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) activists on hunger strike; the beatings and arrests of members of the San Isidro Movement; the forced exile imposed on Cuban citizens, making them stateless; permanent house arrests; and smear campaigns against journalists, artists, and dissidents, the undersigned 7 organizations issue the following statement: “We are deeply concerned about the ongoing pattern of repression against critical voices which are freely expressing themselves over the current status quo in the country. We call on the international community to urgently focus on Cuba. International organizations, the foreign press, democratic governments, and embassies present in Havana must rigorously monitor systemic human rights violations, provide assistance to human rights defenders who suffer abuse, and demand…