The Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights works to promote racial and ethnic equality for Afro-descendant and indigenous communities – a unique focus among international human rights organizations. We work with Afro-descendant and LGBTI organizations in Colombia, as well as with a wide range of organizations in Latin America fighting racial discrimination or discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In Colombia, where a brutal civil war has raged for decades, the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights strengthens local Afro-Colombian counterparts to confront the limited and contradictory governmental policies against Afro-descendant victims of forced internal displacement and victims of racial discrimination. We reveal patterns of racial discrimination against Afro-Colombians, particularly those which limit their access to education and land.
The Institute provides technical assistance to our counterparts in order to improve their capacity to advocate before the Colombian government and Organization of American States (OAS) to achieve recognition of the ethnic dimension of the internal armed conflict and, consequently, the adoption of a differential focus for satisfying the needs of displaced Afro-Colombians. The Institute also works to increase the capacity of Afro-Colombian lawyers to access and influence regional and international human rights bodies.
We also work to heighten the visibility of the Afro-descendant LGBTI population and provide training to increase the advocacy capacity of organizations working with the Afro-descendant and indigenous LGBTI populations at the national and international levels.
The Institute strengthens the capacity of our counterparts and the leaders of the various countries in which we work, so that they may actively participate in the OAS General Assembly, the Summit of the Americas Process, the Inter-American Human Rights Protection System, as well as the United Nations committee that monitors the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the committee that monitors the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), through the provision of training, technical assistance, and political advocacy.
Latest News
- Colombia undergoes review by the UN CERD Committee as Afro-Colombian Civil Society Organizations Participate
- No more impunity! International Transgender Day of Remembrance
- “The situation of violence against Afro-LGBTI people is invisible and systematic in Latin America” Activists warn the IACHR
- The struggles of being Transgender and Afro-descendant in Colombia
- August 2019: alerts of violence against LGBTI persons in Colombia
- Statement: FOR LIFE AND FOR PEACE, NOT A STEP BACK WITH THE PEACE PROCESS!
- Renewed threats against Afro-Colombian leaders put their lives at risk
- UN renews crucial mandate for protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
- Afro-LGBTI Network for Latin America and the Caribbean held a private meeting with the IACHR Rapporteurship on the rights of LGBTI persons during the 49th OAS General Assembly
- Leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean at the 49th General Assembly of the OAS: “We are facing a grave situation of human rights violations””
- Pride Day: The 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots
- Afro-Colombians, be strong, and hope for peace in your country!
- International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.
- Race and Equality Condemns attack against Afro-colombian leaders
- COMMUNITY RESISTANCE: VIOLENCE AGAINST AFRO LGBTI INDIVIDUALS IN TUMACO
- Race and Equality Calls for Peace, Justice and Democracy for Venezuela
- Race and Equality Recognizing the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- “The Bid for Peace Cannot Go Backward” – Pronouncement regarding the decision of the national government to oppose the Statutory Law on the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) in Colombia
- “We lesbian, bisexual, and trans women are not only killed for being women, but also for having chosen to be women.” – Laura Weinstein
- International Women’s Day: WE ARE WOMEN IN THE STRUGGLE AND ALL OF US ARE DIVERSE!
- Afro-Colombian organization and American University research group work together to document the state of the Afro-LGBTI population’s rights in Colombia
- Public Communiqué: we urge the Colombian State to immediately address the disappearance of Afro-Colombians exiled in Ecuador after being threatened
- Gender- and race-based micro-aggressions perpetrated against Afro-trans women
- COMMUNIQUÉ: We reject discriminatory and arbitrary acts on the part of the Santa Domingo airport authorities committed against Afro-LGBT leader
- 14 Afro-descendant, indigenous, and campesino leaders assassinated during the first month of 2019
- COLOMBIA: NOT ONE STEP BACK, ONWARD TOWARD PEACE! – Pronouncement –
- November 20 – International Day of Transsexual Memory
- #VenezuelaMigrates: Civil Society Organizations launch Plan of Action to protect migrants and refugees from Venezuela
- Race & Equality Holds a Training Workshop on International Human Rights Mechanisms with the First Organization Comprised of LGBTI Afro-Descendants in Colombia
- With the Support of Race & Equality, Civil Society Organizations Prepare to Submit Reports on the State of Colombian Women’s Human Rights to CEDAW
- October 26: International Intersex Awareness Day
- The Colombian state’s failure to protect the rights of displaced Afro-Colombian communities denounced before the IACHR
- Race & Equality Participates in the 169th Period of Public Hearings of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights with Organizations from Colombia, Cuba, and Nicaragua
- International Bisexuality Day: A Day to Remember the Sexual Diversity that Comprises and Complements Our Society
- SO THAT OUR VOICES ARE HEARD AND INCLUDED! Today We Commemorate the International Day for Afro-Latino, Afro-Caribbean, and Diaspora Women
- THE DEATH OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER BERNARDO CUERO BRAVO CONTINUES UNPUNISHED
- Afro-Colombians and Human Rights: What the Incoming President and the Opposition Must Guarantee!
- The Human Rights Situation of Afro-descendants in Latin America Presents a Scenario Full of Discrimination and Collective Violence
- How did Colombia do at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)?
- Race and Equality hosts meetings in Colombia with the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance.
- Peace Agreement and Afro-Colombians, One Year Later: “Peace is Costing Us Our Lives”
- Barranquilla Hosts the First-ever International Conference of Afro-descendant LGBTI People from Latin America and the Caribbean, from November 8-10
- Race and Equality Welcomes Implementation of Protection Measures for Erlendy Cuero Bravo, Vice-President of AFRODES
- Colombia: The situation of human rights defenders. Interview with Arnaldo Hernández, AFRODES leader at risk without adequate protection
- Institute Holds the Colombian State Responsible for the Assassination of Bernardo Cuero, leader from the National Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians: Another Leader the National Protection Unit Has Failed to Protect
- Afro-Colombian Day 2017: A Worsening of Structural Exclusion and Violence
- Call for Latin American Countries – External Evaluation of the Institute’s work on supporting Afro-descendant Civil Society
- The Institute Participates in IACHR Thematic Hearing on “Investigating Attacks on Human Rights Defenders in Colombia”
- Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Grants Precautionary Measures to Afro-Colombian Leader Erlendy Cuero Bravo
- Vice-President of AFRODES Colombia Participates as Expert Panelist at 2016 UN Forum on Minority Issues
- Displaced Afro-Colombian community in Cali holds meeting to analyze the situation of the peace process in Colombia.
- The Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights releases a new publication with analysis on the Colombian peace process and the situation of Afro-Colombian populations
- Vote Against the Peace Accords Reinforces the Need to Support Colombia’s Ethnic Communities Who Voted Yes
- The Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights and the Washington Office on Latin America Denounce the Threats and Attacks Against the Leaders of the Colombian Organization AFRODES
- A YES vote in the plebiscite on the Final Peace Accords in Colombia will strengthen the conditions necessary to guarantee the rights of ethnic groups.
- Final Peace Accords in Colombia include Ethnic Chapter
- “Afro-Colombians in the Post-Agreement”: Workshop with organizations of Afro-Colombian displaced populations from Cali (Colombia)
- Event to promote the ratification of the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance by Colombia
- Representatives of Colombia’s Ethnic Groups to be Welcomed in Havana by Peace Negotiators: A Balanced Analysis
- Afro-Colombian Day 2016: an acknowledgment the Afro-Colombian communities affected by the armed conflict
- Discussion on “The Role of Afro-Descendants in Dialogues and Peacebuilding in Colombia”
- Erlendy Cuero Bravo, Afro-Colombian Human Rights Activist at Risk
- International Day for the Fight against Homophobia and Transphobia
- CAPREE Meeting: Officials from the US and Colombia Reiterate Importance of Ethnic Groups’ Participation in Peace Negotiations to Achieve a Sustainable Peace
- Latest UN Report Reiterates the Benefits of the Participation of Ethnic Communities in the Peace Process
- Colombia’s Ethnic Commission for Peace and the Defense of Territorial Rights Visits Washington, D.C.
- Press Conference Introducing the Ethnic Commission for Peace and the Defense of Territorial Rights
- The Committee is Not a Just a Cheering Committee: Interview with Pastor Murillo
- Committee Against Racial Discrimination Recommends Participation of Afro-Colombians in Peace Negotiations
Latest Blogs
The Outcome of the International Decade for People of African Descent in the Americas Depends on All of Us
Interview with Margarette Macaulay: Rapporteur on the Rights of Afro-descendants
The Inter-American Convention against Racism: A dialogue with experts
The United Nations needs you to help combat racial discrimination. This is how
Publications
Impact of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
First Decade of the Rapporteurship on the Rights of Persons of African Descent and against Racial Discrimination
Manual on how to use the Inter-American Human Rights System