The Organization of American States (OAS) and two of its most important bodies – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the Commission) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (the Court) – are the key regional mechanisms dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Americas. These bodies provide essential fora where non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can engage governments in discussions about human rights, advocate for the protection and promotion of human rights, and seek redress for individual or collective human rights violations.
What We Do
The Institute provides technical assistance to Afro-Latino, indigenous, LGBTI and other human rights organizations on how to implement an advocacy agenda at the OAS. The Institute maintains a consistent presence at the meetings of the political bodies of the OAS and has worked with this regional institution alongside Afro-Latino organizations to push for an approval and ratification of new regional instruments. It is currently building the capacity of Afro-Latino and indigenous organizations to work with their governments and their governmental delegates at the OAS to advocate for the signing and ratification of an Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance, approved by the General Assembly of the OAS in Antigua, Guatemala in 2013.
The Institute also works to build its partners’ capacities to share critical information on specific human rights issues with the various political bodies of the OAS such as the Permanent Council, the Summit of the Americas Process and the General Assembly in order to promote those bodies’ involvement in the struggle to combat racial discrimination.
The Institute has played a key role in thematic hearings before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, presenting alongside our partners’ expert testimony on issues such as racial discrimination in the region, the human rights situation of Afro-Colombians and the human rights situation of Afro-Brazilian youth, the situation of the LGBTI people in Colombia and Brazil, and the situation of Afro-descendant women in Latin America.
Latest News
- Nicaraguan journalists denounce continuous violations of freedom of expression and press during the IACHR’s 173rd period of sessions
- “Despite the constitutional reform, human rights continue to be violated systematically in Cuba”: Cuban activists testify before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
- Race and Equality: “The cuban State uses its penal code to criminalize voices that speak out against the regime”
- SANKOFA: “Back to the past to resignify the present”: The reality of Black transgender and travesti women in Brazil
- Venezuela, Nicaragua and LGBTI issues: key points of the 41st session of the UN Human Rights Council
- UN renews crucial mandate for protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
- Journalist Lucía Pineda Ubau: “They stole six months of our lives in prison”
- 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
- Civil Society Organizations from Latin America and the Caribbean will participate at the 49th OAS General Assembly
- Human rights defender Vilma Núñez asks the IACHR to demand respect for the right of association in Nicaragua
- Race and Equality Calls for Peace, Justice and Democracy for Venezuela
- We continue demanding freedom, justice, and democracy for Nicaragua
- Public Communiqué: we urge the Colombian State to immediately address the disappearance of Afro-Colombians exiled in Ecuador after being threatened
- Nicaraguan Delegation Meets with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet
- Brazil is the country with the greatest number of assassinations of trans persons in the world
- 14 Afro-descendant, indigenous, and campesino leaders assassinated during the first month of 2019
- COLOMBIA: NOT ONE STEP BACK, ONWARD TOWARD PEACE! – Pronouncement –
- Organizations supporting LGBTI persons’ rights issue a warning regarding the grave crisis over human rights in the country
- OAS announces it will apply the Inter-American Democratic Charter to Nicaragua after learning that crimes against humanity have been committed in that country
- Missions of the IACHR in Nicaragua expelled by the government
- UP WITH RIGHTS, UP WITH LIFE! INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
- Nicaraguan human rights defenders denounce new escalation of repression and the IACHR reiterates its commitment to the population and NGOs that promote human rights
- November 20 – International Day of Transsexual Memory
- Nicaraguan human rights defenders will talk in Geneva about the evolution of the crisis in their country
- #VenezuelaMigrates: Civil Society Organizations launch Plan of Action to protect migrants and refugees from Venezuela
- Interview with Beatriz Amaro, Afro-Mexican Leader: “If today we must speak up and raise our voices, we ask that we be allowed to raise them as Afro-Mexican communities”
- With the Support of Race & Equality, Civil Society Organizations Prepare to Submit Reports on the State of Colombian Women’s Human Rights to CEDAW
- Race & Equality Rejects the Arbitrary Ban by Nicaraguan Authorities Denying Entry into the Country to Representatives of the Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional (CEJIL)
- Cuban Officials Disrupt Launch of the Campaign “Jailed for What?” in the ECOSOC Chamber of the United Nations
- Nicaraguan journalists and human rights defenders denounce the Nicaraguan government’s use of violence and repression in response to public protests in a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
- Cuban civil society activists denounce the practice of criminalization by the Cuban State during the 169th Period of Public Sessions of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
- The Colombian state’s failure to protect the rights of displaced Afro-Colombian communities denounced before the IACHR
- The Costa Rican Mission to the United Nations and Race & Equality Issue an Invitation to the Panel “The United Nations’ International Decade for People of African Descent – Recognition, Justice, and Development: The Need for Plans of Action to Combat Historic Inequalities Faced by Afro-descendants”
- 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
- ORTEGA OPENLY PROMOTES IMPUNITY IN NICARAGUA BY ORDERING THE DEPARTURE OF THE OHCHR
- Unanimously Approved US Congressional Resolution Condemns Nicaraguan Governmental Repression Against Its Citizens
- Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Grants Precautionary Measures in Favor of Participating Members of the Private Sector in the Alianza Cívica por la Justicia y la Democracia [Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy] in the National Dialogue in Nicaragua
- Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Grants Precautionary Measures to Anibal Toruño and Journalists from Radio Dario in Nicaragua
- Afro-descendant Coalition of the Americas Present at the 48th Regular Session of the General Assembly of the OAS
- Nicaraguan Voices Weight in on the Current Human Rights Crisis, and Offer Recommendations to Guarantee Truth, Justice and the Reestablishment of a Democratic Order
- The Human Rights Situation of Afro-descendants in Latin America Presents a Scenario Full of Discrimination and Collective Violence
- “As trans persons, we are suffering aggression by guards in prisons” – Thematic hearing on the Situation of LGBTI Persons Deprived of Liberty in the Americas
- Through our differences, we create a diverse society – International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia IDAHOTB.
- Panel conversation on Advisory Opinion OC-24/17 of the Inter-American Court: “The key to eliminate discrimination is promoting equality. No one should be denied their rights on the basis of sexual diversity
- How did Colombia do at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)?
- VIDEO: Afro-Peruvian women present discrimination cases before the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
- Inter-American Forum against Discrimination: Afro-descendant movement demands OAS member states to ratify the Inter-American Convention Against Racism and the creation of a Permanent Afro-descendant Forum at the OAS
- Message from Carlos Quesada – Executive Director of the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) – on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- Race and Equality Presents Recognition to the President of Uruguay for the Ratification of the Inter-American Convention Against Racism
- Race and Equality Conducts Workshop on Racial Discrimination with Afro-Mexican Women
- Race & Equality Holds Training on Universal Human Rights System for LGBTI Organizations in Cancun, Mexico
- The Institute Celebrates Inter-American Forum Against Discrimination in Cancun, Mexico
- Institute Leads Training on the Organization of American States
- The Institute Launches Report that Analyzes the First Decade of the IACHR’s Rapporteurship on the Rights of Persons of African Descent and Against Racism in Bogota, Colombia
- On the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, States must strengthen their normative and Institutional frameworks
- The Institute Honors the President of Costa Rica for the Ratification of the Inter-American Convention Against Racism and Racial Discrimination
- Costa Rica Becomes the First Country in the Region to Ratify the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Related Forms of Intolerance
- General Assembly of the OAS – Presentation of the Report on Violence against LGBTI persons in the Americas in the Dominican Republic
- Participation in General Assembly of the OAS – Inter-American Forum of Afro-descendants in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic
- #SalvemosLaCIDH: Addressing the Financial Crisis Facing the Inter-American Commission
- Violence Against Black Women in Brazil has Increased: “The Maria de Penha Law Hasn’t Reduced Murders of Black Women”
- Working Day to Heighten Visibility of Afro-Descendants in Chile: Workshop on the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Connected Forms of Intolerance
- Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Insists that the Dominican Government Recognize Existence of Structural Racial Discrimination in the Country
- Cuban Human Rights Defenders Report on Rights Violations on the Island before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
- The Situation Of Human Rights Defenders In Cuba
- Thematic Hearing Before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the Rights of LGBTI People in Cuba
- Thematic Hearing Before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the Situation of Afro-Costa Ricans
Latest Blogs
Interview with Margarette Macaulay: Rapporteur on the Rights of Afro-descendants
The Inter-American Convention against Racism: A dialogue with experts
Publications
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
