In September 2018, the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality), within the framework of the project on racial justice funded by the Ford Foundation, held a training workshop to increase knowledge regarding the United Nations System, especially with regard to its treaty bodies.  The participating organizations included Asociación Nacional de Afrocolombianos Desplazados [National Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians] (AFRODES); Conferencia Nacional de Organizaciones Afrocolombianas [National Conference of Afro-Colombian Organizations] (CNOA); and Grupo de Apoyo a Mujeres Trans [Support Group for Trans Women] (GAAT).

The goal of the space was to strengthen the organizations’ technical knowledge regarding the United Nations System treaty bodies.  Emphasis was placed on the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), given that the State of Colombia will be reviewed by the Committee in February 2019.  One of the results of the project is that with technical assistance from Race & Equality, the organizations will prepare Alternative Reports for submittal to the Committee.  The hope is that this advocacy action will lead CEDAW to include in its final review and observations the analyses and recommendations put forward by the organizations in their Alternative Reports.

CEDAW is the body of independent experts that supervises the application of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.  The advocacy before CEDAW is greatly relevant to the organizations participating in this workshop, given the low priority given by the Colombian State to policies recognizing aggravated forms of discrimination and violence stemming from the intersection of gender, race, and/or sexual orientation and gender identity.  For AFRODES and CNOA, the attention given by CEDAW to the state of Afro-Colombian women victims of the conflict amounts to a strategic need, while it is a priority to GATT to make visible the state of trans women.

Race & Equality will continue to provide technical support to these organizations in the process of preparing their Alternative Reports for submittal to CEDAW, as well as strengthen their advocacy capacity as regards the use of the other international human rights protection mechanisms.

Find here the recommendations document:  http://bdigital.unal.edu.co/47500/1/Recomendacionesdelcomite.pdf