Race and Equality joins Mexico’s #AfroCensoMX Census campaign
Race and Equality joins Mexico’s #AfroCensoMX Census campaign
Washington, D.C. March 6, 2020. As Mexico prepares to include the self-identification question for its Afro-descendant population for the first time in its 2020 census, various Afro-Mexican organizations have launched the campaign “#AfroCensoMX”, which seeks to encourage all black, Afro-Mexican and Afro-descendant people living in Mexico to resoundingly say “Yes” to self-identification in the 2020 census later this month.
The campaign is being promoted by the Mexican organization COPERA (the Collective to Eliminate Racism in Mexico), with the backing of the Kellogg Foundation and the support of various civil society organizations in Mexico. The purpose of the campaign is to highlight the significance of self-identification for the Afro-Mexican population, which will allow for accurate statistics to be documented on population head count, density, location and living conditions, and will help produce relevant policies that resolve the issues that these communities face, to guarantee their rights and status of equality.
The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights is working hand in hand with COPERA and Afro-Mexican leaders to promote a clearer statistical representation of the Afro-Mexican, Black and Afro-descendant population.
We invite you to find out more about the campaign on the website: https://afrocenso.mx/ and to join this initiative with the hashtag #AfroCensoMX.
Race and Equality – on the occasion of its fifth anniversary – holds reception acknowledging Mexico’s ratification of the Inter-American Conventions against Racism and against Discrimination
Washington, D.C., February 19,
2020. The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race
and Equality) recognized the United Mexican States for its ratification of the
Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related
Forms of Intolerance and the Inter-American Convention Against All Forms of
Discrimination and Intolerance, during a reception held this past February 13
at the Art Museum of the Americas (AMA). The event also marked Race and
Equality’s fifth anniversary of working for human rights in the Americas and featured
the presence of the diplomatic mission of Mexico to the Organization of
American States (OAS).
The reception gathered together
various ambassadors and representatives of OAS Member States with members of
DC-based NGOs. It also featured the participation of Luz Elena Baños, the
illustrious Ambassador of Mexico to the OAS, and Esmeralda Arosemena de
Troitiño, the President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR).
In her remarks, Ambassador Baños signaled
the importance to the current government of Mexico of working alongside
historically vulnerable communities and making use of the tools necessary to
guarantee respect, integrity and dignity for all people regardless of their race,
gender or sexual orientation, among others. “In this context, through the
OAS and, in particular, through the [established] rights of Lesbian, Gay,
Bi-sexual, Trans and Intersex (LGBTI) people, we reiterate our commitment to
ensuring that all people may exercise their right to a life free from
discrimination and violence.”
Ms. Mitzi Bowen and Mr. Carlos
Quesada of Race and Equality signaled the importance of ratifying these two
conventions to address the discrimination that the Afro-descendant and
indigenous population face in Mexico. Similarly, they commended the leadership
of the Mexican government in ratifying the Inter-American Convention Against
All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance, as it allows for the Convention to
enter into full force in the region, giving voice to many sectors of society
that suffer from discrimination and intolerance because of their sex, sexual
orientation, political opinions, migration status, birth or stigmatized health condition,
etc.
Mexico is currently working
towards eradicating any and all forms of discrimination. The ratification of
both Conventions is another example of the many actions taken by the leadership
in favor of ethnic groups and other vulnerable populations.
Mexico is the fifth country of
the region to ratify the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial
Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance, and the second to ratify the
Inter-American Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance.
Race and Equality congratulates
the United Mexican States once more and hopes to continue working alongside
ethnic and LGBTI partners to contribute to the development of a more inclusive
Mexico, free from discrimination.
Mexico ratifies Inter-American conventions against racism and discrimination
Washington, D.C. January 22, 2020. Yesterday, the Diplomatic Mission of Mexico to the Organization of American States (OAS) deposited an instrument of ratification to the Inter-American Convention Against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance with the Secretary General of the OAS , thus advancing its commitments to eliminate, prevent, prohibit, and sanction all acts and forms of discrimination and intolerance within Mexico. Additionally, the State of Mexico also ratified the Inter-American Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance. Because Mexico is the second OAS Member State to ratify this Convention, it will now enter into force in the region.
The deposit of both instruments was carried out this Tuesday morning by the Ambassador of Mexico to the OAS, Luz Elena Baños, and the Director General for Human Rights and Democracy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cristofer Ballinas.
“The deposit of these instruments of ratification is proof of Mexico’s broad openness to international scrutiny, and demonstrates a shared responsibility to confront the many great global challenges that are part of our country’s active and multilateral foreign policy,” said the Sub-Secretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Martha Delgado, via video published on social media channels.
“With these actions, our country seeks to spark regional efforts that are necessary for us to guarantee an understanding among all the countries that make up this organization, which is to guarantee respect for the integrity and dignity of all persons regardless of their gender, race. or sexual orientation,” added Delgado.
Convention Against Racism
The first step to adhere to the Convention is to sign the document, which was done by the State of Mexico on November 13, 2018. Following the signature, countries must ratify the document internally, following their own constitutional processes. The Mexican Mission had done these two steps and moved forward in the process, finally depositing the instrument of ratification of the Convention with the OAS. The next step is the Convention’s entry into force within Mexico, which will be 30 days from today.
With the ratification of the Inter-American Convention Against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance, Mexico becomes the fifth country in the region where it enters into force. Since its inception in June 2013, the Convention has been signed and ratified by Costa Rica, Uruguay, Antigua & Barbuda, and Ecuador.
The Convention states that all States Parties must adopt specific policies and affirmative actions that seek to promote conditions of equality, equal opportunity, inclusion, and advancement for people or groups subjected to racism, discrimination, or intolerance; to adopt legislation that clearly defines and prohibits racism, discrimination, and intolerance; to ensure that victims of racism, discrimination, or intolerance are treated with equity and respect; to ensure equal access to the judicial system, to swift and effective legal proceedings, and to a just reparation in civil and penal matters, among other requirements.
Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination
Furthermore, Mexico is the second country to ratify the Inter-American Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination & Intolerance, after Uruguay.
The Convention states that all State parties must prevent, eliminate, prohibit, and punish, in accordance with their constitutional norms and the provisions of this Convention, all acts and manifestations of discrimination and intolerance, and to adopt the special policies and affirmative actions needed to ensure the enjoyment or exercise of rights and fundamental freedoms of persons or groups that are subject to discrimination or intolerance for the purpose of promoting equitable conditions for equal opportunity, inclusion, and progress for such persons or groups.
Statement
Race and Equality considers this as important step for the region, where, concerningly, we have observed an increase in the levels of racism and discrimination. As such, it is essential for all States to take the necessary national, regional, and international means to protect the rights of vulnerable groups against structural racism and all forms of discrimination, in order to create equal and tolerant societies. The expectations of these two Conventions are great, but we hope that they will be further developed and perfected as they are ratified and put into use.
Human Rights Day: We Remain Committed to the Defense of Human Rights in Latin America
Washington, D.C. December 10, 2019. The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights today
joins the celebration of International Human Rights Day, which commemorates the
adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations
General Assembly. Seventy-one years after the approval of the document that
marked a milestone in the recognition of the inherent rights of all human beings,
establishing that they should be respected without distinction as to race,
color, religion, sex, language, political opinions, origin, or any other
condition, the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality)continues
to advocate for the compliance with and defense of said Declaration.
On this day, we remember that the human
rights situation in Latin America is critical, and therefore, urgent action by
the States is needed to effectively monitor and guarantee the rights of its
citizens, especially those populations that have historically been
marginalized.
In Cuba, we are concerned about the situation of political prisoners and
the harassment and repression against independent activists and journalists.
The case of political prisoner José Daniel Ferrer García, General Coordinator and
founder of the Unión Patriótica de Cuba – UNPACU (Patriotic Union of
Cuba), is alarming, seeing as three months have passed since his arrest, he is
yet to be granted a trial, and he is ill-treated in the cells of the prison in
which he is detained. His situation is especially worrisome because he could have
the same fate as several other independent activists who have been convicted of
common crimes upon expressing their opinions. For example, the Dama de
Blanco (Lady in White) Martha Sánchez is currently in prison under a
sentence of four and a half years. Similarly, the situation of independent
activists and journalists suffering from travel restrictions without any legal justification
is alarming. This violates every Cuban
citizen’s right to freedom of circulation. Regarding this situation, we support
the proposal for a peaceful and symbolic demonstration in favor of the right to
free circulation that will be held this Tuesday at the José Martí International
Airport terminal. We recall that any demonstration or peaceful expression of an
individual constitutes an inalienable right under international law.
In Nicaragua, the serious political and human rights crisis that the
country has been facing for almost 20 months does not seem to improve. Authorities
refuse to respect dissenting voices and continue to violate the human rights of
Nicaraguans, including the right to protest, to free mobilization, and to freedom
of expression and of the press. To date, about 150 prisoners and political
prisoners have been counted, who all go through corrupt trials that lack
constitutional guarantees. Nor have international organizations such as the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) been allowed to return to the
country, while local organizations face persecution and the permanent siege by
police and government-related groups.
In Colombia,
the violence that is experienced after the signing of the Peace Agreement prevents
us from thinking about true progress over the inequalities, marginalization, and
terror that still exist in the Colombian territories. Today, the systematic assassination
of social leaders is one phenomenon that lacerates the integrity of human
rights defenders. According to official figures, approximately 343 homicides of
social leaders were reported between January 2016 and August 2018; however,
civil society organizations report more than 400, of which around 40% were
against Afro-descendant and indigenous leaders. To this is added the
“statistical genocide” that represents the latest results of the population
survey: official figures reported 2.9 million people who recognized themselves
as Afro-descendants in the 2018 Census, at least one million less than reported
in 2005. This month, after two weeks of national strikes and social
mobilizations of the Colombian people that call for immediate and urgent responses
to serious violations of fundamental rights from the State, the breach in the
effective implementation of the Peace Agreement, and the commitments accepted
in matters of truth, justice, reparation, and guarantees of non-repetition,
representatives of civil society organizations continue to support the construction
of peace through a peaceful route that makes it possible to come together in
the midst of differences.
Part of the Race and Equality team along with human rights defenders from Latin America.
During 2019, the persistent violence and discrimination against the Afro-LGBTI
population was a problem that was studied more closely by the International
Human Rights Protection Systems. This year a hearing was held before the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the situation of the Afro-LGBTI
population in the Americas, with the presence of representatives from Brazil,
Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Peru. Additionally, the UN Independent
Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI), Victor Madrigal, met
in Colombia with Afro-LGBTI organizations in Cartagena, and Commissioner
Margarette Macaulay visited Afro-LGBTI activists from the Favela de Maré in Rio
de Janeiro in Brazil.
All these activities are framed in a year
in which violence against Afro-LGBTI people has persisted. Brazil
remains the country with the highest number of murders of trans people in the
world. According to current data from the Associação Nacional de Travestis
e Transexuais – ANTRA (National Association of
Trans People) in Brazil at least 106 transgender people were killed in Brazil
until November of 2019. Many of these
victims are Afro-descendant trans women. In other countries such as Colombia
and the Dominican Republic, violence against the Afro-LGBTI population
still persists, with the reoccurrence of many homicide cases. Other expressions
of violence, as in the case of Nicaragua, are strongly associated with a
repressive political and religious context that impacts the lives of LGBTI
activists, even reaching measures such as exile, to avoid arbitrary detentions
and torture.
In Mexico, Panama, and Peru, the incorporation of racial
and ethnic self-identification questions in population and housing censuses
remains a great challenge in the collection of real and permanent statistical
data that reflects the characteristics of the Afro-descendant and indigenous
populations of those States. Civil society organizations have repeatedly
denounced the lack of statistical information on ethnic peoples, stating that
it is due, among other things, to a lack of dialogue and participatory work,
seeking to develop questions of racial self-identification in conjunction with
ethnic communities. On the contrary, the censuses contain questions that lack
context, which means that they are difficult to understand, and this results in
erroneous, incomplete, or not addressed statistical data in them. For this
reason, the creation of government plans, programs, or policies for the benefit
of overcoming this population’s reality of inequality and social injustice are
complex to implement and materialize.
After five
years of the founding of the International Institute on Race, Equality and
Human Rights, we remain committed to the defense of human rights in the region,
especially in the countries where we work: Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, the
Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru. We continue to work to
promote and protect the human rights of marginalized populations, especially
those due to national or ethnic origin and sexual orientation or gender
identity, in addition to those who think and show distinct opinions. This
December 10, we reaffirm our desire to contribute to the construction of an
equitable society for all based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Race and Equality aligns itself with the empowerment and inclusion of Afromexican communities in the 2020 Census
The International
Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) has undertaken
a collaborative project with Afro-Mexican civil society organizations, having the
vision of inclusion and active participation of the Afro-descendant people of
Mexico in the next 2020 census, and being carried out through support from the
Kellogg Foundation.
Strengthening the
technical capacities of Afro-Mexican civil society organizations and government
institutions to obtain data that more accurately reflects the social and
economic reality of Afro-Mexican and Afro-descendant migrants based in Mexico
is the challenge that Race and Equality has undertaken to invoke spaces of collaborative
empowerment and inclusion in order to build a campaign that motivates the Afro-Mexican
population to self-identify in the Population Census to be held next March of 2020.
“Without
complete and adequate statistical data, historically marginalized populations,
such as Afro-descendants, have limited access to government benefits and public
policies aimed at inclusion and economic development,” adds Elvia Duke, Latin America Program
Officer for Race and Equality.
According to the
2015 Intercensal Survey conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and
Geography – INEGI of Mexico, it was determined that the Afro-Mexican population
was 1.4 million, equivalent to 1.2% of the total Mexican population. Currently,
Afro-Mexican leaders join in the outcry from Afro-descendant leaders of the
region, and emphasize how the lack of self-recognition of the Afro-descendant
population in the Census, such as in Household Surveys, is the main obstacle to
face, generating gaps in the statistics and uncertainty about the true
demographic reality of the population.
With the active
participation of Afro-Mexican community organizations from different states and
Mexico City, in addition to the support of government agencies of the Mexican
State, it is intended to advance this work proposal that seeks to counteract
the phenomena of exclusion, poverty, violence and social inequality that is the
product of discriminatory and racist logic that has been structurally embedded
in the social dynamics woven into the country.
“The proposal
really lies in working with civil society organizations so that when the Census
is carried out, the Afro-Mexican people understand what they are talking
about,” added Duque. She also insisted that only through the construction of
pedagogical strategies that promote a message of inclusion and participation in
the Afro-Mexican community for their self-identification and empowerment will an
effective statistical construction be achieved to identify and characterize the
situation of Afro-descendants, and also work on the development of public
policies that guarantee a good quality of life.
Join Our Efforts
Help empower individuals and communities to achieve structural changes in Latin America.
