Nicaraguan civil society and international experts call for a new Human Rights Council resolution to address the crisis in Nicaragua

Nicaraguan civil society and international experts call for a new Human Rights Council resolution to address the crisis in Nicaragua

Washington, D.C., February 18th, 2021.– As the United Nations Human Rights Council prepares to open its 46th period of sessions, representatives of Nicaraguan civil society, including victims of human rights violations, joined international experts from the UN and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to urge the Council to approve a resolution strengthening High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet’s mandate to monitor Nicaragua’s human rights crisis.

The event “The role of the United Nations Human Rights Council in the face of the continuing human rights crisis in Nicaragua” included the participation of Thelma Montenegro, family member of two political prisoners and four people killed in the context of the repression unleashed by the social protests of April 2018; Lottie Cunningham, founder and president of the Center for Justice and Human Rights of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua (CEJUDHCAN); Aníbal Toruño, director of Radio Darío and victim of constant police raids on his home and radio headquarters; Clément Voule, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association of the United Nations, and Pedro Vaca, Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the IACHR. The moderator was Erika Guevara, Director for the Americas of Amnesty International.

Context

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet will present her report on the human rights situation in Nicaragua during the upcoming session of the Human Rights Council (February 22-March 23). Twelve Nicaraguan and regional organizations, among them the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), organized the virtual panel event to update attendees on the ongoing human rights violations in Nicaragua and to emphasize the importance of renewing and strengthening the High Commissioner’s mandate.

The Montenegro Family

Thelma Montenegro took part in the panel to expose the persecution, criminalization, and violence that her family has suffered for participating in the protests of April 2018. “Our participation unleashed hate, persecution, and cruelty on the part of the government’s supporters,” she said, revealing that since the protests, four of her family members have been killed, among them her two brothers Oliver and Edgar Montenegro and her husband Francisco Blandón.

Ms. Montenegro also shared that two of her nephews remain in prison as a consequence of their beliefs. Oliver Montenegro Muñoz, who was detained on June 21, 2020, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the supposed crime of attempted homicide. Dorling Montenegro Muñoz, detained November 30, 2020, is charged with obstruction of justice, illegal possession of weapons, and attempted murder.

“We ask for monitoring and decisive action towards our country…We are in an election year, and now is the moment of opportunity to change our history, so that all this suffering does not repeat itself,” she stated.

Violence and vulnerability in the Northern Caribbean

In her presentation, human rights defender Lottie Cunningham stated that Nicaragua’s closing civic spaces and weakening democratic protections are causing displacement and systematic violence against indigenous peoples and those who defend their rights. In 2020, she stated, 13 indigenous Nicaraguans were killed, 8 were wounded, 2 were kidnapped, and at least one community was displaced from their territory. Since 2011, 49 indigenous people have been killed, 52 injured, 46 kidnapped, and 4 disappeared.

“As a result of this violence, it is estimated that 3,000 individuals from the Miskitu people alone have been forcibly displaced from their communities, including in the Honduran border region,” Ms. Cunningham explained, reporting that this violence is usually carried out by non-state actors with the consent or complicity of the state and that the perpetrators enjoy total impunity.

Cunningham also expressed her concern at the approval of the Law to Regulate Foreign Agents and the Law on Cybercrime, which she labeled as “repressive against the effort to defend indigenous rights.” She recounted how the Ministry of the Interior has refused to accept CEJUDHCAN’s registration as a non-governmental organization and how pro-government actors frequently slander the organization’s members as spreaders of ‘fake news.’

“We call on the international community and exhort the Human Rights Council to approve a resolution on Nicaragua that accounts for the needs of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples,” she emphasized.

Attacks on the independent press

Aníbal Toruño, director of Radio Darío in the city of León and a beneficiary of protective measures granted by the IACHR, discussed the prosecution of at least three journalists, the confiscation of the offices of independent outlets Confidencial and 100% News since April 2018, and other government efforts to repress independent journalism.

Mr. Toruño explained that pressure from the government of President Daniel Ortega has caused the closure of over 20 news outlets and at least 10 news and opinion programs. Furthermore, of the 13 free-to-air television channels that once broadcasted in Nicaragua, only two remain. One of these, Channel 12, has been under embargo since September 2020.

Toruño himself has suffered 125 police actions against Radio Darío and 32 against his home. His home was raided by police, violently and without a court order, three times between January 4 and February 4 of this year.

International concern

Both UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Peaceful Assembly and Association Clément Voule and IACHR Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression Pedro Vaca expressed great concern at the situation in Nicaragua, agreeing that the recent passage of laws to restrict civil and political rights, including by imprisoning those who broadcast information that the government considers threatening, has worsened the outlook for human rights in the country.

Mr. Voule expressed that “We have concerns, including the use of arbitrary force against those who go out to the street to protest, criminalization and attacks against political opponents, and attacks on the press,” reminding the audience that he has made several requests for an official visit to Nicaragua since 2018, but has received no answer. “Also concerning is the lack of information or false information used against victims-including women, LGBTI people, or environmentalists-who are accused of being terrorists or drug traffickers.”

Mr. Vaca concluded that Nicaragua has unleashed a sophisticated program of censorship and that the National Assembly’s legislative initiatives appear to be focused on eroding the rule of law. He observed that Nicaragua is suffering a “dismantling of the social fabric” and that there is a risk of losing key information about human rights violations. “Nicaragua is fearful, and we are listening. This is part of what can hopefully be included in our ongoing analysis,” he concluded.

 Calls for a new resolution at the Human Rights Council

Amnesty International’s Americas Director, Erika Guevara, insisted that Nicaragua’s human rights crisis is ongoing and that with the government refusing to cooperate with the regional and international human rights protection systems, action by the Human Rights Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is critical.

Speaking for all the co-sponsors of the event, Ms. Guevara called on the Council’s member states to adopt a strong resolution renewing the High Commissioner’s mandate to address the Nicaraguan situation. She emphasized that such a resolution should establish clear criteria to judge Nicaragua’s cooperation, sending a message to victims, human rights defenders, and independent journalists that the international community is committed to truth, justice, and reparations for the abuses of their rights.

Race and Equality celebrates Brazil’s ratification of the Inter-American Convention against Racism

Brazil, February 19th, 2021 – The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) congratulates the Brazilian State for its ratification  of the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance [1], originally signed by the member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Guatemala in 2013 [2]. The Brazilian Senate’s ratification of the Convention marks a major achievement for the Afro-Brazilian movement, which has fought for the adoption and strengthening of the Convention for over 20 years. In signing and ratifying the convention, Brazil has committed to fighting intolerance and racism, presenting an opportunity to break with the racism ingrained in Brazilian society.

With its ratification, the Convention gains the status of a constitutional amendment in Brazil, allowing laws which go against its statutes to be challenged in court. These potential challenges represent a new path for anti-racist discourse and activism in the country. Aligning domestic legislation with human rights standards is of paramount importance in the fight to end, prevent, and punish racism and discrimination. It is noteworthy that in Article 5, Subsection 42, the Brazilian Constitution makes the crime of racism ineligible for bail and exempt from a statute of limitations. In Article 3, Subsection 4, the Constitution rejects prejudice and other forms of discrimination.

Lúcia Xavier, General Coordinator of the Brazilian organization Criola, welcomes Brazil’s ratification of the Convention, telling Race and Equality that the Convention now represents a fundamental instrument for promoting the rights of Afro-Brazilians, especially Afro-Brazilian women, amidst attacks on human rights and the continuing effects of COVID-19 in Brazil. “While conservative governments are advancing against rights, the Convention will mean having more instruments for human rights and  strengthening the regional human rights system itself. It will be a fundamental political instrument going forward to confront racism in Brazil and in the region,” she remarked.

“Now that it has been ratified by Brazil and consolidated in our legislation, the Convention reinforces the effort that the Afro-descendant and Afro women’s movements have been making for years to definitively eradicate racism – especially institutionalized racism, that which does not consist of laws, rules, or policies, but is implemented by the State in all its instances, every day. So, the possibility of having this instrument against the conservative attacks that the current Brazilian government is making on the Black population is very good,” Lúcia Xavier, General Coordinator, Criola. 

Carlos Quesada, Executive Director of Race and Equality, commented that in Brazil, there are many forms of racism which are hidden at first glance, but can be found in the high levels of violence facing the Black population and in unequal access to the labor market, housing, health, and education. “Given the historical circumstances of Brazil, starting with the fact that Brazil is the country with the most Afro-descendant people outside Africa and a country whose Black population faces serious discrimination and the erasure of their human rights, the ratification of this agreement opens more possibilities for tackling and undoing structural racism”, explained. 

In Brazil, structural and systematic racism is evident in the statistics regarding incarceration, poverty, and suicide among Afro-Brazilians. These outcomes reveal institutional racism throughout social and legal structures, including many public institutions that are historically rooted in efforts to maintain privileges through exclusion and marginalization. The Convention will allow activists to challenge these structures and pursue democratization of rights through public policies oriented towards social justice.

Lívia Casseres, a lawyer with the Public Defender’s Office of the State of Rio de Janeiro, was a leader in the effort to ratify the Convention. She recalls that Brazil played a leading role in urging other OAS members to draft and sign the Convention. She believes that this leadership is a testament to the work of the Afro-Brazilian movement. “It’s a Convention that attacks indirect discrimination and provides for the prohibition of public policies with discriminatory impacts,” she explained.

“We have for the first time a legal document with the capacity to face the complexity of the phenomenon of racism. It is a great advance, because it is a Convention that has much more sophisticated and refined legal elements, capable of accounting for the complexities of racism that we were unable to fully address with the legal framework that existed before ratification.” Lívia Casseres, Public Defender of the State of Rio de Janeiro.

With the Convention now ratified, Race and Equality emphasizes that the implementation of the Convention must take place in consultation with civil society. Article 15, Paragraphs 4 and 5 of the Convention call for each State Party to appoint an independent expert tasked with monitoring the commitments made in the Convention. In addition, a committee should be created to exchange ideas and review the progress made by State Parties in their implementation [3]. Consultations with civil society are an opportunity for the State to dialogue with different sectors of society, especially with the Afro-Brazilian population, so that the challenges in the fight against racism can be addressed.

Faced with this conjuncture of new possibilities to combat racism, Race and Equality celebrates the work of the Afro-Brazilian movement in the struggle for the approval and ratification of the Convention. We are committed to strengthening this movement and contributing to the anti-racism and human rights struggles of Afro-Brazilians. We recognize the great importance of this agreement for repaying the social debt owed to Afro-Brazilians and for improving the lives of Afro-descendants facing great vulnerability across the country. We recommend that the State of Brazil:

1 – Implement the articles of the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance in consultation with different sectors of civil society, especially in dialogue with Afro-Brazilian movement;

2 – Formulate a plan so that the legislative, executive, and judicial branches can each implement actions for immediate compliance with the Convention;

3 – Create public policies that punish racist acts and repair structural racism with a view to promoting equality and affirmative action in the areas of ​​health, work, well-being, education, and political participation.

 

[1] https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2021/02/10/senado-aprova-projeto-que-ratifica-texto-da-convencao-interamericana-erca-o-racismo.ghtml

[2] and [3] https://www.cut.org.br/system/uploads/ck/files/interamericantreatiesA-68ConvencaoInteramericanaracismoPOR.pdf

 

 

IACHR Thematic Hearing: Nicaraguan Civil Society Exposes the Situation of 110 Political Prisoners

Washington, D.C.; December 10, 2020. At a hearing held today during the 178th Period of Sessions of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Nicaraguan human rights defenders presented evidence of serious rights violations against 110 people who are imprisoned for political reasons.

Ana Bolaños, Legal Program Officer at Race and Equality; Juanita Jiménez of the Autonomous Women’s Movement (MAM); Rosario Flores from the Meso-American Human Rights Defenders Initiative (IM-Defensoras) and Georgina Ruiz of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) gave testimony during the hearing along with Elton Ortega and Alexandra Salazar from the Legal Defense Unit of Nicaragua (UDJ). These organizations collaborated to solicit a hearing on the topic of political prisoners.

The participants emphasized that of these 110 political prisoners, imprisoned for their roles in the protests of April 2018, 14 are held in maximum-security settings or isolation cells. Even those in less severe settings have reported deficient healthcare, insufficient food, and a lack of potable water in prison. They also suffer discriminatory treatment from prison officials, the denial of visits and phone calls, threats, beatings, and torture.

The participants laid out that the arrests and judicial processes against these victims have been marked by blatant violations of their rights and judicial guarantees. The Nicaraguan police, Public Ministry, judicial branch, and penitential system have coordinated to persecute the victims as part of the current government’s campaign to repress its political opponents.

The organizations also highlighted serious threats to individual liberties and to the Independence of the justice system posed by three recent laws: the Law on Foreign Agents, the Cybercrimes Law, and the constitutional reform establishing life in prison as a possible criminal sentence. These three efforts are all aimed at criminalizing civil society organizations, independent media, and other sources of opposition.

To address this deterioration of human rights, the participants asked the IACHR to call on the State of Nicaragua to release the prisoners immediately, end the ongoing arbitrary detentions and harassment of the prisoners’ family members, and investigate the reports of cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment including torture.

They also called upon the State directly to release information about the status of the COVID-19 pandemic in prisons and efforts to attend to prisoners’ health. The participants insisted that Nicaragua allow the IACHR, the IACHR’s Special Monitoring Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI), and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to return to the country.

The IACHR’s reaction

Despite being invited to take part in the haring by the IACHR, the State of Nicaragua did not send a representative. Commissioner Stuardo Ralón lamented this absence and opined that it “indicates an attitude of total denial of international obligations,” noting that governments have a responsibility to respond to their citizens’ demands for truth and justice.

Commissioner Esmeralda Arosemena stated that the IACHR remains willing to work with the State, calling on Nicaragua to work with the Commission. Commissioner Arosemena reflected that the civil society representatives had, throughout their testimonies, described the State’s actions as “violent, perverse, repressive, cruel, inhumane, illegal, stigmatizing, criminalizing” and emphasized the need to find concrete solutions to improve the State’s conduct.

The IACHR Commissioners and Rapporteurs all stressed the value of Nicaraguan civil society’s contributions, highlighting the role of civil society in providing legal defense to political prisoners, accompanying their families, and documenting human rights violations.

“I want to urge all who can to continue this fight, and to recognize the valuable information that you’ve given us. We are determined to use all our tools to make the culture of human rights a reality in Nicaragua,” said Commissioner Ralón.

Commissioner Antonia Urrejola, First Vice-President of the IACHR and the rapporteur for Nicaragua, referenced a recent IACHR report concluding that 1,614 people had been arbitrarily deprived of liberty for taking part in the protest movement that began in April 2018. She also acknowledged that this figure is likely an under-counting and urged the petitioners to continue their work documenting violations.

Commissioner Urrejola also expression the Commission’s concern regarding the lack of due process in Nicaragua’s judicial system. “We are concerned at the lack of Independence among different branches, especially considering that the electoral process will take place next year. Institutions must be able to act independently of the executive to secure democratic spaces and protect the fundamental freedom of expression.”

Colombian civil society reveals the vulnerability of indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant communities, campesinas, and social leaders victimized by the armed conflict

Bogotá, October 5, 2020.- At a thematic hearing of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Colombian civil society organizations presented reports on the vulnerability of indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant communities, campesinas, and social leaders who were previously victimized by Colombia’s armed conflict to human rights violations. The presenting organizations asked to IACHR to deepen its efforts to support the implementation of the Colombian Peace Accords, especially Chapter 6.2 on ethnic minority groups, known as the “Ethnic Chapter,” and the Collective Reparations Program established by Law 1448 (2011) and Decree 4635 (2011).

The hearing, entitled “Reports of vulnerability among Colombian armed conflict victims: indigenous, Afro-descendant, and campesino communities and social leaders,” was requested by a coalition of organizations, including the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality). Representatives from the State of Colombia also took part in the hearing.

The Ethnic Chapter at risk

Together with Race and Equality, the Ethnic Commission for Peace and Defense of Territorial Rights presented an analysis on Colombia’s failure to implement the Ethnic Chapter, emphasizing that serious human rights violations have resulted from this failure. “The current government has been sabotaging the implementation of the Peace Accords and preventing the consolidation of peace and territorial rights to which ethnic groups are entitled,” stated Pedro León Cortés, an advisor to the Race and Equality office in Colombia.

Participants pointed out that, according to a recent report by the Kroc Institute (an international organization monitoring the Peace Accords’ implementation), barely 8% of the Ethnic Chapter’s commitments have been implemented, while other guarantees in the Accord, including mechanisms for protecting ancestral territories, have seen backsliding.

The organizations denounced disputes between illegal armed groups for control of land that rightfully belongs to Afro-descendant, indigenous, and campesino communities. These disputes, which the authorities have been unable to check, have resulted in the forced displacement of 30,000 people between November 2019 and June 2020. “Regarding the National Program for Substituting Illicit Crops, there is evidence of a strategy to undermine the voluntary eradication and crop substitution programs,” they added.

For Colombian civil society, these delays and omissions represent a failure to act on the fundamental principal of the Ethnic Chapter: the right to free, prior, and informed consent. However, they applauded efforts to apply an ethnic-sensitive approach in some areas of the peace process, particularly the Truth Commission and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (the transitional justice mechanism trying conflict-related abuses).

Collective Reparations

Luz Marina Becerra, secretary general of the National Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES) and president of the Coordination of Displaced Afro-Colombian Women’s Resistance (Las Comadres), brought up official data on the implementation of the Collective Reparation Program established by Law 1448 (known as the Victims’ Law) in 2011. She pointed out that as of March 2020, 755 approved recipients of collective reparations were recorded in the official registry, of which 482 were ethnic communities. Despite this predominance of ethnic minorities among conflict victims, however, 78% of ethnic communities who have applied for recognition are still in the initial phases of the process and only 10% have actually begun to have their reparations implemented.

“To date, no applicant from an ethnic community has completed the process of reparations. We consider this lack of implementation to be a grave problem that is compromising the effective enjoyment of conflict victims’ rights,” she said.

Becerra mentioned weaknesses in inter-agency and federal-local cooperation, technical delays in developing reparations plans, long delays, and budgetary shortfalls as institutional barriers to reparations. In the post-conflict period, she stated, 392 cases of forced displacement affecting 130,079 people have taken place. 47% of these victims belong to ethnic communities. Meanwhile, 1,203 attacks against social leaders have taken place.

Crisis in Chocó

The Afro-descendant rights defender Luis Ernesto Olave submitted a report on the humanitarian crisis in Chocó department, reporting that President Iván Duque’s Peace and Legality program “has impeded the search for peaceful coexistence and a negotiated end to the conflict, allowing dissident FARC members to continue illegal activity while the ELN [an armed rebel group] and the Gaitanista Self-Defense Group [a paramilitary group] also remain present.”

Olave stressed that in Chocó’s Afro-descendant and indigenous communities, illegal groups confine people to their homes, forcibly displace them, and recruit young people through forced recruitment or promised rewards. Illicit coca cultivation and trafficking in drugs, weapons, and people are all on the rise, as are murders of social leaders. This year alone, 350 families have been forcibly displaced from the community of Alto Baudó, 66 from Medio Baudó, and 10 from Baja Baudó.

Recommendations

Implementation of the Ethnic Chapter

The organizations recommended that the State of Colombia immediately take steps to ensure the effective implementation of the Ethnic Chapter. These steps include strengthening the High-Level Special Board of Ethnic Peoples (a body made up of community representatives that coordinates with the government) and complying with pending Constitutional Court orders to respond to violence in ethnic territories. They also recommended that the IACHR prioritize efforts to monitor implementation of the Peace Accords.

Collective reparations

Participants recommended that the government develop a comprehensive plan to strengthen the  Collective Reparations Program, expand its capacity, increase the speed of its processes, and counteract existing barriers. They also called for mechanisms to supervise development policies and ensure their compliance with the Reparations Program and with the territorial rights of minority communities. Finally, they recommended developing a special strategy to accompany conflict victims and ensure that they benefit from post-pandemic economic stimulus efforts.

The participants requested that the IACHR dedicate some of its monitoring efforts in Colombia specifically to the monitoring of the right to reparations for conflict victims.

Regarding the situation in Chocó

Participants asked the IACHR to pressure Colombia to increase state presence in Chocó; re-start peace talks with the ELN; develop a humanitarian response incorporating all stakeholders, including armed groups; hasten responses to requests for protection by vulnerable people and groups; and investigate situations of vulnerability to rights violations. They also demanded full compliance with the Chocó ceasefire agreement of 2007 and with the court order of case T622 in 2016, protecting the vital Atrato river from degradation.

IACHR Reaction

The IACHR’s commissioners expressed concern at the slow pace of implementation; the violation of the right to free, prior, and informed consent; rural violence; attacks on social leaders; and the lack of federal-department-local coordination to address these crises.

Commissioner Margarette May Macaulay emphasized the continuity of violence that minority communities have faced during the armed conflict, transitional peace period, and today the COVID-19 pandemic. She also emphasized the need for the State to offer clear and specific information about the impacts of violence on Afro-descendant communities and about the reasons for delays in implementing the peace framework.

Interim Executive Secretary María Claudia Pulido stated that follow-up on peace implementation will be included in the section on Colombia of the IACHR’s 2020 annual report. The week before, she said, the IACHR had sent an official communication informing the State of this intention and requesting information.

The State’s response

On behalf of the State of Colombia, Ambassador to the OAS Alejandro Ordoñez referred to President Duque’s Peace and Legality program rather than respond directly to the issues being raised. When asked by IACHR President Joel Hernández about the issue of recruitment of minors by illegal armed groups, Ambassador Ordoñez declined to answer, stating that the question was outside the topic of the hearing.

Emilio Archila, Adviser on Stabilization and Consolidation, offered information about the Territorial Development Plans, an official instrument to prioritize state projects in areas most affected by violence and poverty. The Plans are currently active in 170 municipalities across the country.

Three more representatives from the Victims’ Unit, the Ministry of the Interior, and the National Protection Unit presented information about several governmental activities, but without explaining them in terms of their contributions to preventing human rights violations.

Race and Equality Launches Manual on Report-Writing for Human Rights Advocacy

Washington D.C., September 21, 2020.– The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) is pleased to announce the publication of our manual for civil society organizations interested in writing human rights reports. The goal of this manual is to strengthen organizations’ ability to engage in advocacy at the national, regional, and international levels by preparing them to produce their own human rights documentation and analysis.

The manual is available in the Publications section of Race and Equality’s website. The manual is available in two verions: one that is primarly text-based and one with illustrations to accompany the text. The illustrated version is intended to assist civil society organizations in sharing the manual’s content with human rights defenders.

Through the manual, Race and Equality hopes organizations interested in producing human rights reports will also learn the necessary concepts for using these reports as part of over-arching advocacy strategies to influence international human rights bodies.

“Our experience shows us that human rights reports prepared by victims of rights violations and in-country organizations themselves are essential in pushing governments to respond,” said Pedro León Cortés from Race and Equality.

Content

The manual consists of two parts. The first communicates essential basic knowledge about human rights instruments, the role of civil society in protecting and promoting human rights, and the purpose of human rights documentation. The second includes a step-by-step guide for producing human rights reports, from recording incidents of rights violations all the way through drafting and publishing the report. It also compiles resources for organizations seeking to develop their human rights documentation capacities.

The manual was prepared in order to compile and systematize Race and Equality’s years of experience offering technical assistance and accompaniment to Afro-descendent, LGBTI, and Afro-LGBTI organizations across Latin America as they defend and promote their rights. Race and Equality’s capacity-building approach aims to prepare these organizations to develop their own advocacy strategies and materials.

Race and Equality invites civil society organizations and human rights activists to consult, download, and share the manual so that it can contribute to their efforts for the structural changes that will truly fulfill human rights.

Access the manual (In Spanish only):

Illustrated version – http://oldrace.wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Manual-IDH_-web_ilustrado.pdf

Text-only version – http://oldrace.wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Manual-IDH_-web_texto.pdf

Race and Equality launches informational material to increase knowledge about and advocacy before human rights protection mechanisms

Washington D.C., August 28, 2020. The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) shares today with civil society and activists in Latin America and the Caribbean informational material about the Organization of American States (OAS) and its respective organs, as well as about the United Nations (UN). The objective of this material is to contribute to the increase in knowledge about and advocacy before these bodies for the defense and protection of human rights.

“As an organization which seeks to strengthen the capacities of civil society in the region in the defense and protection of human rights, Race and Equality presents this material that addresses the functioning of human rights protection mechanisms in the Inter-American System as well as in the United Nations, with the hope of generating greater access to these on the part of our partners,” stated Christina Fetterhoff, Senior Legal Program Officer at Race and Equality.

The material consists of three videos that speak about the functioning of the OAS, the Inter-American System, and the UN, respectively. Through the presentations of four animated characters and with the help of illustrations, the videos explain the work that each of these bodies carries out, as well as indicating the advocacy spaces and mechanisms available for civil society for the defense of human rights.

Each video is reinforced with a didactic material which, in an approachable way, offers more details about those advocacy spaces and mechanisms for civil society participation. Furthermore, they include the links to the official websites of the OAS and UN where people can find more information.

All of this informational material is in addition to the guide titled “Precautionary Measures of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Procedure and Function” (in Spanish only) which Race and Equality launched in May 2020 with the goal of orienting lawyers and human rights activists on the process to request precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

You can access the videos (in Spanish only) at the following links:

OAS: https://bit.ly/2QdZzTc

Inter-American System: https://bit.ly/2FIp90O

UN: https://bit.ly/31hwddc

The didactic materials are available here (in Spanish only).

Race and Equality publishes eight recommendations to protect the Afro-descendant population in Latin America from COVID-19

Washington D.C. August 6, 2020.– As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to reverberate across Latin America, the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) set out to analyze the impact of the pandemic on the region’s Afro-descendant population. Based on the results, the organization has formulated eight recommendations for States, human rights institutions, and international bodies to develop pandemic responses that are in line with Afro-descendants’ needs.

Race and Equality conducted this research through several webinars, virtual meetings, and dialogues with Afro-descendant leaders between March 27 and May 17, 2020. Public statements from Afro-descendant civil society in the region and declarations from anti-racial discrimination mechanisms within the Organization of American States (OAS) and United Nations systems were also consulted.

According to data from the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Afro-descendant population in the region totals 130 million people, representing approximately 21% of the region’s population. So far, no entity has published official data on how many Afro-descendants how been infected with, or died from, COVID-19. Civil society organizations, however, have conducted their own studies and revealed high levels of vulnerability and inequality affecting the Afro-descendant population.

A lack of vital health information, difficulties in accessing national health systems, and acts of violence by both police and illegal armed groups are all major obstacles to Afro-descendant communities as they face the pandemic. “We thought it was critical to understand Afro-descendants’ situation in the pandemic because from there, we can decide on actions to support our counterparts. We can also make better recommendations to States, human rights bodies, and international organizations about how to guarantee their rights,” said Elvia Duque, Race and Equality’s Legal Program Officer and the leader of the study.

Race and Equality developed eight recommendations for combatting structural racism and racial discrimination; improving health and education systems, especially with regards to gaps between urban and rural communities; guaranteeing human rights; and gathering trustworthy statistics to study the pandemic through an intersectional lens. The recommendations emphasize the need to implement these recommendations through consultation and coordination with Afro-descendent leaders.

Readers can find the results of the study and consult the recommendations here.

Race and Equality hosts discussion on the fight against systemic racism in the Americas

Washington D.C., July 9, 2020.– The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) held the webinar “International Response to Racial Injustice and Police Brutality in the Americas” on July 7th. The webinar highlighted the need to use a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach to combat racism and racial discrimination against Afro-descendants across the region.

Costa Rican Vice President Epsy Campbell Barr; Margarette May Macauley, Rapporteur on the Rights of Afro-descendants and on the Rights of Women at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR); and Tendayi Achiume, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenofobia and Related Forms of Intolerance, all offered reflections during the webinar, with Race and Equality’s Executive Director Carlos Quesada serving as moderator.

After several African Americans in the U.S. were killed by police officers and white civilians during April and May, and particularly after the killing of George Floyd on May 25th in Minneapolis, protests against racism and discrimination have emerged across the Americas and the world. The panelists agreed that governments, civil society organizations and multilateral organizations must take advantage of the moment to make real change by ensuring societal buy-in and implementing tangible reforms.

Ms. Achiume applauded the United Nations Human Rights Council’s rapid adoption of a resolution that energetically condemned racist and violent practices by police and security forces against Afro-descendants. “This time, there was a different way of thinking about the nature of the problem,” she said, “it wasn’t just because of a few bad apples, but this time there was recognition that we have a systemic problem and that racism is endemic.”

Vice President Campbell, who began her intervention by declaring her solidarity with George Floyd’s family and friends, pointed out that silence and complicity have allowed too many human lives to be lost for no reason other than the color of people’s skin. She applauded the Black Lives Matter movement and celebrated the fact that its message is being heard and carried worldwide, predominantly by young people who are no longer willing to tolerate injustice.

Commissioner Macaulay reminded the audience that one of the key objectives of the IACHR has been to shine a light on the reality of discrimination, speaking forcefully of a “genocide” against Afro-descendants. “I have asked a lot of people in the region about the situation of Afro-descendants in their countries, and a lot of them tell me, ‘we don’t have Afro-descendants’ when they certainly do – they don’t even know that they are there,” she said. For Commissioner Macaulay, the unforgettable image of a police officer with his knee on George Floyd’s neck and his hands casually in his pockets was a “wake-up call” for the international community.

Proposals for change

The three panelists made several proposals for combatting racism and discrimination. Ms. Achiume pointed out that the Human Rights Council resolution calls for the High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate systemic racism and report on her findings, proposing that this mandate represents an opportunity for civil society to feed into high-level processes and keep the discussion alive.

Meanwhile, Vice President Campbell called for five concrete steps: a global campaign against racism coordinated among the major multilateral organizations; training and education programs for media, taking advantage of its power to educate the public; the creation of a private-sector network to share best practices for diversity and inclusion; a special session of the Organization of American States’ Permanent Council to discuss racism and racial discrimination in the region; and the formation of a permanent organization to monitor racism and discrimination.

Commissioner Macaulay called for civil society organizations in the Americas to continue pressuring the IACHR for more proactive and creative actions to defend Afro-descendants’ rights. She agreed with Vice President Campbell’s suggestion for more efforts to educate the media sector, saying, “the media publicizes the arrests of African Americans – how many arrests of white people do we see? Very few, which puts into society’s minds that it is Black people who are the problem.” She also called for more training and reform within police forces and national justice systems, highlighting that far more African Americans than white Americans are imprisoned in the U.S. She put special emphasis on the role of lawyers in the justice system, expressing concern at the frequency with which prosecutors and defense attorneys negotiate guilty pleas even when clients profess their innocence.

Commissioner Macaulay also lamented the “shameful” fact that only five countries (Antigua & Barbuda, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay) have ratified the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance.

During the event’s question-and-answer period, audience members wondered how to keep discussions of racial discrimination in the spotlight. Others asked how the UN and Inter-American systems can support activists who are denouncing rights violations and working for change.

To close the event, Carlos Quesada reiterated Race and Equality’s commitment to continue working alongside grassroots activists to win more ratifications of the Convention against Racism.

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Race and Equality organized a webinar with activists to discuss the role of the IACHR in the crisis generated by COVID-19 with the Special Rapporteur for LGBTI Rights of the IACHR

The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) held a webinar with the Special Rapporteur for the Rights of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Trans and Intersex Persons (LGBTI) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Flavia Piovesan, as well as LGBTI activists and civil society members from Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Nicaragua to discuss the role of the IACHR and the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of LGBTI people in Latin America.

The event entitled, “The role of the IACHR in the crisis generated by COVID-19: Threats to the rights of LGBTI people in Latin America” was held on Thursday, May 21. It began with a statement by Flavia Piovesan, who focused her speech on understanding the impact of the pandemic from a human rights view, its specific threats to LGBTI people and the IACHR strategies to confront them.

According to the Rapporteur, it is necessary to bear in mind three structural challenges in the region that the pandemic aggravated and accentuated: profound inequality, historical discrimination and violence, and dilemmas related to democratic institutions. She explained that the historical statistics on poverty and extreme poverty in Latin America deepened inequality and the lack of guarantees of rights such as health, work, and housing has meant that the effects of the pandemic are differentiated for the most vulnerable populations. “The virus is not discriminatory, but its impact is,” said Commissioner Piovesan, quoting Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). This situation is accentuated when the State response includes an arbitrary and abusive use of force. The Rapporteur also noted that the IACHR published resolution 1/2020 on April 20, 2020. This resolution created the Rapid and Integrated Response Coordination (SACROI COVID-19, for its acronym in Spanish), which focuses on addressing these three structural challenges “from the perspective of Inter-American standards, endorsing the language of human rights, on the one hand, that of state duties and obligations on the other.” Using a gender perspective, the IACHR invited states to guarantee access to housing, safe havens, and economic recovery for trans people. It also asked States to publish health protocols and make complaint mechanisms available for LGBTI people, as well as launch campaigns against LGBTIphobia. The Rapporteur’s intervention ended by pointing out that in face of the threats to the LGBTI population, the IACHR’s four priorities focus on: protection against discrimination; the social exclusion and historical poverty of LGBTI people; barriers in access to health and the barriers imposed by religious groups and gender based-violence, with a special focus on children. Wilson Castañeda, Director of Caribe Affirmativo, reaffirmed the importance of understanding the structural challenges the Rapporteur pointed out and emphasized that “there is a narrative that is developing which indicates that the most vulnerable people facing the pandemic are dangerous to society and among them are LGBTI people”. According to Castañeda, the state response in Colombia has been insufficient to address the job, food, housing and emotional health insecurity of LGBTI people, especially those most vulnerable, such as transgender sex workers, LGBTI migrants, people with HIV, and people deprived of liberty. Castañeda also noted his concern about the implementation of measures such as the “pico y género,” the high homicide rates and episodes of violence and discrimination against LGBTI people in the midst of the crisis. For this reason, he recommended that the IACHR strengthen its actions to monitor the situation of LGBTI people, especially in those States with measures to restrict mobility; urged governments and humanitarian agencies to have a differential and a human rights perspective in their assistance efforts and to promote follow-up meetings in the region with a broad participation of the most vulnerable populations.

In Nicaragua, the socio-political and economic crisis, ongoing since 2018, has exacerbated the consequences of the pandemic, according to Victoria Obando, a member of Deigeorsex and the Nicaraguan LGBTIQ National Board. “Our representatives are not telling the truth regarding the situation we are experiencing in the country,” says Obando, who points out that the situation is worse for the LGBTI population. For example, she presented the case of Celia Cruz, a trans woman detained in Managua with symptoms of COVID-19. The government does not allow her to have visits and prohibits family members from bringing her medical products. Victoria called on the IACHR and international organizations to put pressure on the State to tell the truth about the statistics of the pandemic in her country.

Maria Ysabel Cedano, a Peruvian lawyer representing DEMUS, focused her intervention on the discrimination and violence lesbian women and non-binary people suffer. Cedano drew attention to the high rates of violence within the home which are increasing in the face of the pandemic. She emphasized that the pandemic has exacerbated barriers in access to justice because cases have been suspended to prioritize other requests such as the release of people deprived of liberty. This has meant that cases such as that of two lesbian women fighting to be recognized as the mothers of their child are put on hold. She also highlighted that “the fear of being punished means there is no social demand,” referring to why lesbian women are left out of public policies and made invisible by a heteronormative society. In addition to this, universal family relief aid, a measure the Peruvian State took to alleviate the economic burden of the pandemic on the most vulnerable, did not have a differential approach to protect LGBTI people, especially the indigenous, Afro descendant or rural LGBTI people who were left without any aid.  Isaac Porto, Race and Equality’s Consultant in Brazil, emphasized the need to pay special attention to the situation in Brazil and recommended that the Brazilian government implement the measures recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to contain the pandemic. He also recommended that the State adopt a differential approach[1] to prevent infections and deaths of the Afro-Brazilian population, especially AfroLGBTI people, who are the most impacted and vulnerable. After a round of commentary and questions from different activists from around Latin America, the event was closed with Race and Equality’s commitment to continue working with the IACHR and our partners to better the lives of LGBTI people in the region. Race and Equality joined the call of the IACHR and our partner organizations to build bridges and collective strategies in the region to shed light to these violations against LGBTI people. This is a time of reinvention and transformation and a time to demand better institutional responses to the needs of people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. We must also create a post-COVID-19 agenda to ensure Afro-LGBTI and LGBTI people are included in post-COVID responses.

[1] Include programs and public policies that take into account the needs of specific groups such as afro-descendant and indigenous people in combination with other factors that will increase discrimination such as sexual orientation and gender identity. For example, economic programs that include trans workers and training for public officials on LGBTI standards and rights.

Race and Equality launches practical guide for requesting precautionary measures at the IACHR

Washington, DC.  May 8, 2020.  The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) has released “Precautionary Measures at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Function and Process,” a manual to assist activists and human rights defenders with the process of soliciting precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

“This educational tool can provide support to civil society organizations who face the risk of serious human rights violations when they prepare requests,” remarked Carlos Quesada, Race and Equality’s Executive Director.

The guide consists of two documents: one aimed at attorneys and legal experts, and an illustrated guide that follows four characters through the process of requesting and receiving precautionary measures, designed to explain the steps of the process to grassroots activists.

“We assembled this guide to ensure that activists who lack experience in the Inter-American legal system can access the precautionary measures process. For each step of the process, the guide provides the reader with a ‘theory review’ where the illustrated characters explain what each step implies and a ‘practical review’ that explains the steps of preparing and filling out each requirement. All the cases used as examples in the guide were created as educational examples; in no way do they correspond to real cases,” explains Christina Fetterhoff, Senior Legal Program Officer.

The guide, now available to download from Race and Equality’s website at www.raceandequality.org/publications, aims to build capacity among users of the Inter-American Human Rights System and in so doing strengthen the System as a whole.

According to Caitlin Kelly, Legal Program Officer for Latin America, “Precautionary measures are a vital tool for protecting human rights and for taking concrete steps to protect people at risk of fundamental rights violations. Race and Equality strives to make this tool and the Inter-American system as a whole more accessible to grassroots activists in the region, as part of our broader efforts to allow these activists to take the lead in demanding their own rights. We hope that it will be very useful to our partners.”

The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights is an organization that works with organizations and activists in Latin America to protect and promote the human rights of marginalized populations, particularly people suffering rights violations due to their race, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Race and Equality provides capacity-building to grassroots organizations so that they can become effective political actors and promote structural changes in their home countries.

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