Draft first regional report on the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development

<strong>Draft</strong> <strong>first</strong> <strong>regional</strong> <strong>report</strong> on the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development
Chapter III
and informed consultation on all actions undertaken by States that affect them, meaning that the progress
made by these countries in this area as mentioned in section III.H of this document (on indigenous peoples)
extends to Afrodescendent communities.
Besides what has been set out here, affirmative action is applied in the region, mainly in the form of
study grants and reserved jobs and university places for Afrodescendants. Brazil has vast experience with
this and has made progress by means of reserved places for Afrodescendent and indigenous students in
public technical education institutes and universities, a programme of study grants for private universities
(some postgraduate programmes also have reserved places), grants for Afrodescendants to prepare for entry
into the diplomatic service and the establishment of a quota of 10% of places for Afrodescendants in the
<strong>first</strong> phase of the selection process for the diplomatic service, plus reserved places in tenders for the public
administration and firms acting as suppliers to the State. Other countries, such as the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, the Plurinational State of Bolivia and Uruguay have also implemented affirmative
actions in recent years (ECLAC, 2017a and 2017b).
Appreciatory policies are also applied in the region, chief among them the establishment of official
days celebrating African descent (which now exist in 14 countries of Latin America), the teaching of African
history and culture in schools and the implementation of policies that incorporate ancestral visions and
health practices. To these measures may be added the acknowledgement of Afrodescendent heroes
and recognition of Afrodescendent cultural practices as historical heritage, as in the Plurinational State of
Bolivia; the declaration that Garífuna culture forms part of Nicaragua’s national heritage; the highlighting of
Afrodescendants’ contributions in Panama; and, lastly, official recognition of the value of Afrodescendants in
forming the national identity and defending the territory of Peru (ECLAC, 2017a). These forms of recognition
already existed in 2013 and continue to operate today. The idea, then, is not to carry out symbolic acts, but to
contribute to the establishment of actions that show appreciation of Afrodescendent populations’ contribution
to the construction and development of these States.
Some countries have been implementing actions in territories traditionally inhabited by Afrodescendants,
coinciding with places of settlement in the period of slavery (either destination areas or places of refuge
when slaves succeeded in escaping). Although policies to strengthen Afrodescendent communities are not
found everywhere, the cases of Brazil and Colombia may be highlighted. The latter has taken a significant
step forward in relation to territorial recognition and the right to collective land ownership. In countries where
Afrodescendants are only a small minority of the population, actions have also been taken in specific areas,
an example being Chile with its Promotion and Dissemination of the Arts and Cultures of Indigenous Peoples
programme, which includes the Afrodescendent community (as a tribal people) of the Arica and Parinacota
region. Chile <strong>report</strong>s that 16 Afrodescendants’ organizations in the region participated in planning for territorial
revitalization in 2016 and describes a number of activities participated in by 31 Afrodescendants’ organizations
as of 2017 (Government of Chile, 2018).
Lastly, priority measure 97 of the Montevideo Consensus is to ensure that policies and programmes are
in place to raise the living standards of Afrodescendent women by fully enforcing their rights, in particular
their sexual rights and reproductive rights. A number of countries mention that policies and programmes
aimed at (or including) Afrodescendants take account of gender and generational overlaps, while some include
Afrodescendent women in sectoral policies. In Chile, for example, the Ministry of Women and Gender Equity
makes explicit provision for Afrodescendent women in Arica and Parinacota in the actions it undertakes. In
Guatemala, the goals of the Equal Opportunities Plan 2008-2023 include the all-round development of Garífuna
women. Panama <strong>report</strong>s that one of the axes of the Equal Opportunities for Women Action Plan 2016-2019
contains three strategic guidelines relating to the promotion of non-discrimination, equal opportunities and the
all-round development of women, including Afrodescendent women. In Peru, the Sectoral Policy for Intercultural
Health Care, formulated in 2016, explicitly guarantees the right to health care for Afro-Peruvian peoples. Uruguay
refers to the National Women’s Institute, which has played a benchmarking and support role since 2005 in the
mainstreaming of the ethnic-racial perspective in the State. Since 2015, the national government has made
changes to deal with the issue by pursuing a comprehensive, planned and territorial approach to enable this
perspective to be incorporated into the budgetary strategies and the actions implemented up to 2050.
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