Latin America is home to an estimated 150 million people of African descent—approximately 30 percent of the region’s total population. Despite their numbers, Afro-descendants are routinely subject to racial discrimination, social exclusion, and under-representation in government.

Global Rights has operated a Latin America program for over 30 years, and during this time, we have worked in more than ten countries across the region to promote individuals’ civil and political rights. Since 2001, our activities concentrate on advancing racial and ethnic equality for Afro-descendants and indigenous peoples—a unique focus among international human rights organizations. We work now with local Afro-descendant partner organizations in Colombia and a wide array of organizations and networks throughout the region to address discrimination.  

In Colombia, where a civil war has raged for decades, Global Rights builds the capacity of local civil society organizations to address the government’s limited and contradictory policies toward  internally displaced Afro-descendants. We highlight the patterns of racial discrimination—particularly those that limit access to education and land—against Afro-Colombians and provide technical assistance and expertise to partners as they advocate with the Colombian government and the Organization of American States (OAS) to recognize the ethnic dimension of the civil war and adopt a differential approach to meeting the needs of displaced Afro-Colombians. Global Rights also works to increase the capacity of Afro-Colombian lawyers to access and advocate with regional and international human rights bodies.

Global Rights builds the capacity of partner organizations and individual activists from countries throughout Latin America to engage in the OAS General Assembly, the Summit of the Americas Process, the Inter-American human rights protection system, and the United Nations committee that oversees the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) through advocacy training, technical assistance, and strategy sessions.

Fact Sheets

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Publications

Bicentennial: Nothing to Celebrate! This new report focuses on the death threats and killings of Afro-Colombian leaders from 2008 until mid 2010 and provides recommendations for the Colombian government and the international community. (October 2010) English | Español

Guía para la participación y la incidencia (October 2010) Español
 
Easier Said Than Done: An analysis of the regulatory framework and public policies affecting internally displaced and/or confined Afro-Colombians (2010) English | Español

Life in the Face of Adversity: The human rights situation of internally displaced Afro-Colombian women (2008) English | Español

Luces y contra luces: Sobre la exclusión (2007) Español

*Photo by Ricardo Angulo