Brazil
Approved, the Racial Equality Statute is being criticized by social movements
Historic demands were deleted in the final drafting of the law
July 16, 2010
The biggest defeat over the last 60 years: The Racial Equality Statute was considered as such by the vast majority of the social movements in Brazil – and by the black movement in particular. With a background of demands and intense debates carried out in the public sphere by the civil society over more than a decade, this law, in the final drafting phase, did not take into consideration some of the points deemed as the most important ones in the fight for equality for African-descendants in Brazil.
The demands for quota for African-descendants in technical education centers and federal and state universities, in public employment and in political parties, for example, were excluded from the text. The clamor for the recognition of the right to the land of the “quilombos” (settlements of African-descendants people) communities and the demarcation of their territories were also ignored in the drafting of the law. With regard to health care, importance was denied to the provision of treatment for those diseases that affect African-descendant population the hardest, such as sickle cell anemia.
The original bill was presented in 2003, as a result of the intense mobilization of civil society and social movements. It was discussed in the Legislative Chambers for many years. It was finally approved after the intermediation efforts of the author and rapporteur of the project of the Secretaría Especial de Políticas de Promoción de la Igualdad Racial/Office of the Special Secretary of Racial Equality Promotion Policies (SEPPIR, for its acronym in Portuguese). Shortly afterwards, President Lula enacted the law.
The haste in passing the Statute, according to the social movements, is explained by the fact that this is the last year of Brazil’s current government. Worried about the situation, over 100 organization sent an open letter to the Senate (read it hereunder, in Portuguese) requesting the suspension of the bill and to reopen the debates in the next term of office, but to no avail. In the letter, they pointed out that:
“By not recognizing that racism results from a process of slavery and the violation of the freedom of several African peoples; by not recognizing the country’s historic debt owned to its black population; by not even allowing compensatory measures or affirmative actions to be recognized as vital for redressing all the inequalities stemming from Brazilian racism; we understand that the Statute fulfilled its role of provoking the debate but, at the same time, it runs out and becomes useless since what is being put to vote does not correspond in any way to the original proposal”.
Read here the Racial Equality Statute (in Portuguese)
Read the letter from the social movements to the Senate (2 B) 
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