Activities undertaken

Expert Workshop on People of African Descent in the Americas, United States, 2010

The First Expert Workshop on People of African Descent in the Americas was held at the offices of the Department of International Law of the Secretariat for Legal Affairs of the Organization of American States (OAS) on January 22, 2010. The purpose of the event was to produce a technical-legal document that could subsequently be used as a reference by representatives of Afro-descendant organizations, the political organs of the inter-American system (including the Working Group created within the OAS to prepare a Draft Inter-American Convention Against Racism and All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance), and other interested stakeholders.

Recognized experts on the subject from different countries of the region participated in the workshop, including professors Pastor Murillo (an independent expert of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination); Robert Cottrol (George Washington University); Tanya Katerí Hernández (Fordham University); Hédio Silva Júnior (Centro de Estudios de Relaciones de Trabajo y Desigualdades – CEERT); Carlos Quesada (Global Rights Partners for Justice); Judith Morrison (Inter-American Development Bank); Celina Romany (Celina Romany law firm); and M’baré N’gom (Morgan State University). The workshop covered several topics, such as affirmative action, civil responsibility for acts of racial discrimination, reversal of the burden of proof in acts of discrimination, and “hate speech.”