IACHR
Press Release
IACHR and its Special Rapporteurship on ESCER calls on the States to guarantee the rights of Afro-descendant Persons and prevent racial discrimination in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic
April 28, 2020
Washington, D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) and its Special Rapporteurship on Economic, Social, Cultural
and Environmental Rights (OSRESCER), in the context of its Rapid and
Integrated Response Coordination Unit for the COVID-19 pandemic
crisis (SACROI COVID-19), call the States to respect the rights of
Afro-descendant persons and to prevent and combat racial
discrimination in this context. In particular, the Commission and
its OSRESCER urge the States to guarantee timely access to public
health, through measures of prevention, mitigation and treatment of
this disease, under conditions of dignity, equality and
non-discrimination for all Afro-descendant persons and tribal
communities.
The IACHR recalls that structural discrimination and historical racial segregation expose the Afro-descendant population and tribal communities to various gaps in opportunities for their own development, as well as permanent obstacles to the progressiveness of their economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights. The Commission and its OSRESCER highlight that, according to information from the World Bank and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), people with this ethnic-racial origin report low percentages in economic assets and formal employments, a situation that tends to expose them to situations of poverty in the countries of the region. Furthermore, they stress that within this group, both women and rural workers of African descent are those who register the highest unemployment and job insecurity figures compared to the general population.
The IACHR and its OSRESCER recall the need for emergency health policies
and comprehensive protection that guarantee access to health services for
all people and that are sensitive to the differing needs of individuals, in
order not to aggravate situations of structural discrimination, such as
ethnic-racial origin, age, gender, socio-economic situation, migration
status, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity and / or
expression, among others.
In this sense, the IACHR and its OSRESCER highlight that the measures of
containment and compulsory social isolation can represent a differentiated
impact on the economic life of Afro-descendant people, who would have more
difficulties in accessing public health services. The Commission also
highlights the negative impact that may result from the increase in
terminations of employment and the decrease in economic income per capita
due to the institutional strategies adopted in the context of the pandemic;
which could exacerbate and disproportionately impact the population groups
in conditions of poverty and extreme poverty, such as homeless people or
living in informal settlements.
On the subject, the Commission and its OSRESCER welcome the emergency
plans developed by States in the region, such as in Brazil, Colombia,
Argentina and the United States, aimed at supporting workers, mainly
informal ones, so that they can comply with the measures of social isolation
during the containment of the pandemic. Likewise, they call on States to
keep supporting people who are in a situation of extreme vulnerability
through the construction and application of emergency measures that account
for accomplishing on the important guidelines for containment of the
COVID-19 pandemic, while they guarantee access to economic resources to
populations that are most exposed to poverty and extreme poverty.
On the other hand, considering this population’s poverty rates, the Commission and its OSRESCER express concern about the increasing numbers of infections and deaths of African American people due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. According to publicly available information from Chicago by April 12th, 68% of COVID-19 related deaths were among African Americans, who represents only 30% of the city’s population. In the State of Louisiana, 7 out of 10 people who died from the pandemic were Afro descendant. Also, 62 deaths have been verified in Alabama of which 53% correspond to people of this ethnic-racial origin. Similarly, authorities in Detroit, Michigan, the city with the largest population of African descent persons in the country, have warned about the racial disparity regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; by April 15th, 120 deaths of people with African descent were reported due to the virus.
Moreover, the IACHR and its OSRESCER reiterate their observation that the
geographic areas with a high concentration of Afro-descendant people in the
region coincide with areas of marginalization and poverty, housing deficits,
greater exposure to crime and violence. Such is the case of the Colombian
Pacific region, where the correlation between high indicators of economic
poverty and settlement areas of Afro-descendant communities persists, where
even in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, cases of armed violence are
registered in against persons belonging to said communities. As well as the
situation of Afro-descendant people living in the favelas in Brazil, where
78 cases of infection and 10 deaths have been reported up to April 16; its
inhabitants are more exposed to the high demographic concentration, and more
aggravated to the violent action of armed groups; making it even more
difficult to implement social isolation measures.
Additionally, the Commission and its OSRESCER observe that different
States in the region have had pertinent measures to contain the spread of
the COVID-19 pandemic, and for their effects, states of exception and
curfews have been declared, which establish mandatory social isolation,
empowering State security agents to apply the use of force and preventive
detention to violators. According to the IACHR's monitoring activities, in
the States with the highest presence of Afro-descendant persons, the figures
of police violence against this population are higher compared to people of
other ethnic-racial origin. For this reason, the Commission urges the States
to take effective measures in the current context of the pandemic to prevent
acts of institutional violence and excessive use of force based on
ethnic-racial origin and patterns of racial profiling.
As for the Afro-descendant tribal communities, the IACHR expresses its deepest concern regarding Resolution No. 11 of the Committee for the Development of the Brazilian Space Program that was issued on March 26th. This order approved the rules for the Prior and Informed Consent consultation for the Quilombola communities, in accordance to the ILO’s 169 Resolution, which will be affected by the consolidation of the Alcântara Launch Center (CLA in Portuguese), in Maranhão state, Brazil. If the dispossession would be confirmed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the IACHR and its OSRESCER stresses that this could represent a risk to health security, the right to health and the integrity of the Quilombola communities.
Regarding the Afro-descendant tribal communities, the IACHR reiterates to
the States the importance of recognizing the territorial rights of
collective property to the Afro-descendant communities and guaranteeing them
the effective right to free, prior and informed consent and consultation,
respecting their free self-determination. Likewise, it urges the States to
refrain from promoting legislative initiatives or projects that affect
ethnic territories during the duration of this pandemic, due to the
impossibility of carrying out said consultation processes.
Finally, the IACHR highlights the different strategies adopted by the States of the region to reduce the risk of contagion and health impact of COVID-19, and the need for a coordinated response among them. Conscious of this, the Commission calls for the situation of Afro-descendants and tribal communities to be made visible in the context of this pandemic, especially to include an ethnic-racial perspective with an intersectional approach in all response measures implemented both in the level national, as in the regional responses that can be articulated.
Due to the aforementioned, in relation to the rights of people of Afro-descendant persons, the IACHR and its Rapporteurship on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights recommends to the States, in addition to the provisions of Resolution 1/2020:
1. Adopt differentiated institutional measures to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Afro-descendant people; and in this framework, include in the systems of registries of people affected by this pandemic, disaggregated data on ethnic-racial origin, gender, disability, nationality and age.
2. Guarantee timely access to comprehensive public health services for Afro-descendant persons and tribal communities, incorporating an intercultural approach, and in that regard, having clear, accessible and inclusive information for this population about the medical procedures performed on them.
3. Include Afro-descendant persons in all spaces and levels of decision-making on action plans, public policies and projects that are executed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, to promote permanent communication channels with Afro-descendant civil society organizations to ensure their participation in the different stages of design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of these plans.
4. Implement institutional protocols to prevent the excessive use of force and the application of racial profiling patterns, within the framework of the measures adopted to counter the COVID-19 pandemic.
5. Guarantee the fair exercise of the right to free, prior and informed consent and consultation for Afro-descendant tribal communities during the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. If necessary, suspend projects of any kind that may affect these communities due to the impossibility of practicing the consultation processes.
6. Establish universal basic income measures and temporary shelters for Afro-descendant persons and tribal communities in conditions of poverty and extreme poverty, especially people in the street situation, living on informal settlements and the rural communities, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The OSRESCER is an autonomous office of the IACHR that was specifically created to support the IACHR in fulfilling its mandate to promote and protect economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights in the Americas.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
No. 092/20