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Hemispheric Authorities on Policies for Afro-descendant Populations Establish Cooperation Network within OAS

The Inter-American Network of High Authorities on Policies for Afro-descendant Populations (RIAFRO, for its initials in Spanish) was established this Wednesday in Lima, Peru, at the first Inter-American Meeting of High level Authorities on policy for Afro- Descendant Populations.

Members of the Network will work to promote dialogue, coordination, permanent collaboration among national authorities to promote the implementation of policies for people of African descent according to international and regional obligations in the Americas.

The main objectives of RIAFRO are:

• To expand and foster cooperation, exchange of experiences and good practices for the strengthening of government institutions that develop public policies for people of African descent in the Americas.
• To disseminate and implement the Plan of Action for the Decade of Afro-descendants in the Americas and the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Intolerance.
• To strengthen coordination and collaboration between regional and international organizations, cooperation agencies, academia, civil society and other social actors.

Peru, as host of the first meeting, assumed the presidency of RIAFRO until 2019 when it will be assumed by Costa Rica, which will host the next meeting in 2019. Brazil will follow Costa Rica in heading the Network, and will host the 2020 meeting.

The OAS has long expressed its concern regarding inclusion, respect for human rights, and attention to the needs of this group. However, starting in 2010, the OAS General Assembly has made a concerted effort to address racism in the Hemisphere through a series of resolutions focused on the rights and inclusion of people of African Descent and the adoption of the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance in 2013 which entered into force in November 2017.

In 2014, when the United Nations declared 2015-2024 as the International Decade of People of African Descent, the OAS General Assembly joined the UN recognizing the Decade through a Special Meeting of the Permanent Council. The OAS further reiterated its support for the Decade by building on the United Nations’ Declaration and adopted the Plan of Action for the Decade of People of African Descent in the Americas (2016-2025) during its General Assembly in 2016.

The meeting in Lima was hosted by the OAS Department of Social Inclusion, the Afro-Latin American Research Institute of Harvard University, and the Direction on Policies for the Afro-Peruvian Population of the Ministry of Culture of Peru. The Department of Social Inclusion will serve as the technical Secretariat for the RIAFRO.

Reference: E-037/18