WASHINGTON, CMC -The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Office of the Special Rapporteur on Economic Rights, Social, Cultural, and Environmental (REDESCA) are calling on countries in the region to guarantee that educational institutions maintain efforts and contribute to the fight against racial discrimination.
In a message marking the commemoration of the “International Days for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Persons” on Monday, the two organizations say they recognize the role of higher educational institutions in the preservation and access to the correct historical memory of people of African descent.
They said higher educational institutions in the region have implemented strategies to recognize the contributions of the African diaspora in the Americas through research and teaching on the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved people.
“However, there has been knowledge of regressive initiatives that oppose the promotion of historical awareness about the impacts of colonization and slavery in the region, as well as the need for reparations for slavery in the hemisphere. Such initiatives include, for example, budget cuts to universities and proposed laws to ban teaching about the impacts of racial discrimination,” the two organizations said.
They said including educational programs on Afro-descendant historical memory within higher education curricula is essential to guarantee a comprehensive and holistic education beyond the primary and secondary levels.
Universities and other higher education institutions play a significant role in recognizing the correct memory of black communities in the Americas through research and teaching.
“Along these lines, the Inter-American Principles on Academic Freedom and University Autonomy, the Commission and its Special Rapporteurships emphasized that States must promote and implement the design and application of comprehensive educational programs that promote a culture of human rights, counteracting all prejudices and practices that reinforce, promote or instigate discrimination against people and groups in situations of special vulnerability or historical discrimination.”
In their report, Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights of Afro-descendant People (2021), the IACHR and SRESCER highlighted that States, both in public and private education systems, must guarantee the right to historical memory of African descent through the implementation of a specialized chair that explains the history of the African diaspora and its processes of resistance, demands, and advances.
They said that along the same lines, the Plan of Action for the Decade of People of African Descent in the Americas of the Organization of American States (OAS) highlighted the importance of universities collaborating in state initiatives to reinforce the inclusion of African history, the Afro-descendant population in the Americas, and the intercultural approach in educational curricula.
“The Commission and SRESCER call on States to continue adopting measures to promote higher education institutions to consolidate their efforts in the fight against racial discrimination and the dissemination of the legacy of Afro-descendant people and peoples in the exercise of their academic and academic freedom in observance of the principles of equality and non-discrimination.
“States must guarantee that universities are safe spaces for all ethnic-racial groups. Likewise, they must support affirmative action to ensure the representation of people of African descent in all higher education centers.
The Office of the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights is an office created by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which is the leading and autonomous body of the OAS, whose mandate arises from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights.
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