Afro-descendants of Latin America: Selected Resources
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CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress
INSIGHTi
Afro-descendants of Latin America: Selected Resources
Updated August 8, 2024
The United Nations (UN) estimatesestimates that approximately “"200 million people identifying themselves as being of African descent live in the Americas.”" Congress has long demonstrated interest in the status of Afro-descendants abroad through its legislation and hearings. Since 1993 (e.g., H.Con.Res. 175 (109th Congress) and its related 2005 hearing). From 1993-2024, the U.S. Department of State includesincluded a section on “"National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities,”" in the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices to Congress. This CRS Insight focuses on global resources that relate to the human rights of Afro-descendants of Latin America, including socioeconomic status (Table 1), international organizations (Table 2), and international declarations and conventions (Table 3). Most of the resources belowThe resources below are listed in reverse chronological order of publication and many are also available in one or more foreign languages.
This CRS Insight uses the umbrella term “"Afro-descendant.”" The World Bank’'s 2018 report Afro- descendants in Latin America: Toward a Framework of Inclusion details that the term was “"first adopted by regional Afro-descendant organizations in the early 2000s, and describes people united by a common ancestry but living in very dissimilar conditions.”
For Latin America’'s Afro-descendants, human rights challenges are intertwined with socioeconomics. The 2002 UNUN Durban Declaration emphasized that, ", “poverty, underdevelopment, marginalization, social exclusion and economic disparities are closely associated with racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and contribute to the persistence of racist attitudes and practices which in turn generate more poverty.”" For example, the World Bank’s LAC (Latin America and the Caribbean) Equity Lab’s March 2024 data's LAC Equity Lab's June 2025 update illustrates that in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay, a higher percentage of Afro- descendants are poor (living on less than $6.858.30 per day in 20172021 purchasing power parity terms), compared to the national average.
total population; statistics also compare population growth, educational attainment, access to water, electricity, internet and more.
Table 1. Socioeconomic Status of Afro-descendants in Latin America: Resources
Title Author Resource Type
Title
Author
Resource Type
Sushma Shrestha Sangat et al., in Communications Earth & Environment
Journal article mapped the biological value of Afro-descendant lands in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Suriname, and conducted a matching analysis to estimate the effect of these lands on deforestation.
LAC Equity Lab: Ethnicity (last updated 2024)
World BankWorld Bank 2025)
Website with data on socio- demographics, poverty, and access to services.
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
IN11790
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Title Author Resource Type
UN Food and Agricultural Organization and UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Report examines rural Afro-descendant demographics, living conditions, collective rights, and the role of women. Rights and Resources Initiative, Process of Black Communities, Pontifical Universidad Javeriana's Observatory of Ethnic and Campesino Territories, and National Coordination of Articulation of Rural Black Quilombola Communities Trilingual atlas examines the territorial presence of Afro-descendants in 15 Latin American countries, status of territorial rights, and contributions to conservation efforts.Afro-descendant Peoples'
Afro-descendant Peoples' Territories in Biodiversity Hotspots across Latin America and the Caribbean: Barriers to Inclusion in Conservation policies (2023)
Rights and Resources Initiative, Process of Black Communities, Pontifical Universidad Javeriana’'s Observatory of Ethnic and Campesino Territories, and National Coordination of Articulation of Rural Black Quilombola Communities
Report examines the territorial presence of Afro-descendants in 16 Latin American countries.
Maternal Health Analysis of Women and Girls of African Descent in the Americas (2023)
UN Population Fund, UN Children’'s Fund, UN Women, Pan American Health Organization, and the National Birth Equity Collaborative
Report compares data across the Americas about Afro-descendant women’'s maternal health and provides analysis and recommendations.
Afro-descendant Inclusion in Education: An Anti-racist Agenda for Latin America (2022)
Germán Freire et al., World Bank Group
Report examines educational disparities across several countries and its relationship to regional sustainable growth.
Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights of Persons of African Descent:: Inter-American Standards to Prevent, Combat and EradicateEradicate Structural Racial Discrimination (2021)
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Report covers the challenges of statistical visibility, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) context, and violence, as well as Inter-American standards to combat racial discrimination.
Health of Afro-descendant People in Latin America (2021)
Pan American Health Organization
Report identifies key data gaps on Afro-descendent health in the region, and makes recommendations.
Children of African descent in Latin America (2019)
UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Briefing note on population, childhood inequalities, health, and education indicators.
Afro-descendants in Latin America: Toward a Framework of Inclusion (2018)
Germán Freire et al., World Bank Report covers terms, population distribution, poverty, and education.
Afrodescendent women in Latin America and the Caribbean: Debts of equality (2018)
UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Report on Afro-descendant women’s economic, physical, and decision- making autonomy.
Source: Compiled by CRS.
Several international organizations have expressed concern about the human rights of Afro-descendants (Table 2). In 1966, the UN proclaimed March 21 as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. In August 2021, a unanimously adopted resolution established the UN the General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution that established the UN Permanent Forum of People of African Descent. This advisory body works with the UN Human Rights Council and heldheld its third session in April 2024. The UN and the Organization of American States (OAS) also have rapporteurs, established in 1993 and 20051993 and 2005, respectively, which work to combat racial discrimination through various means. The OAS’Since 1996, the OAS' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights holds hearings, some categorized underhas held over 100 hearings on the Rights of Afro-Descendants/Against Racial Discrimination, , and may recommend cases to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
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Table 2. Rights of Afro-descendants in Latin America: Selected Resources from International
OrganizationsTitle
Author
Resource Type
Organizations
Title Author Resource Type
International Decade for People of African Descent 2015-2024
United Nations
Website with resources, events, regional meeting information, and more.
Rapporteurship on the Rights of Persons of African Descent and against Racial Discrimination
Organization of American States
Website with reports, hearings, and press releases.
Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism
United Nations
Website with thematic and country reports.
Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
United Nations
Website with thematic and country reports.
Source: Compiled by CRS.
Various international organizations have also issued declarations and conventions concerning Afro- descendants’descendants' human rights (Table 3). In 2017, several UN groups began work on a draft “2024, a UN working group reported on its ongoing work drafting a "Declaration on the Promotion and Full Respect of the Human Rights of People of African Descent.”
Table 3. Selected International Declarations and Conventions regarding Human Rights of Afro-
descendants of Latin America
Title Author
Title
Author
Date adopted
Date of entry into force
Inter-American Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance
Organization of American States
June 5, 2013
February 20, 2020
Inter-American Convention Against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance
Organization of American States
June 5, 2013
November 11, 2017
World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance: Declaration and ProgrammeProgramme of Action (also known as the Durban Conference)
United Nations 2002 2002 (See also related
.)
Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
November 27, 1978
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
United Nations December 21, 1965 January 4, 1969
Source: Compiled by CRS.
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Author Information
Carla Y. Davis-Castro Senior Research Librarian
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.
United Nations
December 21, 1965
January 4, 1969
Source: Compiled by CRS.