Afro-descendants of Latin America: Selected Resources

The United Nations (UN) estimates 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 (e.g., H.Con.Res. 175 (109^th Congress) and its related 2005 hearing). From 1993-2024, the U.S. Department of State included 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). The 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 UN 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 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 $8.30 per day in 2021 purchasing power parity terms), compared to the total population; statistics also compare population growth, educational attainment, access to water, electricity, internet and more.

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, 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 held its third session in April 2024. The UN and the Organization of American States (OAS) also have rapporteurs, established in 1993 and 2005, respectively, which work to combat racial discrimination through various means. Since 1996, the OAS' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has 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.

Various international organizations have issued declarations and conventions concerning Afro-descendants' human rights (Table 3). In 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."