Uruguay Launches Afro-Descendant Month to Fight 'Discrimination'

Uruguay's Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) has launched Afro-Descendant Month, in a bid to combat ongoing racial discrimination against this sector of society and pay homage to their contributions to the South American country, the celebrations will include a series of activities throughout July.

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Miguel Pereira, a member of the Working Group on Racial Equity Policies and Head of the Human Rights Department of MIDES, participated in the launch along with other authorities, as well as the mayor of Montevideo, Daniel Martínez

Pereira pointed out that Afro-Descendant Month is an initiative of the Working Group on Racial Equity Policies. It was established via presidential resolution in 2017 and organized by MIDES.

The event will take place in July to coincide with and commemorate Nelson Mandela International Day, which takes place on July 18th, and the International Day of the Afro-Latin American and Caribbean Woman, which takes place on the 25th.

Pereira said that Uruguay's African-descendant population is at around 10 percent. The data is obtained from the Continuous Household Survey, or ECH, which included the ethnic-racial variable for the first time in 2006.

A National Plan for Racial Equality will also be launched within the framework of Uruguay's Afro-descendant month.

Pereira described the project as a “very important tool” considering that Uruguay is a signatory to the United Nations and the Committee for the Eradication of Racial Discrimination, according to EFE.

"It will allow us to coordinate public policy, establish priorities, make transparent the different policies that the agencies carry out and also allocate resources so that they can develop," Pereira said.

He added that one of the most critical challenges is to reduce the socioeconomic gap between people of African-descent and those who are not, because even though poverty among the Black population "has decreased," the gap "continues to be maintained."

"Much remains to be done, particularly for people of African-descent to know when they are victims of racial discrimination, because many times these practices are naturalized, and that is very difficult to break," Pereira concluded.