ABSTRACT
The visibility of people of African descent in Latin America has increased significantly in the past two decades thanks to the transnational social mobilisation of Afro-descendant leaders to push for greater inclusion of their communities and recognition of their rights. The 2001 World Conference Against Racism played a major role in this process, but several other factors have contributed. This chapter will uncover these factors by tracing the emergence of new international norms pertaining to people of African descent. Afro-descendant leaders have merged discourses on non-discrimination with the assertion of collective rights and ethno-cultural identity to create a new group-specific set of norms. The influence of indigenous peoples’ movement will be examined to reveal how it has both helped and hindered Afro-descendants’ own claims. New mechanisms such as the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent and the UN International Decade for People of African Descent (2015–2024) will be evaluated, along with the role of the key states such as Brazil and Colombia. The international actors that have contributed to mobilisation and norm emergence will be discussed, in particular international development banks, UN and inter-American human rights mechanisms and international NGOs. The geographical scope of this chapter will be limited primarily to Latin America, but links with activism in North America and Europe will also be highlighted.
