Excerpts from the Inter-American Dialogue’s Race Report 2004: Toward racial equality in the Americas
In Latin America, racial inequality is pervasive and takes many forms. Over the past dozen years, several countries — most notably Brazil and Colombia — have adopted laws that address some of the problems confronting Afro-descendant populations, including racial discrimination, land rights and social inequality.
Laws are clearly not enough, but without legal instruments that guarantee political, economic and social inclusion, the struggle for equality will not succeed. The constitutions of all the region’s countries guarantee equality for their citizens. However, these universal policies have not been effective in addressing racial inequality.