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Human rights in Brazil: The real situation of the afro-descendants

Prof. Ricardo Maurício Freire Soares

Professor of Federal University of Bahia (Brazil)
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Key words: human rights - afro-descendants - racial discrimination - Brazilian legislation

1. Introduction

Brazil was the last nation in the Americas to abolish slavery. Around 3,600,000 Africans were brought to Brazil between 1550 and 1850 - the latter of which marks the official end to the trafficking of slaves.

However, while the slave trade had come to an end, slavery itself was not abolished in Brazil until almost 40 years later (May 13th, 1888). And after years of domination, black persons were then thrown into a prejudiced society, consequently finding themselves dislocated, with neither the proper support, nor the adequate conditions for integration. Consequently, the question of absorbing afro-descendants became a pressing issue within Brazilian society.

The system that existed prior to the abolition of slavery was structured so as to favor the white population. The admission of the former slaves as citizens threatened to disrupt this imbalance and would mean the loss of benefits and privileges that had been accumulated during the era of slave work. Thus, prejudice and discrimination took on a new meaning and legitimized the creation of a space within which actions intended to maintain these privileges were acceptable.

2. Protection of human rights of the afro-descendants in the international order

In the 1960's, when the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination was drafted, apartheid was in full sway, and thus warranted special attention from the international community. The subsequent eradication of apartheid was partly due to the effective embargoes and sanctions imposed by the international community. In the 1990's, racism had taken on a number of new guises such as new modalities of xenophobia and ethnic violence.

The Paris Charter, a document drawn up at the end of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in November 1990, proclaimed the determination (on the part of the charter participants) to combat all forms of racial and ethnic hatred, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and discrimination against any person persecuted on religious or ideological grounds. In 1993, the emergence of new forms of racial discrimination was also discussed at the regional preparatory meetings in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean leading up to the World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna. The final declaration of the Latin American and Caribbean regional meeting held in San José in January 1993, stated that measures must be taken to prevent the rise in other parts of the world of new trends of systematic, flagrant human rights violations, which have arisen in some countries, such as disturbing manifestations of intolerance, all forms of racial discrimination, xenophobia, neo-nazism, and ethnic cleansing.

Also in 1993 at its 49th session the United Nations Commission on Human Rights presented a plan of action for the Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (res. 1993/11), and decided to investigate contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and intolerance (res. 1993/20). It should be pointed out that the broad definition of racial discrimination contained in the Convention encompasses such discriminatory practices. This makes it a strategic instrument for action against neo-nazism, xenophobia, and ethnic violence.

Brazil ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination on March 27th, 1968, which went into effect in January of the following year. Through its accession to the Convention, the Brazilian State acknowledges that the protection of basic human rights is not and should not be confined to action(s) on the part of the State. International protection instruments are an additional guarantee of such rights and enhance the legal capacity of victims of basic rights violations to take their issues to court.

In the sphere of international protection against different forms of discrimination, Brazil has always pledged full support for United Nations' instruments and initiatives. Brazil signed and ratified the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Recently, it supported the United Nations Declarations on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in February 1984, and subsequently, in 1994.

Still within the framework of international treaties, Brazil's accession to the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights, to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified in 1992, should be underscored. Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights expressly states that all persons are equal before the law and are entitled without discrimination to equal protection under the law. In this respect, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Certainly, in its international relations, the Brazilian State is guided by the principle of repudiation of racism. It has thus expressly condemned the practice of apartheid, which was still practiced in South Africa until a short time ago. The Brazilian government looked upon apartheid as an odious practice, openly characterizing it as essentially at odds with the values and sentiments most dear to the people of Brazil. Consistent with its critical stance towards apartheid and the policy of external aggression adopted by the South African Government at that time, the Brazilian Government issued Decree No. 91,524 on August 9th, 1985, barring cultural, artistic and sporting exchanges and banning the sale of oil and arms to South Africa, pursuant to resolution 566/1985 adopted by the United Nations Security Council.

3. Protection of human rights of the afro-descendants in Brazil

In 1988, Brazil promulgated a new Constitution. There is thus a need to describe the changes that have been introduced and to report on the present state of Brazilian legislation with regard to the rights enshrined in the Convention. There are a number of provisions prohibiting discrimination and upholding equality between different racial, ethnic, religious or any other such groups.

The Brazil's Federal Constitution is a juridical-political milestone in the institutionalizing of human rights. It states that Brazil's international relations are governed by the principle of the prevalence of human rights (art. 4, II). Brazil is a democratic State under the rule of law founded on citizenship and human dignity (art. 1, III). Moreover, the Constitution proclaims that the rights and guarantees contained therein do not rule out others deriving from the regime and principles adopted or those contained in international treaties to which Brazil is a party. The 1988 Constitution raised human dignity to the status of a pillar of the Brazilian State (art. 1, III), which set itself the following basic objectives, among others: diminishing social inequalities (art. 3, III) and promoting the common good, free from prejudices regarding origin, race, sex, colour, age or any other form of discrimination (art. 3, IV).

Furthermore, provisions of major relevance regarding human rights are set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 of article 5 of the Constitution, which determine that the norms defining basic rights and guarantees are immediately applicable and that the rights and guarantees enshrined in the Constitution do not exclude others established by international treaties to which Brazil is a party. Thus, by giving the issue of human rights special treatment, acknowledging their universal application and immediate efficacy, the Brazilian Constitution has become a model worthy of emulation with regard to the treatment of human rights.

The specificity of the international treaties for the protection of human rights is thus acknowledged by the 1988 Brazilian Constitution: pursuant to the terms of article 5, paragraph 2 of the Constitution, the rights guaranteed therein are incorporated into the set of rights enshrined in the text of the Brazilian Constitution. They therefore become directly and immediately securable within the framework of the country's domestic legal order.

Equality is the first human right secured by the Constitution. In both formal and material terms, equality is enshrined in article 5. At a formal level, equality is ensured with regard to the law. This constitutional precept rules out the possibility of both discrimination on any grounds (including sex or race) and privileged status regarding the application of law. In material terms, the Constitution treats the principle of equality in a more complex manner when it guarantees the right to material equality regarding concrete living conditions. Thus, in dealing with the issue of equality, the Brazilian Constitution prohibits unequal treatment, on the one hand, and imposes an obligation on the State to take positive action in promoting equality, on the other. This often implies treating individuals unequally - something that at first glance would seem counterproductive.

By treating unequal people unequally the law will actually be providing, to the extent of their inequality, substantively equal treatment for all. An example of this approach is the order the Constitution establishes (art. 37, VIII) in which a percentage of all public posts and jobs be reserved for the handicapped; or the progressive scale for taxation (art. 145, para. 1); or even the determination that the labour market for women be protected by means of specific incentives (art. 7, XX). The Federal Constitution contains a separate chapter acknowledging the right of Indians to maintain their own forms of social organization, and imposing on the State the obligation to demarcate the lands they traditionally occupy, as well as to afford protection for their property and belongings. Duly demarcated Indian territories are inalienable and unavailable - the rights pertaining thereunto being imprescriptible (art. 231, para. 4).

Therefore, according to the Brazilian Constitution it is not illegitimate to discriminate positively with a view to improving the living conditions of a particular group or segment that has traditionally been denied privileges within the framework of society. This standpoint is likewise consistent with article 1, paragraph 4, of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

However, the present Constitution has taken this even a step further: item XLII of article 5 classifies racism as a non-bailable and imprescriptible crime (art. 5, XLII); as such this represents a clear break with previous legal tradition which defined racism as a criminal misdemeanor, i.e. a lesser offence. The legal distinction between crime and offence resides in the nature and severity of the sentences imposed in each case.

It should also be noted that the Constitution authorizes federal intervention in the states in order to secure observance of the constitutional principle of human rights, among other reasons (art. 34, VII, b).

Other constitutional provisions dealing with measures against discrimination which are in the process of being regulated include, for instance, article 242, which stipulates that school curricula be redefined so as to contemplate the contribution of the different ethnic groups in the formation of the Brazilian people.

Moreover, considering that the Brazilian State is a politically decentralized federation of states, the Federal Constitution confers unto the states in the federation the capacity for self-organization. This means that each state is empowered to elaborate its own constitution, in due observance of the principles of the Federal Constitution. As such, the state constitutions form a considerable body of law and represent important instruments for combating discrimination. In this way, the state constitutions function as relevant additional insurances for protection of the right to equality.

A survey of the state constitutions reveals the various forms of punishing racial discrimination:

  • Imposition of administrative, economic and financial sanctions on those committing any kind of discrimination, beyond the criminal sanctions imposed - constitutions of the States of Espírito Santo (art. 3, sole paragraph), Santa Catarina (art. 4, IV) and Rio de Janeiro (art. 9).
  • Prohibition of discrimination in the field of education: the assurance of both the right of access to education as well as compulsory schooling for all individual, i.e. no one can be discriminated again on grounds of origin, race or social class. This also involves the elimination of teaching materials containing all forms of discriminatory allusions to negroes, women and Indians, so as to ensure that teaching is free of all forms of prejudice - constitutions of the States of Goiás (art. 156, VIII), São Paulo (art. 237, VII), Pará (art. 273, I) and Paraná (art. 178, I).
  • Determination that no one shall be the object of discrimination, prejudice or privilege on grounds of race, colour, sex, marital status, type of labour, birth, age, religion, sexual preferences, political or philosophical convictions, physical or mental disability or any other peculiarity or circumstance - constitutions of the States of Rio de Janeiro (art. 9), Mato Grosso (art. 10, III), Rio Grande do Norte (art. 6) and the Organic Law of the Federal District (art. 2).
  • Duty of the State to preserve and guarantee the integrity, the respectability and the permanence of the values of the Afro-Brazilian religion - constitution of the State of Bahia (art.275).
  • Prohibition of public bidding as well as cultural and sporting exchanges in which countries that maintain official racial discrimination policies participate - constitution of the State of Bahia (art. 287).
  • Compulsory inclusion of a black person in any state publicity campaign presenting more than two people - constitution of the State of Bahia (art. 289).
  • Prevision that November 20th will be considered, in the official calendar, as the Day of the Black Conscience - constitution of the State of Bahia (art. 290).
  • Inclusion in the syllabi of the state education network, and training and refresher courses for civilian and military public employees of subjects that give due attention to the contribution of Negroes in the historical formation of Brazilian society - constitution of the State of Bahia (art. 288).
  • Reproduction of precepts in the Federal Constitution determining that the fundamental purpose of the State is to promote the well-being of all, without any kind of discrimination and prejudice, it being forbidden to make distinctions between or establish preferences among Brazilians - constitutions of the States of Alagoas (art. 2), Amazonas (art. 19, III), Minas Gerais (art. 5), Piauí (art. 3).
  • The adoption of compensatory measures designed to overcome actual inequalities, establishing an official preference for persons suffering discrimination, so as to guarantee their participation in and access to the labour market, education, health, and other social services to which they are entitled - constitution of the State of Pará (art. 336).

Moreover, a number of other codes, laws, and statutes also establish the criminal nature of racial discrimination. These include:

  • The penal code (art. 140), which determines the penalty of detention (one to six months) or fine for insult someone, offending his dignity or the decorum. A similar offense consists in the utilization of elements regarding race, color, ethnic group, religion or origin, with penalty of reclusion of up to three years and a fine.
  • Law 1.390/51, which includes the practice of acts resulting from racial or colour prejudice among criminal offences (revoked by Law 7.716/89); law 2.889/56, which defines the crime of genocide and punishes the total or partial destruction of any national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
  • Law 4.117/62, which, on instituting the Brazilian Telecommunications Code, punishes the use of means of communication to promote discriminatory practices; law 5.250/67, which regulates freedom of thought and information, prohibiting the dissemination by any means of racial discrimination.
  • Law 6.620/78, which defines crimes against national security, including that of abetting racial hatred or discrimination; law 7.716/89, concerning crimes resulting from racial or colour prejudice, thus regulating article 5, item XLII, of the Constitution.
  • Law 8.072/90, defining heinous crimes, including genocide, making them unsusceptible to amnesty, grace, pardon, bail or parole.
  • Law 8.078/90, concerning consumer protection and proscribing any advertisement that is misleading, discriminatory or encourages violence.
  • Law 8.081/90, establishing the crimes and punishments applicable to acts of discrimination or prejudice performed by means of communication or by any kind of publication regarding race, colour, religion, ethnic or national origin.
  • And finally law 8.069/90, establishing the Statute on Children and Adolescents, which determines that no child or adolescent shall be subject to any form of discrimination.

Supported by this normative framework, the Brazilian State commits itself to refraining from any discriminatory act or practice, while also pledging itself to discourage racial discrimination on the part of individuals, groups, and organizations. The fact that this is the political and legal stance at the national level is in itself sufficient to abrogate or annul any local regulatory provision intended to generate or perpetrate discrimination.

4. Reality of the afro-descendants in Brazil

According to the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute (IBGE), Brazil has a total population of 147,305,524. Whites make up the majority, accounting for 55.3% of the total population, followed by mulattoes or coloured (39.3%), Negroes (4.9%) and Asians (0.5%). It is estimated that the total Indian population stands at no more than 250,000.

From 1940 to the present day one can observe a relative decline in the number of whites and Negroes and a relative increase in the number of mulattoes. There are a variety of causes for the relative increase in the population of coloured with respect to that of both whites and blacks. Major factors include white immigration, differing mortality rates, age at marriage, fertility rates and percentage of celibates among these three population groups. The main cause of the increase, however, is increased miscegenation resulting from interracial marriage.

The distribution of the main racial groups in Brazilian territories is unequal. The white population is mostly concentrated in the more developed south and south-east regions of the country. The black population is distributed fairly evenly throughout the country, while coloured are concentrated mainly in the impoverished north-east region. The Brazilian north-east, blighted by the worst economic and social conditions in the country, concentrates 48% of the coloured and 31% of the blacks, but only 15% of the whites. This distribution has implications when one is analysing the social and economic indicators for the different racial groups, since what one readily puts down to colour may well be partly the result of differential location of the various racial groups. When viewing the groups in terms of location, whites live predominantly in urban areas, whereas coloured are relatively more concentrated in rural areas, particularly in the north-east.

It is important to bear this distribution in mind when analysing disparities between these groups when it comes to education and income, since the fact of living in urban or rural areas or in more or less developed regions of the country has an equally strong influence on the level of education and income, regardless of colour or race.

Furthermore, when surveying the population as a whole, one can observe that white children systematically receive more schooling than coloured children, who, in turn, receive more schooling than black children - a pattern which is repeated in the different age groups.

Analysing the data region by region, the same phenomenon is observable throughout the country with the exception of the south-east - where the level of schooling among black children ages 5 to 6 is higher than that for coloured children in the same age bracket - and in the south. The pattern in the states of the southern region is different from those encountered in other regions: white children still have the highest level of schooling but black children receive more schooling than coloured children regardless of age group. Here again, the level of income amongst these different groups reflects this educational pattern.

At the lower levels of the education system, (and given that they account for 55.3% of the population and that the percentage participation of white children at this level is always less than the percentage participation of the population to which they belong), it can be observed that white children are proportionally under-represented until about the fifth year of schooling. From this point onwards in the system, whites are clearly over-represented, especially in higher education, where they constitute no less than 78.6% of the student population. Individuals of Asian decent are likewise over-represented at higher levels of education, managing to obtain 2.6% of the total enrollment at universities, despite belonging to a racial group representing a mere 0.5% of Brazil's total population.

An inverse pattern applies to coloured children. Although coloureds account for only 39.3% of the total population, they occupy a proportionally larger number of places in the educational system up to the fifth grade. From there on their relative participation drops continually to only 17.4% of those enrolled in higher education. Blacks, meanwhile, who represent approximately 4.9% of Brazil's overall population, are under-represented at all levels of the education system, particularly so in higher education, where they account for a meager 1.4% of enrollment.

Considering black and coloured children together, we may observe that they account for higher levels of exclusion or failure at school than white children: while 59.4% of black and coloured children who attend the first year of schooling succeed, this figure rises to 71.4% among white children. The existing studies also demonstrate that the set of black and coloured children not only tend to fail more frequently than white children, but also drop out of school at an earlier stage. In other words, their educational backgrounds appear to be more erratic owing to the levels of failures and dropping out - a fact that becomes all the more noteworthy given their higher levels of drop out and return.

It should be stressed that, although discrepancies do persist between the educational standards of different racial groups (especially at higher levels of the education system), there is a tendency for such inequalities to diminish gradually in both absolute and relative terms. Thus, the number of white illiterates dropped from 47.3% in 1950 to 24.9% in 1980 and 12.1% in 1990. Among the black population, illiteracy fell from 76.4% in 1950 to 47.6% in 1980, and dropped to 30.1% in 1990. The number of coloured illiterates, on the other hand, which stood at 73.2% in 1950, was reduced to 48% in 1980 and diminished even further in the following decade down to 29.3%. The difference in the level of illiteracy between whites and blacks, which was 29% in 1950, shrank to 22.7% in 1980 and was further reduced to 18.2% in 1990.

The reduction of these discrepancies in educational standards is a slow and complex process. Such inequalities are likely to persist for many years before being entirely eradicated. However, until parity is achieved they will continue to act as a barrier (not a legal but a social hurdle) hindering the social mobility of Brazil's non-white population.

Other factors that should be taken into consideration are standard of living and mortality rates: since the standard of living of the black and coloured population is lower than that of Brazil's whites, infant and adult mortality are naturally greater among these two segments. With the passage of time, these differences are becoming less acute. In 1950, life expectancy among whites was 47.5 years - 7.5 years more than the life expectancy of non-whites. By 1980, this expectancy had been extended by 18.6 years among whites and by 19.4 years among non-whites. There was thus both a relative reduction in the gap and a considerable increase in the absolute life expectancy of all racial groups.

Even the infant mortality rate has made great improvement over the course of the last few decades. For example, although higher among coloureds and blacks in 1980, infant mortality has dropped sharply among all racial groups since 1960, more notably among the coloured (-46 per 1,000) and blacks (-38 per 1,000) than among whites (-28 per 1,000).

These social indicators reflect an improvement in absolute terms of the entire population's standard of living in recent decades and a relative reduction in the disparities between different racial groups, despite the fact that the situation of whites remains better than that of non-whites.

Moreover, legal guarantees of equal treatment under the law have thusfar proven insufficient in ensuring greater equality of income among the different racial groups. Generally speaking, according to data from the 1990 census, 58% of Brazilian workers legally hired were white and 41% were black or coloured. The nominal average income of whites is much higher than that of other groups; the income of coloured individuals, meanwhile, is slightly higher than that of blacks. The same pattern emerges when one analyses the income of racial groups by sex, further aggravated by the fact that women invariably earn less than men.

In Brazil as a whole, 47% of those engaged in economic activities with regular monthly income earn the equivalent of one minimum wage or less. When this figure is broken down by colour, the percentages diminish to 38.1% among whites and increase to 60% among the black population. Thus, from the point of view of income, there is a clear pyramid - white men being situated at the top and black women at the bottom. The average nominal earnings of Brazilian workers 10 years-old and over was 29,956 in 1990. Whites earned roughly 29% above this figure while blacks earned only 53% of this average income.

The difficulties non-white children face starts with their early engagement in the labour market. According to the research, while 14.9% of 10 to 14 year-old white children are engaged in the labour market, the percentage of black and coloured children is 50% higher: 20.56%.

By dividing the per capita income of the different racial groups (in 1989) into five income brackets, one can see that blacks and coloured are proportionally over represented in the lower two-fifths, whereas whites and Asians dominate in the upper two income brackets.

It is worth stressing that although inequalities continue to exist, differences in income between these groups have been diminishing in recent decades, as have social and educational disparities. In 1976, the nominal average income of blacks was equivalent to 34% of the average income of whites. By 1990 this figure had risen to 41%. In other words, in a span of 14 years relative differences between whites and blacks diminished by 7%, or 0.5% per year. In 1976, coloureds earned 45% of the average income of whites, this percentage rising to 47% in 1990. The income gap between coloureds and blacks also closed from 1976 to 1990: blacks previously earned on average 74% of the income earned by coloureds and more recently were earning 86% -- the income gap between the two groups closing 12 percentage points at a rate of 0.86% per annum.

The disparities in income between the different racial groups in Brazil do not necessarily mean that they earn differently for the same kind of work or job but rather that job opportunities vary from one group to another. In most cases, coloureds and blacks are employed in jobs lower down the social and economic ladder; consequently they earn less. Non-manual labour is traditionally better paid than manual labour: while 21% of the white workforce is employed in "non-manual" occupations, only a scant 9.9% of blacks are employed in this sector of the labour market. Roughly 20% of the regular black workforce are engaged in domestic activities, compared with 8.9% of whites and 11.8% of coloureds. Blacks are concentrated in lower-income professions and are employed in lower posts or ranks of these professions in comparison with white workers. This is one of the factors explaining this group's lower income.

Most of the families facing the worst living conditions are headed by black or coloured women (49.8%) while only 17.28% of such families are headed by white men. Families headed by black and coloured women account for the highest percentage of children 10-17 years old who neither study nor work. These families are twice as likely to live in slums compared with any other family group, including that headed by black and coloured men. Furthermore, 82.6% of those families depend exclusively on social assistance for their medical care. Regarding women, the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute (IBGE) points out that in 1980 the sum of white women who earned monthly more than five times the minimum wage was eight times higher than the sum of black and coloured women. In fact, 97% of black and coloured women earn monthly up to two time the minimum wage; 16.5% of these earn up to a quarter of the minimum wage per month and 48.3% up to half of the minimum wage monthly.

Obviously, being engaged in less prestigious occupations has been shaped to a large extent by the black population's socio-historical plight, the result of an unequal standing of whites and non-whites from the outset, and thus a situation that must be corrected. It should be pointed out that cases of different pay for the same work, outlawed by the Constitution owing to their clearly discriminatory nature, have been difficult to establish, with few cases ever having been fully proven. Income disparities are mainly due to inequalities between racial groups in the framework of the job market.

Differences in the educational level, family structure and geographic location of the different racial groups often aggravate income disparities. Thus, the fact that the average income of the coloured population is much lower than that of whites is due not so much to the colour of their skin as to the fact that coloureds live overwhelmingly in the poorest regions of the country, in predominantly rural areas, where incomes are traditionally lower.

The education variable is likewise intimately associated with income. Income and level of schooling follow the same pattern, that is, whites first, followed by coloureds and blacks. Nevertheless, and not surprisingly, precisely in the south of Brazil, where blacks have a higher level of schooling than coloureds, blacks earn more than coloureds. Put another way, this means that the fact that blacks earn less is partly due not to their colour but to their lower level of education. The more schooling they have the more they earn, though it should be stated that educational qualification provides unequal returns for whites and blacks engaged in the labour market. Whites similarly earn more because, regardless of the colour of their skin, they are proportionally concentrated in the richest, most urban areas of the country and receive the most schooling.

In the ranking of the IHD (Index of Human Development) in 1999, Brazil occupied the 74th place among 174 nations. When the same indicator is calculated for the white population only, Brazil occupies the 49th position. When it is applied to the afro-descending population, Brazil would be in the 108th position.

According to the IBGE, despite the influence of other variables (education, family structure, geographical location), it is undeniable that the colour of a person's skin strongly determines his or her job and income opportunities. Moreover, the situation of coloureds and blacks in Brazil is patently disadvantageous when compared to the standing of whites.

5. Affirmative Action in Brazil

The difference principle states that in order to treat the persons equally, to provide a genuine equality of opportunities, society should pay more attention to those with less innate dowries and to those coming from less favorable social positions. The idea is to compensate for the deviations due to contingencies from the direction of equality.

Affirmative action itself, defined as public or private policies, go back to the specifications of the constitutional principles of equality and neutralization of the effects of racial discrimination, of age, of origin and of physical complexion.

The rule of equality does not consist in bestowing inequality to non-equals in the measure of their inequality. The true law of equality is found (proportional to the natural inequality) within this social inequality. Everything else is a derangement of envy, of pride, or of insanity. To treat equals unequally or non-equals equally, does not constitute real equality. Human appetites conceived to reverse the universal norm of creation, not intending to distribute according to need, but distributing evenly to everyone, as if everyone was equal, are misguided.

Affirmative actions deal with questions like: racial (integration of afro-descendants); questions of gender; of origin (discusses the social origin and even origin in terms nationality); of integration of the handicapped (there is legislation providing vacancies for the disabled in public exams).

In general, quotas for afro-descendants are understood in the purely numerical aspect of reserving vacancies for a specific ethnic group, or even as vacancies given away (in the sense of gifts) to those that fulfill the requisites. However, there are reasons for the existence of quotas, the selection criteria, and assistance programs, many of which focus on providing access to higher education for the disadvantaged.

For example, the University of the State of Bahia (UNEB) was one of the pioneering institutions in the implementation of quotas for afro-descending in Brazil. The article 1 of resolution nº 196/02 of University of the State of Bahia (UNEB) established the minimum enrollment level of 40% for the afro-descending population coming from the public school system, and these levels are achieved via university entrance exams or any another selective means.

In addition, article 3 of Resolution nº 01/04 of Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) states that a certain number of vacancies should be set aside in all of the undergraduate courses of UFBA (in accordance with this article - 43% of the vacancies of each course will be filled in the following order of priority: students that have completed their secondary education and at least one year between the fifth and eighth grades in the public schools, and of those, at least 85% of students that declared themselves to be black or brown).

Given the school's origin, the inclusion of a considerable share of students from the public schools (individuals historically excluded from the institutions of higher education) into the UFBA proved to be a revolutionary move. The participation of students from public schools, which was less than 27% in fields of study like Medicine, Architecture and Urban Planning, Law, Communication, Dentistry, Computer Science, Civil Engineering and Electrical Engineering, have since surpassed the 43% as dictated by the affirmative action quotas.

The participation of students from public schools in UFBA, which was around 38% before the quota system, increased to 51% in 2005 and 44.9% in 2006 - levels also well above the 43% mark. The performance of quota and non-quota students in the two university entrance exams, which adopted the system of quotas, reveals that the distance between the average performance of the two groups is not significant. In eleven of the eighteen advanced fields of study, that is, 61% of them, the quota-students achieved equal or better coefficients of performance that the non-quota-students.

Contrary to the expectations of those resistant to the implementation of the quota system, and who feared a substantial drop in the quality of education due to the inclusion of supposedly unprepared students in the University, the exam of the performance of the students that entered UFBA by the quota system reveals very satisfying results for courses of diverse areas of knowledge.

6. Conclusion

This investigation has revealed a correlation between colour and social stratification in Brazil, and that non-whites must still contend with inequality. The black and coloured segments are disproportionately concentrated in lower income brackets. Although there are no legal impediments, few Negroes reach the top ranks of government careers or the armed forces. Similarly, few rise to the top in private enterprise. It is hard to gauge to what extent this is the result of racial prejudice or to differences in social status, income and education between whites and non-whites since these features are often cumulative. In other words, it is difficult to determine how independent race is as a variable influencing ways of life.

Reducing material inequalities between racial groups is a long-term process which the Brazilian State is committed to furthering through the adoption of non-discriminatory policies. The problem of inequality is tackled by providing preferential treatment for underprivileged segments of the population, which indirectly implies preferential care for the coloured and black populations concentrated in these strata.

The Brazilian State considers the perpetuation of these economic and social disparities between racial groups to be an indirect sign of discrimination which must be combated since it hinders the enjoyment of the right to equality of opportunity. Brazil, however, privileges the penal solution in the battle against social discrimination. An excessive legal apparatus has been the result much to the detriment of public or legislative politics of a more social nature.

The U.S.A. during the 1950's and South Africa (until recently) were two countries where racial discrimination was more accepted among its citizens. As a result, they prioritized affirmative action approaches in both the civil and political spheres.

Despite the lawful prescriptions, the consequences of the history of inequality and exploitation are still clearly visible. Indicators regarding population, family, education, work and performance reveal inequalities in all the dimensions and geographical areas of the country. They also point to a situation marked by poverty, especially within the population of those with darker skin.

As it stands right now, the greatest hurdle to achieving a socially fair, economically efficient, free, and democratic society in Brazil is the still existent fundamental inequality between afro-descending Brazilians and white Brazilians. If such a society is to ever truly be realized, then it is clear that issues of inequality require priority and the necessary actions taken to address the problems.

7. References

Books

  • DIEESE; INSPIR; AFL-CIO. Mapa da população negra no mercado de trabalho. São Paulo: INSPIR, 1999.
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