Our Commitment to Racial Justice: A Statement from the LAC Council of ABA ROLI

Our Commitment to Racial Justice A Statement from the Latin American & Caribbean Council of the American Bar Association Rule of law Initiative Whereas, George Floyd’s killing by police reignited a racial justice movement in the United States that quickly transcended borders and united kindred voices, raised shared consciousness, and inspired global action. Floyd’s very public demise struck a nerve world-wide for the visceral brutality of the murder of a Black man in the United States that exposed universal and structural racialized oppression as experienced across minoritized peoples domestically and globally.

Whereas, Black Lives Matter (BLM) resonates among U.S. Latinx communities and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean who unite with Black peoples in the United States in solidarity with their particularized oppression and in commonality with their own shared experiences with violent policing and social exclusion. “Las Vidas Negras Importan,” too, has become a slogan of protests throughout Latin America. Not unlike the U.S. Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, BLM is forging a new and powerful anti-racist, inter-racial, and inter-sectional movement, igniting hope and urgency to root out systemic racism wherever present, and to uproot the legacies of racialized oppression that continue to plague the lives of minoritized communities with deeply unequal distribution of power and resources. As the Latin American & Caribbean Council (LAC) of the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), we commit to doing our part to join these efforts.

Whereas, for more than 25 years, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) and our partners have sought to strengthen legal institutions, to support legal professionals, to foster respect for human rights, and to advance public understanding of the law and citizen rights. Over this same period, the LAC has worked to promote justice, economic opportunity, and human dignity, and the rule of law throughout the Americas. We continually strive to strengthen legal education, promote criminal justice and judicial systems, and coordinate efforts with our partners in the region to combat transnational crime such as human trafficking and illegal mining. We are grateful to our funders, including U.S. development agencies, that have entrusted us with this mission. As part of our work, we have been mindful of the unequal racialized experiences, especially of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples in Latin American. We acknowledge that we can do better to make our work more relevant and intentional to achieve racial justice in the region.

Whereas, colonial legacies in Latin America & the Caribbean continue to perpetuate violent oppression against or deadly abandonment of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples. A ​2018 World Bank Report​ noted that one in four Latin Americans identify as being of African descent—one of the largest yet invisible minorities in the region and comprising 133 million people. Yet, they represent the majority of the poor and are disenfranchised from decision-making positions in both the public and private sectors. An ​estimated​ 41.8 million Indigenous peoples --profoundly vulnerable to human suffering due to their extreme poverty,forced displacement from their lands and usurpation of their natural resources --comprise the second-largest minority group in the region. As noted in a recent ​New York Times report​, 1

COVID-19 unleashed along the Amazon River in Brazil to wreak havoc among indigenous communities who have no health care and are dying in large numbers in near complete abandonment.

Be it resolved that: In response to this reality, the LAC pledges to the following actions: 1. To apply a racial justice framework to our current work in the region. This shall mean intentionally considering how Latin America and the Caribbean’s context of race and social exclusion should inform LACS’s rule of law initiatives. It shall also mean applying cultural humility to our exportation of U.S.-based projects with a greater consciousness of our unequal economic and political power and a greater openness to mutual learning.

2. To seek proactively new projects and initiatives and more diversified sources of funding that will allow us to focus on a broader agenda of racial and economic justice in the region. This shall mean exploring funding sources from foundations and other donors that have a social and racial justice focus. It shall also mean forging close and equal partnerships with Indigenous and Afro Descendant groups in the region to help us guide funding priorities and programmatic execution.

3. To commit to recruitment, hiring, and retention practices that promote racial diversity in the LAC and its staff. This shall mean investing in projects that promote a racially-just pipeline in the region, especially into the legal profession. It shall also mean adopting recruitment strategies that ensure a robust and diverse pool for the LAC and its staff and committing to promoting leadership opportunities for indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples in the region as well as Underrepresented Minorities in the U.S.

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