The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) presented before the Inter-American Court the case of Chilean Afro-descendant Tribal People against the State of Chile, after verifying omissions in the effective recognition of their collective and territorial rights.
Within the framework of the 195th regular session of the Inter-American Court held last week in Montevideo, this case was presented, that it is a milestone as it is the first time that an entire town litigates as victims against the State, accusing institutional racism, according to the Citizen Observatory, representing litigants.
The cause was initially promoted by the NGO Lumbanga and currently brings together various Afro-Arican organizations articulated in the Technical-Political Table of the Chilean Afro-descendant Tribal People.
The details of the case
In the hearings held last Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 September in the Uruguayan capital the State was accused due to the exclusion of the “Afro-descendant” variable in the Census 2017 and of the absence of a reserved seat for representatives of said people in the Constitutional Convention of 2021.
Such violations include the impact of the rights to equal protection before the law, to judicial guarantees, to judicial protection and political participation.
In both cases, The Lumbanga NGO went to court at the time to reverse both decisions, nevertheless The appeals presented were finally rejected by the Supreme Court in March 2016 and in February 2021 respectively.
As a result of both cases, unequal legal recognition emerges, since although Chile ratified the Convention 169 of the ILO in 2008 and recognized by law the Afro-descendant tribal people in 2019 (Ley 21.151), It is reported that the State grants them a lower level of protection in practice compared to indigenous peoples..
IACHR targets the State for violating rights
In that sense, the litigants accuse in the Law 21.150 In practice it is a “dead letter” due to the lack of specific institutionality, since it lacks a regulation, and they also accuse the absence of prior binding consultations and the degradation of participation standards with respect to indigenous peoples..
Although the representatives of the tribal people recognize and value the inclusion of the variable “Afro-descendant/black” in the Census 2024 (that made visible more than 27.000 people linked to the tribal people), It was emphasized that the consultation used was of a citizen nature and not a formal prior consultation process..
For these facts, The Inter-American Commission considered that the State of Chile is responsible for the violation of the rights to judicial guarantees, to participation in the direction of public affairs, to equal protection before the law and judicial protection, according to several articles of the American Convention on Human Rights, in relation to the obligations established to the detriment of the Chilean Afro-descendant tribal people.
The delegation that traveled to Montevideo was made up of Marta Salgado, president of the NGO Years Black and spokesperson of the Board; Mabel Lopez, member of the Azapa Ancestral Territory Association and president of Children's and Youth Group Mixtura Afro Azapeña; Azeneth Baez Rios, who presides over the Afro-descendant Development NGO Lumbanga and the Group of Rural Afro-descendant Women Daughters of Azapa, and Cristian Baez Lazcano, director of Lumbanga.
What's coming
Thus, the lawyer of the tribal people and member of the Citizen Observatory, Felipe Guerra, He maintained that this case seeks justice, reparation and interposes the need to address the statistical recognition and effective political participation of Afro-descendant tribal peoples.
The parties have a deadline until 26 October 2026 to submit your arguments in writing and according to the Citizen Observatory, It is estimated that the sentence is expected in approximately one year.
If the Court declares the State responsible, can order specific measures, how to dictate pending regulations or include the people in the next censuses, and monitor compliance.
