Building the Inter-American Convention against Racism: between Antiracist Pride and Racism Denial

Abstract

This article examines the main controversies throughout the negotiation of a regional binding instrument to fight racism that led to the approval of the ‘Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Related Forms of Intolerance’ in 2013. In order to identify the regimes of racism denial that shaped the process, the article explores the major controversies in terms of language, concepts, and the need for a more targeted binding treaty on racism, focusing on the leading role of Brazil. The analysis considers the links between scales; from the regional debate to States’ national discourse and practices, within the context of global efforts to advance standards to fight racism, particularly those established at the third World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, in Durban. By reviewing country reports, drafts of the convention, and analysing interviews with some participants of the debates at the Organization of the American States (OAS), this study assesses how the different strategies deployed served to perpetuate regimes of denial of racism, strongly present in the official discourse and challenged in the building of a binding instrument to fight racism in the Americas. Analysis revealed the deep challenges associated with combating racism as a systemic form of oppression historically linked to the region’s colonial past and legacy of the transatlantic slave trade. Finally, consensus was only reached by moving away from the ‘Durban language’, showing how disputed concepts and remedies highlight that racism remains a politically sensitive issue in the region.