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The recent visit of Undersecretary Anthony Binken to Bogota made evident the litte progress that this signed agreement has had since being signed by both countries in 2010.
On the side of Afro-Colombian Civil Society, Anthony Blinken found a memorandum of 10 points requesting legitimacy and information about the Joint Action Plan to Promote Racial and Ethnic Equality (CAPREE) and discontent.
On the side of US Civil Society, there is concern because a civil society committee has not been convened in Colombia. They have no formal counterpart.
Tonija Hope Navas (photo), Co-Founder of the US Civil Society Committee for CAPREE, agrees with the notion that “the process is going slowly”.
She adds that “what is missing is the will” to achieve the goals of the bi-lateral agreement. (See afro-colombian open letter to Deputy Secretary of State)
Tonija Hope Navas is the Executive Director of the Baoba Fund for Racial Equity-North America and belongs to the civil society committee for a similar agreement between the US and Brazil.
In 2012 she travelled to Brazil as part of the committee and gave a presentation on “Ways in Which Civil Society Can Affect Public Policy” .
She has a Master’s from George Washington University and is widely recognized in the NGO and Education sectors in the US, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Color de Colombia interviewed her to advance the conversation between US and Colombian civil society with regard to CAPREE.
Since when is there a civil society committee in the US?
We met for the first time in March of this year. The Race, Ethnicity and Social Inclusion Unit of the US Department of State sent an invitation to different organizations, universities, and individuals interested in this subject and then they convened a meeting so that we, the members of the committee, could begin to create a structure.
What is the function/purpose of the committee?
The function is to identify areas of interest among the members of the committee to be able to advance projects in collaboration with our counterparts in Colombia and among us here. It is also to push the agenda of the bilateral agreement and help it move along.
Who is on the committee?
The committee is made up of various NGOs, like NAFEO, an organization that represents the presidents of the historically Black colleges and universities and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).
There are also professors from different universities like Bern Reiter from the University of South Florida and Tanya Hernandez from Fordham University in New York.
There are also organizations that represent the Native American nations as they also form part of this initiative.
In Colombia we know of three meetings: the signing of the agreement in Colombia in 2010, in 2013 in Washington, and April 2015 in Bogota. What do you think of the slow pace?
In my opinion, yes, the process is slow…but nothing goes fast when we speak of governments and even less when we are talking about race.
What is missing from the full implementation of CAPREE? In Colombia the signed text of the document is not publicly available.
I believe what is missing is will. There needs to be an identification of financial resources to be able to fund different projects but really, as far as I know, very little money has been allocated to this initiative.
This requires the inclusion of the private sector and that our governments facilitate introductions to certain companies that are interested in supporting this issue so that we can present our ideas for projects.
YANNETHFRAGOZO801, do you really think that, we, Afrocolombians, are happy? It looks like you are not familiar with the conditions of marginalization and de facto segregation we are facing in Colombia. Poverty is disproportionately concentrated in black communities. We have limited or no access to public services and let us not talk about access to real political power or participation, where our presence is limited or zero. We are also economically disenfranchised and so on. So, the fact that we have resilience and we try to enjoy life despite adversities, it does not mean we are happy when it comes to social inclusion and racial equality. The difference between U.S and Colombia regarding racism is that in U.S that’s an issue of public debate while in Colombia the society and the government have decided to turn a blind eye on the issue to avoid discussing, and pretend there is not a racial problem. And please, don’t call us your NEGRITOS. That expression has a racist connotation, and that’s a clear example that we have so much to do on the racist language used to denigrate black people in Colombia.
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So what you spected from Colombia…If in the USA they just met in March-2015???
Be serious ……..our NEGRITOS COLOMBIANOS are happy …..never had to seat in the back of a bus or piss in a N toilet !!!
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