Racial/ethnic discrimination in Uruguay?

Racial/ethnic discrimination in Uruguay?

2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Uruguay

National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

The country's Afro-Uruguayan minority continued to face societal discrimination. A National Bureau of Statistics study stated that Afro-Uruguayans comprised 9 percent of the population and indigenous descendents constituted another 3 percent. A July study concluded that 43 percent of Afro-Uruguayans were poor, with 5 percent living in extreme poverty. The study concluded that race is one of the factors responsible for socioeconomic inequality in the country. The NGO Mundo Afro stated that the percentage of Afro-Uruguayans working as unskilled laborers was much larger than for members of other groups in society, despite equivalent levels of education. Afro-Uruguayans were underrepresented throughout government and academia and in the middle and upper echelons of private-sector firms.

As part of a government initiative to increase visibility and improve communication, Mundo Afro was able to name Afro-Uruguayan advocates for appointments in each ministry and in the northern department of Rivera, which has a relatively large population of Afro-Uruguayans. The government also continued its outreach to the Afro-Uruguayan community for participation in the Quijano Scholarship Program for postgraduate work and increased that participation during the year. Afro-Uruguayan community representatives, however, sought programs focused more on undergraduate education, noting that only 1 percent of Afro-Uruguayans attend college. Civil society groups and local governments conducted five regional workshops and one national conference for police and citizens to increase awareness of minority rights and the national and international laws protecting minorities.

Source: US Department of State