Partnership of the Brazil Human Rights Fund and CONAQ

In the first phase of the collaboration, with support from the Ford Foundation, the Brazil Human Rights Fund and CONAQ worked to build CONAQ’s capacity and experience in project and funds management.

In this context, CONAQ, with the Brazil Human Rights Fund’s support and guidance, launched the call for proposals Fortalecendo Saberes e Fazeres da Agricultura Quilombola (Strengthening the Knowledge and Practices of Quilombola Agriculture). This call selected 28 quilombola associations from 18 Brazilian states, representing all five regions.The Emergency SOS Quilombola initiative facilitated the strengthening of protection and security for quilombola leaders facing threats, through 32 requests that were addressed.

Context

Since the recognition of the right to traditional territory in Brazil’s 1988 Federal Constitution, only 54 territories have been titled by INCRA (National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform), the agency responsible for quilombola land regularization. Therefore, this collaboration is strategic, as land titling is a longstanding demand from quilombola communities. This data is from a survey by the organization Terra de Direitos.

Quilombolas are self-identified ethnic-racial groups, with a historical formation and a well-established African ancestry tied to the historic struggle against racism and slavery. According to CONAQ and IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), Brazil is home to around 6,000 quilombola territories, which protect critical ecosystems such as the Amazon Rainforest, the Atlantic Forest, the Cerrado, and the Pantanal. These communities play an essential role and contribute to society through their culture, collective land use, respect for nature, and sustainable environmental management.

However, quilombolas are constantly threatened by political decisions that undermine the preservation of their ways of life and territories, the expansion of agribusiness, mining activities, and others.

The current scenario undermines public policies that guarantee land rights, health, education, food security, production, housing, and more.

In this sense, strengthening CONAQ and the quilombola struggles is strategic for the defense and expansion of human rights in the country. CONAQ has a democratic and representative structure in each Brazilian state where quilombola populations reside.