The Pact for Combating Racism and Promoting Ethnic-Racial Equity, proposed by the Department for the Promotion of Racial Equality (CPIR) of the City Hall Executive Office (CASA CIVIL) from the Rio de Janeiro City Hall, was signed on 20 June 2022, in the capital of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The Pact created the Anti-Racist Cities Network, which is made up of several municipal governments, 24 initiatives and an unprecedented index, the INDEPIR. The initiative is guided by four axes: Integrated Governance and Territorial Development; Education, Research, Development and Innovation; Combating Ethnic-Racial Inequalities and Prejudice; and Cultural Heritage and Right to the City, which form Rio’s Agenda for Racial Equality.

Both the Pact for Combating Racism and Promoting Ethnic-Racial Equity and the Anti-Racist Cities Network are instruments of integrated territorial governance that aim to enhance regional development through the promotion of equity, diversity, and ethnic-racial inclusive policies. Inter-institutional and multi-scale dialogue are the basis for strategies to combat racism and to value the traditions and culture from Afro-indigenous and Roma people. It is also a way to integrate  indigenous ethnic groups - such as immigrants and others who suffer discrimination -, in the implementation of comprehensive and cooperative public policies.

Therefore, the Anti-Racist Cities Network is committed to anti-racism taken as a main requirement for the promotion of fair, sustainable, solidary and citizen territorial development. It consists in an effort to enhance the public spaces to evaluate the development of racial equality policies in cities. Acting through Rio City Hall’s Pro Tempore Rotating Presidency, the network organizes Annual Summits and Seminars, usually held in the second half of each year, with the participation of Brazilian and international signatory cities, observers and interested parts in promoting and exchanging practices and agreeing on partnerships.

Following the "Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Intolerance"  and UNESCO's "Ten-Point Plan of Action against Racism, Discrimination and Xenophobia", the Anti-Racist Cities Network and the Pact to Combat Racism and Promote Ethnic-Racial Equity are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN), through the following initiatives:

SDG 10. Reduction of inequalities;
SDG 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities;
SDG 16. Peace, justice and effective institutions;
SDG 17. Partnerships and means of implementation.

GUIDELINES

The Pact to Combat Racism and Promote Ethnic-Racial Equity is organized into 05 (five) guidelines, aimed at consolidating the right to equity and opportunities in cities, creating a network of interrelationships and cooperation for coordinated territorial development between signatory cities. They are:

I. Integrated Governance and Territorial Development

The cities must act in a network and with a strong territorial character

The cities must register and act on the demands of civil society organizations and social groups that work to promote equity, diversity and ethnic-racial inclusion, as well as the needs and opportunities of territories.

The city administration bodies must act in a multi-scale, intersectoral and integrated manner, involving the participation of civil society organizations that work to promote equity, diversity and ethnic-racial inclusion, aiming to build, adjust and enhance public policies in the municipality and among the other signatory members.

 The city administration must set up and strengthen its bodies for the promotion of equity, diversity and ethnic-racial inclusion, as well as civil society representations (councils) of said policy and provide financial, human and material resources to ensure their effective functioning.

II. Education, Research, Development and Innovation

The cities must act to qualify and enhance the fight against racism and the promotion of equity, diversity and ethnic-racial inclusion in all government agencies and partnering with universities and schools.

The cities must disseminate knowledge about the African diaspora, inter-regional movements of ethnic groups between cities and the formation of the national territory from the perspective of the resistance of black, indigenous, Roma and immigrant people, in order to offer instruments for the understanding of the origins and forms of racism in society.

The city must encourage the participation of the black, quilombola, indigenous, Roma and traditional African population in public and private institutional spaces.

III. Cultural Heritage and Right to the City

The cities must act transversally to guarantee and promote basic rights to housing, leisure, transport, health and the environment;

The cities must act to safeguard the cultural assets of the Afro-indigenous heritage in their territories, building and/or consolidating integrated actions of restoration and material and immaterial preservation.

IV. Combating ethnic-racial inequalities and prejudice

The cities must act in accordance with International norms and legislations, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Cities must act in an effective and coordinated manner to mitigate vulnerabilities, expand programs to combat hunger and poverty, foster entrepreneurship and the solidarity economy and guarantee specific health programs for the social groups in question.

The cities must act combating ethnic-racial inequalities and prejudice in a cross-cutting way, to eradicate specific forms of discrimination based on gender identity, religion, family income, schooling, age, and area of residence;

The cities must act to qualify and enhance the fight against stereotypes and expressions of common sense.

V. Monitoring Index for the Development of Policies for the Promotion of Equity, Diversity and Ethnic-Racial Inclusion – INDEPIR

It is understood that for the optimal execution of any public policies, it is necessary to produce and analyze qualitative and quantitative data on the social situation of the groups assisted by the local governments so that they can improve the functioning of their programs and projects. Therefore, the Index for Monitoring the Development of Policies for the Promotion of Racial Equality (INDEPIR) will be created.

All the signatory cities must contribute to the INDEPIR Index, which will be discussed and implemented jointly by the network.

ANTI-RACIST CITIES NETWORK  
GENERAL SECRETARIAT 2023  
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL