Brazil's Lula signs law to expand affirmative action, boosting quotas for Blacks in government jobs
SAO PAULO — Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Tuesday signed a new law to expand the country's affirmative action policies, increasing the quota for government jobs reserved for Blacks from 20% to 30% and adding Indigenous people and descendants of Afro-Brazilian enslaved people as beneficiaries.
The changes apply to candidates applying for permanent and public employment positions across Brazil's federal administration, agencies, public foundations, public companies and state-run mixed-capital companies. As approved by Congress, the quota will be revised in 2035.
'It is important to allow this country for one day to have a society reflected in its public offices, in the Prosecutors' Office, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the Attorney-General's Office, in the Internal Revenue Service, everywhere,' Lula said at the presidential palace in the capital, Brasilia. 'We still have few women, few Black people, almost no Indigenous people.'
Brazil's first law on racial quotas for government jobs was approved in 2014 by then President Dilma Rousseff, and it extended to public administration positions an affirmative action policy that was in place for access to state-run universities.
Brazil's government said in a statement that Blacks and mixed-race people held 25% of top government jobs in 2014, a figure that rose to 36% in 2024.
'Still, Black people are under-represented in the public service and hold lower-wage positions,' the government added.
Management and Innovation Minister Esther Dweck said the new law was needed due to a low number of new government jobs being opened for candidates in the last decade, when the previous quota was in place.
'We could not reverse the scenario of low representation (for minorities) in the public service,' Dweck said in a speech Tuesday.
Brazil's government said 55% of the country's population is made up of Black or mixed-race people. It added that more than 70% of Brazilians living below the poverty line are also Black or mixed race, while only 1% of people from those ethnicities are in leadership positions in the private sector.
____
Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Brazil's Lula and France's Macron spar over EU-Mercosur trade deal
By Elizabeth Pineau and Gabriel Araujo PARIS (Reuters) -Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and French leader Emmanuel Macron disagreed on Thursday over the EU-Mercosur free trade deal, with Lula urging Macron during a visit to Paris to sign off on a deal that angers French farmers. The differences between the two men underline the challenges of getting the long-delayed trade deal between South America's Mercosur bloc and the European Union over the line. A deal was finalised in December but still needs approval from member states like France, which argues the pact as it stands is harmful to its powerful agricultural sector. Lula, on a state visit to France, said he will soon take up the rotating presidency of South America's Mercosur bloc, and committed to using that six-month stint to ink a lasting accord. "I will not leave the Mercosur presidency without having concluded the trade deal," Lula told a press conference alongside Macron, urging the French president to "open your heart" to the deal. He also said he would like to get French and Brazilian farmers together so they could settle their differences and hash out an accord, while also urging Macron to reassure European peers about Brazil's commitment to fight deforestation. Macron said he was in favor of free and equitable trade, but that the deal currently harms French and European farmers who would have to compete against South American peers not subject to the same norms and regulations. He said the text could be improved with the insertion of mirror clauses. France has previously argued for the insertion of an emergency break clause to restrict imports if a sudden surge in imports destabilizes certain EU markets. In a meeting with French lawmakers this week, French farmers' groups urged Macron to rally partners to form a blocking minority against the Mercosur deal, which they say would be devastating for the beef, poultry and sugar industries and compromise the EU's ambitions in terms of food sovereignty. On the war between Russia and Ukraine, Macron said Brazil, along with China and India, could do more to pressure Moscow to end the fighting. Lula said he was committed to brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine, while Macron said everyone wanted peace, but that Moscow was the aggressor and that fact needed to be taken into account when adjudicating an end to the fighting.
Washington Post
2 hours ago
- Washington Post
Brazilian prosecutors charge man accused of ordering high-profile killing in Amazon region
SAO PAULO — Brazilian prosecutors filed criminal charges Thursday against the man accused of ordering the 2022 killings of Indigenous peoples advocate Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips in the Amazon. Ruben Dario Villar, a Colombian fish trader, was formally accused by Brazilian police last November of being the person who planned the slaying.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Hands-on Macron rekindles bromance with Lula
Emmanuel Macron and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva held hands and strolled around the grounds of the Elysée on Wednesday. In his latest tactile display, the touchy-feely Mr Macron embraced the 79-year-old Brazilian president on the first state visit from the country's head of government to France since Dilma Rousseff's trip in 2012. Their hand-holding walkabout comes a year after the pair were filmed ambling through the Amazon and posing beneath the soaring canopy in white button-down shirts during Mr Macron's state visit. They were later seen clasping hands on a boat as Mr Macron looked adoringly at Mr Lula, both leaders' faces lit by a gentle sun. The French president later posted on X: 'Some have compared the images of my visit to Brazil to those of a wedding, I tell them: it was one!,' He accompanied the post with a photo of himself and Lula photoshopped onto the movie poster from 'La La Land' in place of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, adding: 'France loves Brazil and Brazil loves France!' Mr Lula replied with the flags of their two nations and an emoji of swirling hearts. The Brazilian head-of-state is by no means the only world leader to receive Mr Macron's full Gallic charm offensive. In March, the French president engaged in a brotherly hug, a 13-second handshake and warm pats on the back with Sir Keir Starmer during a Lancaster House summit about securing the future of Ukraine and advocating for a 'coalition of the willing' of countries who would join them. Diplomats said the 'bromance' suggested Britain and France are the closest they have been in more than a decade. Mr Macron also got tactile – again – with Donald Trump in February at the Oval Office where there were hugs, back slaps and touching knees as the leaders jostled to use body language as a power play. In a particularly tense moment, Mr Macron interrupted his 78-year-old counterpart as Mr Trump falsely claimed that Europe was 'loaning' money to Ukraine and would get 'their money back'. Mr Macron put his hand on Mr Trump's arm and carefully corrected him: 'No, in fact, to be frank, we paid 60 per cent of the total effort.' In 2018, during one of their meetings in the Vatican, the French president greeted the late Pope Francis by kissing his cheek. Both men were on first-name terms despite a string of disagreements from abortion rights to assisted dying. Mr Macron's hands-on approach led him to break royal protocol on numerous occasions during King Charles and Queen Camilla's trip to France in September 2023. As the monarch greeted crowds in Paris, the French president was seen reaching out to touch Charles on the arm and back. While it is considered only a minor infringement, the move still falls foul of protocol. The pair are known to have a friendly bond, as they were seen chatting at COP26 in Glasgow back in 2021. He also flirted with royal protocol by kissing Queen Camilla's hand. The rekindling bromance between Mr Macron and Mr Lula comes just after the French president received a shove in the face with both hands from his wife Brigitte during a trip to Vietnam as the pair prepared to descend from the presidential plane in Hanoi. The French president later strenuously denied any 'domestic dispute' and complained that this was the latest attempt by 'crazy people', 'fools', and opponents out to smear him at all costs. He told reporters in Hanoi: 'We are horsing around and, really, joking with my wife, and I am surprised by this.' He also lamented the fact that the footage had been turned into 'a kind of global catastrophe where some people are even coming up with theories'. Despite their warm encounter, Mr Macron and Mr Lula don't agree on all diplomatic matters. France has staunchly opposed ratifying the so-called Mercosur agreement, a trade deal between the European Union and four South American nations, including Brazil, over fears a flow of lower-cost agricultural goods would outcompete Europe's farmers. In a further nod to their proximity, Mr Lula said on Thursday: 'Open your heart a little to this opportunity to finalise this agreement with our dear Mercosur.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
