25 February 2003

Brasilia, Brazil: Norway, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today signed an agreement in Brasília to strengthen and improve the networks among rural black communities in the South American country.

Under the agreement, signed by the Ambassador of Norway in Brazil, Jan Gerhard Lassen, UNDP Deputy Representative Henry Jackelen and UNV Coordinator Dirk Hegmanns, the Embassy will support cooperation between UNV and the National Movement of the Rural Black Quilombola Communities in north-east Brazil.

In recent years, Brazilian society has paid increasing attention to villages where black rural workers reside. These villages, called “quilombos”, are inhabited by descendants of ex-slaves, some of whom escaped from slavery in the 17th and 18th centuries. According to several research studies, there are 1,098 villages in Brazil categorized as quilombola communities, but only 29 have so far received official land ownership documents.

The National Movement of the Rural Black Quilombola Communities is one of the most active participants of the Black Social Movement in Brazil. Some issues of its efforts are: cultural heritage, racism, discrimination, education, guarantee of land ownership, social development and recognition of the unwritten history of the black people as part of the Brazilian history. According to the Federal Constitution from 1988, which recognizes the land ownership of the people living in the quilombola communities, the National Movement supports the quilombola communities in 18 states to have their ownership rights recognized and documented. Networking is essential in this process to inform the black population about their rights and to be informed about the problems and the situation in the communities. The lack of adequate information has already led to an exclusion from development programmes in several cases. Information also serves to strengthen the dialogue with the government and to elaborate development projects.

The general objective of the cooperation of UNV with the National Movement is to strengthen the network, mobilization and organization of the rural black quilombola communities of Brazil. Two national UN Volunteers will promote policies to defend the rights of the respective population, create conditions to defend the right of land ownership as determined by the Constitution and search for forms to improve life conditions in the communities. Furthermore, they will train people in defending the interests of the quilombola population and create conditions for the population to elaborate and execute economic, social and cultural projects for the development of their communities.