Ministry of Racial Equality (Brazil)

Ministry of Racial Equality (Portuguese: Ministério da Igualdade Racial) of Brazil is a department of the direct public administration of the Federal Government responsible to plan, coordinate and execute public politics of promotion of racial equality and fight against racism on a national level. The incumbent minister of state who heads the ministry is Anielle Franco.

History

It was created under the name of Special Secretariat of Politics of Promotion of Racial Equality of the Presidency of the Republic (SEPPIR), on 21 March 2003, during the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as a secretariat linked to the Presidency and with cabinet-level recognition as a Minister of Racial Equality. The first chief minister was Matilde Ribeiro, social worker and university professor. In 2015, the position was folded by Dilma Rousseff under the Ministry of Women, Racial Equality and Human Rights, but the creation of the unified ministry was not approved by Congress. The unified ministry was dissolved and reactivated under the presidencies of Michel Temer and Jair Bolsonaro from 2015 to 2023. With the appointment of Anielle Franco by Lula da Silva, the mission of the Special Secretariat was revived as a separate Ministry of Racial Equality.

List of ministers

Parties

Organizational structure

Due to the long period it was a child agency in another department, the Ministry of Racial Equality is under a process of redeployment and should follow the organizational structure of the other Brazilian ministries that are composed by the following units and organs:

Direct and immediate assistance organs: Minister Cabinet; Executive Secretariat; Special Advisory of Internal Control (AECI); Juridical Consultancy (CONJUR).
Singular specific organs: thematic secretariats that are part of the second-tier of the federal government (these are subdivided in specialized department that form the third-tier):
- Secretariat for Affirmative Action Policies, Combating and Overcoming Racism (SEPAR)
  - Directorate of Affirmative Action Policies
  - Directorate of Policies to Combat and Overcome Racism
- Secretariat of Policies for Quilombolas, Traditional Peoples and Communities of African Origin, Terreiro Peoples and Gypsies (SQPT)
  - Directorate of Policies for Traditional Peoples and Communities of African Origin and Terreiros (DPMAT)
  - Directorate of Policies for Quilombolas and Gypsies
- Management Secretariat of the National System for the Promotion of Racial Equality
  - National System for the Promotion of Racial Equality (SINAPIR)
  - Interfederative Coordination Board;
  - Directorate of Evaluation, Monitoring and Information Management