Tag Archives: The Caribbean

Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity

Caribbean News | Afro-Latinas

Inaugural Latin American Afrodescendent Women Leaders’ Summit brings Afro-Latina leaders together to address community security
  • The summit convened in Managua, Nicaragua, bringing leaders together to address such issues as black women’s rights and protections, health, education, the environment, poverty reduction, and public services access.
  • Organizers aimed to use the discussions to adopt a shared political platform for Afro-Latinas throughout Latin America to combat the disproportionate impact of poverty and other socioeconomic barriers on black women.
  • Afro-Latinos make up between 20 and 30% of the population in Latin America, with complex histories of colonization, slavery, and migration making identification uneven.

Read the full story at teleSUR.

(Image Credit: Network of Afroamerican, Afrocaribbean, and Diasporic Women; via teleSUR)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Dominican Republic News | LGBT

Dominican Republic organization works with government and community to promote tourism and economic empowerment for LGBT community
  • The Center for Integrated Training and Research (COIN) has roots in the three-decade fight against AIDS in the Caribbean.
  • The organization now focuses on economic empowerment , through which it has worked with government and travel industry officials and offered community workshops through its program ProActividad.
  • Out U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic James “Wally” Brewster and his husband have worked to support the country’s LGBT community despite opposition in the conservative, Catholic-predominant country.
“We are all looking for the same thing: To eliminate negative things in order for us to build something positive.”
Read the full story at the Washington Blade.
(Image Credit: Michael K. Lavers/Washington Blade)
Nationality + Migration
As registration of Haitians in the Dominican Republic falls short of population numbers, the country looks to move forward with controversial deportations
  • A little under half of the more than 500,000 migrant workers in the Dominican Republic have begun the documentation process with the Wednesday deadline looming, leaving the Haitian community, which comprises 90% of migrant workers, vulnerable to deportation.
  • The situation comes as a result of the strict legal measures restricting citizenship and immigration that began with the stripping of the citizenship of Dominicans born to Haitian immigrants after 1929.
  • Immigrants who have submitted themselves for registration will have 45 more days to complete the process, while the rest will be subject to deportations that the law’s opposers say can only result from community targeting and racial profiling.

“The signals are clear. …The Dominican government is setting up logistics, placing vehicles and personnel to start the process of repatriation.”

More on this story at The New York Times.

(Image Credit: Tatiana Fernandez/Associated Press, via The New York Times)

Gender, Ideology + Affiliation, Race + Color + Ethnicity
The Ethical Fashion Initiative works to give designers and artisans from the developing world a voice in the global fashion industry.
  • The program is supporting four brands with designers representing Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa, Nigeria, and Angola at this year’s major international trade show for men’s fashion, Pitti Imagine Uomo.
  • The Initiative also confronts unethical labor practices, pushing for heightened standards throughout the supply chain that will improve conditions for the laborers on which the industry is built.
  • EFI notes that its efforts help financially empower women in sustainable ways, allowing them to mobilize their creativity and talents to gain independence and support their families.

“We work with women who sometimes face discrimination in their communities, but by having a job, their position in society improves…They gain independence and respect, and in many situations they become the only breadwinner in their families.”

More on this story at the Inter Press Service News Agency.

(Image Credit: ITC Ethical Fashion Initiative 5, via Inter Press News Agency)