One of the subjects waiting for review and that is being kept at the agenda of the Chamber this year is the Racial Equality Act – the Bill 6264/05, proposed by the Senate. In December 2008, the special committee which analyzes that bill tried to vote the review of its rapporteur Deputy Antônio Roberto (PV-MG).

The president of the Committee, Deputy Carlos Santana (PT-RJ), expects to vote the substitution bill presented by the rapporteur by March. The text, elaborated by Antônio Roberto, establishes guarantees for a broader insertion of African descendants into the institutional spheres of power, by means of affirmative policies, such as the implementation of the system of quotas in education and in communications media.

Other rights are also provided for, such as access to health, adequate housing and freedom to profess religions from African matrix, such as Umbanda.

Antônio Roberto explains that the substitution bill does not change the essence of the Senate’s bill. It only makes it more incisive and approaches each subject in a more general way. In addition to that, the rapporteur has met with government’s representatives to update measures that had been implemented by different sectors.

Quilombolas
According to Carlos Santana, one of the points on which congresspeople still disagree, and which hampers the voting of the Act, is the one regarding the regulation of quilombola territories. The substitution bill recognizes the definitive ownership of the land settled by remnants of the quilombola peoples.

According to the text, the State should prioritize the communities involved in conflicts for the ownership of the land during the regulation process. In addition to that, the quilombola communities will receive a differentiated treatment and will be entitled to receive special loans to implement their productive activities.

“The landowners are against the demarcation of quilombola lands. Nobody is inventing those areas. Regulating means repairing the pain and suffering of slavery, which was something planned and was part of an economic strategy in Brazil”, affirms Santana.

Care
The Deputy Waldir Neves (PSDB-MS), who integrates the Committee on Agriculture, Animal Industry, Supply and Rural Development, highlights that it is necessary to carefully discuss that matter. For him, the text of the Act should clearly establish that only the people who are proven to be quilombola may have their land regulated.

The congressman fears that mistakes in the text in that sense may open gaps for people in bad faith to use legislation to get possession of lands which do not belong to them.

Waldir Neves, together with the Deputy Valdir Colatto (PMDB-SC), is the author of the Legislative Decree Bill 44/07, which voids all acts practiced by the Executive Power, based on the Decree 4,887/03. That document regulates the concession of ownership of the land to quilombola communities, which is provided for in the Constitution.

The deputies argue that the Executive has committed several abuses by publishing that rule, and criticize the use of a decree to regulate a constitutional device. According to them, regulation could only be made by law.

Summary
Exactly because of the existence of the Decree 4.887/03 and of the reference to the quilombola territories in the Constitution, Antônio Roberto opted for summarizing the item regarding the regulation of those lands in the bill. “The constitutional device is self-applying. Therefore I addressed the subject in general lines”, says the rapporteur.

According to his opinion, there is no reason for disagreements regarding that part of the Racial Equality Act. The challenges regarding Decree 4.887/03, he says, are far from the bill which is being analyzed.

Report - Noéli Nobre
Editing - Newton Araújo
Translation – Positive Idiomas Ltda