A influência da Convenção Internacional sobre a Eliminação de Todas as Formas de Discriminação Racial no Direito brasileiro

Abstract

On December 21, 1965, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, one of the most significant human rights treaties, drafted in response to institutionalized racial discrimination—particularly apartheid in South Africa and the Jim Crow Laws in the United States. Ratified by Brazil in 1968, this treaty remains, almost six decades later, a fundamental reference in promoting racial equality. The aim of this article is to analyze the influence of the Convention on the Brazilian legal system, focusing on the transition from the military dictatorship (1964–1985) to the democratic order established by the 1986 Constituent Assembly. The research adopts a qualitative approach, based on bibliographic review and legislative, jurisprudential, and documentary analysis. Its relevance lies in the originality of the analysis, by examining how the Convention contributed to consolidating human rights and strengthening anti-racist policies during Brazil’s redemocratization process. The results indicate that the Convention influenced the creation of laws such as Law No. 7.716/1989 and the Racial Equality Statute (Law No. 12.288/2010), and served as a basis for Supreme Federal Court (STF) decisions aimed at enforcing the principle of racial equality. Although racism persists in structural forms, the study shows that the treaty played a decisive role in consolidating an anti-discriminatory legal culture. Theoretically, it contributes to understanding how international human rights treaties are incorporated into Brazilian constitutional law and their role in promoting justice and racial equality.