Chapter 3 Right to Equality and Non-Discrimination of Dominicans of Haitian Descent | 145 Dominicans of African descent even more invisible. 332 In this respect, the Commission notes various forms of racial discrimination against persons of African descent in the Dominican Republic, drawing a distinction between the three groups affected: Dominicans of African descent, Dominicans of Haitian descent, and Haitians. Colonial racist ideologies led to the creation of a hierarchy of human beings based on skin color. As a result of miscegenation, different cultural identities known as “mestizo,” “mulatto,” and “Indian,” among others, were created, in order to deny Afro-descendancy. The denial and concealment of the Afro-descendant legacy are apparent in the discrimination by both race333 and ethnic group. 334 357. Throughout its visit, the Commission was able to observe questions related to racial self-identification, which reflected a lack of awareness and training about selfidentification categories, which would encourage the population of African descent to identify itself. The Commission expresses its profound concern over the State’s firm denial of the existence of racial discrimination, especially against the darkskinned population of African descent. Said denial hinders the State’s commitment to fight racism and racial discrimination. 358. The Commission also notes that the Dominican Republic does not have statistics disaggregated by race/ethnic group. Even though the country’s most recent census was conducted in 2010, the ethnic-racial variable was not included in either the 2002 or 2010 censuses. Following the last census, in 2012, the National Statistics Office published a study called “The Ethnic-Racial variable in population censuses in the Dominican Republic,” in which it stated that this would have to be corrected in 332 333 334 In 2000, at the Santiago Conference, the preparatory meeting for the III World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, in Durban, South Africa, the States of the Americas agreed on the definition of the term “Afro‐descendant” as a person of African origin who lives in the Americas and in the region of the African diaspora as a result of slavery, who have historically been denied the exercise of his or her fundamental rights. Subsequently, the Durban Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in 2001 “saw the emergence of a new subject of international law: people of African descent, a name used initially to refer to the “children of the African diaspora who survived the Transatlantic Slave Trade.” The term “Afro-descendants” refers to all groups identified as black, mulatto, dark skinned, mixed-race, light-brown skinned, etc., some of which constitute euphemisms established in racist contexts. Today, this concept also comprises the hundreds of thousands of African migrants spread throughout the world, including Europe, as well as their descendants. See elements of the definition of the term Afro‐descendant at the 2000 Santiago conference. See also, OAS, Department of International Law. Secretariat for Legal Affairs. Roberto Rojas Dávila, Introduction to the Afro‐descendant Topic. Available at: http://www.oas.org/dil/esp/afrodescendientes_ejecutadas_taller_transversalizacion_usa_2011_presentacion es_Roberto_Rojas.ppt. More recently, the CERD has stated that people of African descent are those referred to as such in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and who identify themselves as people of African descent. United Nations, CERD, General Recommendation XXXIV, CERD/C/GC/34, October 3, 2011, par. 1. See also, Murillo, Pastor. Presentation at the panel on the enjoyment of human rights of persons of African descent. Geneva, Switzerland, March 2, 2011. Cited by: Atchebro, Daniel. Afrodescendiente, del rechazo al reconocimiento [Afro-descendant, from rejection to acceptance]. Office of the Representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia. The IACHR uses the term “racial” not because it adheres to theories claiming the existence of different races in the human species, but rather in line with the nomenclature of Article 1 of the American Convention on Human Rights, in which race is a social construct that uses certain visible biological traits for classification purposes. As a group that shares racial identity, customs, territory, beliefs, a world view, language or dialect and symbolic forms, etc. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights | IACHR