Senate CCJ approves project that expands racial quotas for competitions

The Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) of the Senate approved this Wednesday (24), by 16 votes to 10, the bill (PL) that extends for ten years the policy of racial quotas for public competitions and selection processes for federal public administration, direct and indirect, including public foundations and agencies.

Furthermore, the text increases the total number of places reserved for racial quotas from the current 20% to 30%, also including indigenous and quilombola groups. Currently, racial quotas for contests only reach the black population, which includes black and brown people. The law on quotas for competitions, which dates back to 2014, expires on June 9th this year.

The project must undergo a supplementary vote in the Senate’s CCJ, with no date yet set. As it has a terminative nature, if approved again, the text goes directly to the Chamber of Deputies, without needing to go through the Senate plenary. The exception is if nine senators present appeals against the matter, which could take the issue to the plenary.

The project’s rapporteur, senator Humberto Costa (PT-PE), defended the need to extend the policy of racial quotas in public competitions, arguing that racism is still alive in Brazilian and global society. He also highlighted that, despite having increased, the representation of black people in public administration is still low.

“A black person in the public service, a black person in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is more than simply an employee, he is a living voice that it is possible to overcome racism, discrimination and promote a design of Brazil in the public service that portrays the design of Brazil in reality”, he argued.

Although black and brown people make up 56% of the population, they make up 40% of the federal public administration. In higher-level careers, there are only 27.5% black people. Among judges, only 14.5%, according to data from the Federal Government Personnel Observatory systematized by the Maria Firmina Collective of Black Public Servants.

The project was criticized by opposition senators. The opposition leader, senator Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), argued that the quotas should only be social, for low-income people.

“We are giving up merit. We are giving up proficiency. We are giving up productivity. We need to improve our education system,” she commented.

Senator Oriovisto Guimarães (Podemos-PR) also criticized the project, arguing that racial quotas should be limited to universities and that they should be provisional.

“Improving society involves meritocracy. If several people tried and prepared for a public exam, and if they were on equal terms, color does not justify the additional privilege. Why the quotas have to be before [do concurso]”, he said.

Rapporteur Humberto Costa tried to refute criticism of the project. He recalled that the racial issue goes beyond the social. “When a successful, rich football player, an idol, is called a monkey in a football game, in a country that claims to be culturally and socially developed, this discourse that the problem is merely social falls to the ground”, highlighted.

Senator Alessandro Vieira (MDB-SE) reinforced that the quality of public service is protected by the project because the quota is only valid for those who pass the competition.

“He may not be first in the ranking, second, third. But he passed the public examination. And there will be no risk, so as not to misunderstand, that second-class care is being imposed on a citizen”, he highlighted.

On the other hand, senator Marcos Rogério (PL-RO) argued that the project divides society. “Racial quotas, for me, create the worst possible scenario. Because it admits racial discrimination to achieve a political objective, which leads to a situation where people are not judged by who they are or what they do, but by the color of their skin or their ethnic origin”, he argued.

Modifications

Last week, rapporteur Humberto Costa accepted a series of opposition amendments to increase support for the project, reducing, for example, the policy’s validity period from 25 to ten years.

Costa also accepted the request to exclude the article that provided for targets for ethnic-racial representation in public service personnel, such as the occupation of management positions, which should respect the population proportion of racial groups calculated by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ( IBGE)

Other amendments accepted by the rapporteur created new rules for verifying the race of the contest participant, such as the requirement for nationally standardized standards, and also more guidelines to combat fraud.