The Ministry of Foreign Affairs internally announced the biannual list of promotion of diplomats. The administration’s goal is to promote women and black diplomats in greater proportion.
Class entities and groups of diplomats heard by the CNN welcomed the Itamaraty initiative, but pointed out differences and paths for further progress.
Of the 72 diplomats promoted by merit in this round, 24 are women, which corresponds to 33% of the list. In the complete list, including third secretaries promoted for merit, 12 promoted are black, half men, half women.
The numbers are above the percentage of women (23%) and blacks (5%) in the career.
Among the eight promotions to the highest class, that of first-class minister (ambassador), three are women, including one black woman.
The strategy is considered an institutional reorientation of Itamaraty, both internally and externally, to correct the distortions created in the institution.
Diplomats claim that the movements are timid, but considered a sensible advance, since the career and the institution are hierarchical and conservative, which can lead to slower changes.
Ambassador Irene Vida Gala, president of the Association of Women Diplomats of Brazil (AMDB), recognizes that the number of women promoted is positive.
She points out that the promotion of two black women to the highest ranks of the career is symbolic, as both were in the Quadro Especial, a type of career reserve cadre. Therefore, the inclusion of the two ministers in the list meant a kind of “rescue of those left behind”.
However, Gala points out that the association’s demand is not for absolute numbers, but structuring affirmative policies, such as parity in promotions.
“Affirmative politics recognizes the structural problem and the need to correct historical injustices. Proportionality repeats the status quo while affirmative action is taken precisely to change the status quo. To use the proportionality argument is to keep women locked into current numbers. The status quo keeps us in the same place and that is not the place we want to occupy, ”she argues.
Black men and women in the diplomatic career
Racial bias in diplomacy numbers is less publicly discussed. Despite this, the existence of legal devices to increase the presence of black people in the career gives a structuring character to the process.
These references include the Law of Quotas in the Public Service, which implies a minimum percentage of black candidates approved in the Admission Test for the Career of a Diplomat, and President Lula’s decree that establishes a minimum percentage of black people among Management and Advisory positions in the administration federal.
Itamaraty also established one of the first affirmative action programs in the federal public service, which offers a scholarship to black candidates to help prepare them for an extremely competitive competition.
The list of promotions for this semester shows a result of the actions. The first candidate from the Affirmative Action Program to be approved in the Admission Contest was promoted this semester to Second Class Minister – one step below the career high.
Counselor André Pinto Pacheco, a member of the Diplomacy and Negritude group, also welcomed the numbers. “My first reaction and that of other black and black diplomats is joy at seeing so many black colleagues promoted in the first semester.
An individual and collective joy, since this agenda that promotions take into account ethnic-racial criteria is something that the group of black diplomats has been trying to take along with the administration”, he says.
Promotion system in diplomacy
Diplomats are promoted according to political, technical and functional criteria, such as length of service in Brazil and abroad, completion of mandatory academic courses and performance in leadership roles. The first promotion in the career is automatic, with the accounting of the length of service after taking office.
Once the requirements are met, candidates for promotion enter an access list, which is submitted to the evaluation of different instances of the ministry to choose those promoted, since the number of vacancies for promotion is restricted.
Source: CNN Brasil
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