Afro-Ecuadorians in Ecuador

Profile

Although the 2022 Census presented by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos, INEC) showed an increase in the mestizo, indigenous and Montubio populations, the Afro-Ecuadorian community decreased compared to the 2010 Census. According to the recent Census, Afro-Ecuadorians were 814,495 or 4.8 per cent of the total population, whereas the 2010 Census registered 1,041,559 people, or 7.2 per cent of the total population, classifying themselves as Afro-Ecuadorians. Meanwhile, Afro-Ecuadorian organizations put Ecuador’s black population at 10 per cent, stating that official estimates are inaccurate due to problems in the execution of the Census, especially in areas with high levels of violence where it was more challenging to carry out the necessary survey work. On the other hand, the Ecuadorian government has stated that the reduction in the Afro-Ecuadorian population is due to issues with self-identification and lack of organization within black communities. 

Living mostly in the northern coastal province of Esmeraldas, Guayas and in other provinces in the south-central coastal region, around 70 per cent of Afro-Ecuadorians now reside in urban areas. Although Afro-Ecuadorians have distinct cultural traditions, there is little popular recognition of their contribution to Ecuadorian society. 

Historical context 

Slave ships first arrived in Ecuadorian ports in 1526, and African slaves worked on plantations and in gold mines. Although slavery was abolished in 1851, the descendants of enslaved Africans continued to suffer the consequences of that socio-economic system. One of the first Afro-Ecuadorian organizations, Asociación de Negros Ecuatorianos (ASONE) was founded in 1988 to reassert Afro-Ecuadorian dignity and to reverse the ecological destruction caused by timber companies and shrimp farms of mangrove swamps vital to the coastal region. Afro-Ecuadorian consciousness became heightened in 1992 in response to the 500th anniversary of European arrival in the Americas, in which people of African descent were excluded from the narrative. 

In 1998, leveraging international support and their connections with pan-Afro-Latin American networks, Afro-Ecuadorian organizations were successful in pressuring the Ecuadorian government to recognize them as a distinct ethnic group in the new Constitution. Article 85 of the former Constitution of 1998 gave Afro-Ecuadorians rights to cultural patrimony and collective territory. Furthermore, in 1998 President Fabián Alarcón created the Afro-Ecuadorian Development Corporation (Corporación de Desarrollo Afroecuatoriano, CODAE), which became an official institution in 2002, dedicated to addressing issues facing the Afro-Ecuadorian population. However, critics have stated that CODAE has gone through periods of crisis and instability, which are manifested by the various legal norms that have regulated its operation and by some disagreements of Afro-Ecuadorian organizations regarding the management of the entity, among other issues. 

Starting in the late 1990s, there have been some significant changes in the situation of Afro-Ecuadorians. In 2000, the government implemented the Measurement Survey of Child and Household Indicators (Encuesta de Medición de Indicadores de la Niñez y los Hogares EMEDINHO), which for the first time included a question about self-identification based on the individual’s socio-racial condition. In the same way, in the 2000 III National Agricultural Census (III Censo Nacional Agropecuario) and the VI Population and V Housing Census of 2001 (VI Censo de Población y V de Vivienda) two questions were incorporated to identify ethnic groups in Ecuador, referring to language use and ethnic self-identification. 

October 2nd has been declared Afro-Ecuadorian Day. Nevertheless, many policy reforms have been largely symbolic. Although the 1998 Constitution guaranteed collective rights for indigenous peoples, Article 85 related to Afro-Ecuadorians was less precise, only extending to Afro-descendants the guarantees conferred upon indigenous peoples. Consequently, Afro-Ecuadorian NGOs worked closely with Afro-Ecuadorian Congressman Rafael Erazo to draft a law in 2006 further elaborating collective rights for Afro-Ecuadorians, which was finally approved by the Ecuadorian Congress. The law also established the National Council for Afro-Ecuadorian Development (Consejo Nacional de Desarrollo Afroecuatoriano, CONDAE) in order to create policies and strategies that are aimed at improving the lives of Afro-descendants in Ecuador. 

In September 2008, Ecuador approved a new Constitution that highlights the country’s identity as ‘multinational’ (Article 1) and further defines Ecuador as a ‘pluricultural, and multiethnic nation’, (Article 380). The 2008 Constitution recognizes that the collective rights established in the Constitution, law, treaties, agreements, declarations and other international human rights instruments are recognized for the Afro-Ecuadorian people (Article 58). The Constitution also establishes that Afro-Ecuadorian people are part of the single and indivisible Ecuadorian State and that they can establish territorial districts for the preservation of their culture. Despite these measures, few significant changes in the situation experienced by Afro-Ecuadorian communities have occurred. 

Current issues 

Afro-Ecuadorians lag behind their white/mestizo counterparts when looking at socio-economic indicators. Afro-descendants in Ecuador still face inequalities and racial discrimination, particularly in urban areas. In particular, Afro-Ecuadorian women are victims of violence and discrimination not only because of their ethnicity but also their gender: according to the 2019 National Survey on Family Relationships and Gender Violence against Women (Encuesta Nacional sobre Relaciones Familiares y Violencia de Género contra las Mujeres), Afro-Ecuadorian women have the highest levels of violence (71.8 per cent) compared to the country’s average (64.9 per cent). 

To some extent, racism against Afro-Ecuadorians has been supported by the philosophy of mestijaze (a pejorative term meaning ‘whitening’), which asserts that non-white races can supposedly be ‘improved’ by racial intermixing. 

In 2006, the Afro-Ecuadorian community was brought to centre stage when it was revealed that two-thirds of the Ecuadorian World Cup team was of African descent. This was the first time in history that Ecuador qualified for the World Cup. Despite the efforts and contributions Afro-Ecuadorian are making in all fields, data show that the number of unemployed among Afro-Ecuadorians is higher than in other groups, and that they face additional barriers to accessing economic and social rights, making them among the poorest of Ecuadorian social groups.  

Afro-Ecuadorian activists continue to be active in advocating for the rights of Afro-descendants as well as raising consciousness among the group. Key umbrella organizations, such as the National Afro-Ecuadorian Confederation (Confederación Nacional Afroecuatoriana, CNA) and the National Coordinator of Black Women (Coordinadora Nacional de Mujeres Negras, CONAMUNE) have had a presence in domestic politics as well as international policy circles.  

Afro-Ecuadorian women’s organizations have been particularly effective, raising other important issues to address the specific, ongoing concerns of Black women. In 2023, the Second National Meeting of Afro-Ecuadorian, Black, and Afro-descendant Women was held under the slogan ‘Cimarronas for peace, security and non-violence’. The meeting was organized by the CONAMUNE; the Afro-Ecuadorian Social Development Foundation Azúcar (Fundación de Desarrollo Social Afroecuatoriana Azúcar); the Union of the Afro-Ecuadorian People (Unión del Pueblo Afroecuatoriano, UPA); the Afro and Diverse Women Network (Red Mujeres Afro y Diversas, Aformactae); UN Women Ecuador, among others. The meeting emphasized the importance of upholding human rights for Black women. 

The United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent also expressed its concern in 2019 that Afro-descendant people in Ecuador represent 40 per cent of the population living in poverty, despite comprising a far smaller percentage of the country’s inhabitants. The Working Group also criticized the denial of their rights to a clean environment, access to justice, education and decent work. The UN body emphasized the environmental racism faced by Afro-descendant communities in Ecuador, reflected in the widespread pollution of their water sources and environment.