Brazil sets 20% quota for black judges

 Brazil has moved to correct a huge racial imbalance in its judiciary, reserving 20 percent of future judgeships for candidates who are black or of mixed race.

Approved late Tuesday by the National Council of Justice, the quota is the first to be applied to the judiciary but follows a 2014 law establishing a similar set-aside for some public sector jobs.

"It's an important moment," said Ricardo Lewandowski, the president of the council and chief justice of the Supreme Court.

"It's a historic step because we are contributing to the pacification and integration of the country and, in a way, correcting a historic error," he said.

A survey last year found that only 1.4 percent of Brazil's 18,600 judges identify themselves as blacks or of mixed race, whereas about fifty percent of Brazil's 200 million people are of African descent.

The 2014 law reserved 20 percent of posts in state-controlled enterprises, foundations, the postal service, state banks and the central bank for Brazilians of African descent.
President Dilma Rousseff said at the time it was "only the beginning."

"We hope that this law will serve as an example for the adoption of similar measures in other federal powers and entities as well as private businesses and organizations," she said.

In 2010, Rousseff signed a controversial law that reserved 50 percent of spots in public universities for students graduating from public schools, with priority given to black, mixed race or indigenous students.

Afro-Brazilian activists have acknowledged some progress in the 500 years since Brazil was colonized by the Portuguese but maintain there is much to be done in a country that was one of the last to abolish slavery, in 1888.