In early 2018, the competition for diplomats at the Rio Branco Institute held the previous year was subject to controversy related to quota candidates. In an action judged in January, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) asked for the suspension of the tenure of four candidates approved as quota holders due to ancestry factors.
In the action judged by the 22nd Federal Court of Brasília, it is stated that participation as quota holders by the criterion mentioned was accepted irregularly by the Quota Verification Commission and by the Rio Institute White. According to the Federal Attorney, Anna Carolina Garcia, the definition of black is given by the phenotype, that is, by appearance.
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At the end of the action, four participants were eliminated for not meeting the required requirements. The entire demand was supported by Law 12,990/2014, better known as the Quota Law. Even enacted so long ago, there are still doubts about the applicability of the text in public selections.
Faced with situations such as the competition for diplomats, the most frequently asked questions are related to verification systems and, through them, who is considered black. Check below what the text of the Quota Law says, what happens in cases of fraud, in addition to the operation of the so-called verification commissions.
A Law 12.990/2014 governs that 20% of vacancies in public tenders must be reserved for black candidates whenever the general quantity offered is equal to or greater than three. If the percentage results in a fractional number, it will be rounded up if the number is greater than 0.5. Otherwise, it will be rounded down.
The text must be applied by autarchies, direct and indirect public administration, regulatory agencies, public companies, foundations and mixed economy companies controlled by the Union. Therefore, regional competitions are excluded. In this sense, those who declare themselves black or brown at the time of registration may apply for the reserved vacancies.
However, the self-declaration must observe the criteria established by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). In short, the IBGE considers a brown person to belong to one of the five groups that make up the Brazilian population (brown, black, white, yellow and indigenous). The full study is detailed here.
What if the candidate wants to compete for vacancies for broad competition? It will be allowed provided that, if approved, your name does not appear as computed in the reserved places. Candidates must self-declare as black when registering. The public notice must state whether or not there are verification steps conducted by a commission.
The working group will be established for this purpose, preferably considering the diversity of birthplace, gender and race, in addition to the possibility of insertion in affirmative actions. The social investigation rules that check the data and information must also be explicit in the regulation.
Usually, the declaration considers the phenotype, that is, the appearance of the candidate. However, as will be seen later, the rules can be established by each commission and can include document analysis, for example.
Verification commissions were instituted to prevent cases in which white candidates use fraudulent means to compete for reserved vacancies. The creation of these groups sparks debates among members of the black movement by mentioning a possible subjectivity in the analysis of the participants.
Some specialists are against the policy of commissions due to the risk of using political and arbitrary criteria. Such a practice could jeopardize the credibility of the quota system itself, jeopardizing an entire struggle for the implementation of affirmative policies. Therefore, many defend the criterion of self-declaration as mandatory.
However, most members of the movement are in favor of commissions, precisely because of the existence of fraud. In fact, specialists point to different ways of acting by these working groups in order to establish fairer verification methods with candidates.
In an interview with a specialized website, Friar David Santos, director of the NGO Educafro, comments that the commissions that evaluate candidates by phenotype use the "police method". What does that mean? They consider the racism faced by these people wherever they go, mainly on the premise of distrust applied by authorities.
Friar David defends the work of the commissions and clarifies that, in the verifications, priority should be given to the skin issue and not just the genotype. “The priority must always be to serve those with darker skin who are the ones who suffer the most prejudice”, analyzes the director, who has even manifested himself in cases such as the competition for Diplomat.
In an interview with the same website, ECA-USP professor Dennis Oliveira defends more comprehensive ways of working through the commissions. The alternative mentioned by him includes, in addition to verifying the phenotype, the documental one. “The concept of pardo is very broad, but if it is written on the birth certificate [...], there is no way to refuse an official document”.
As for the frauds, Dennis is one more, using them to defend the existence of commissions. “I've seen cases of white people who used artificial tanning beds”, he recalls. OK, but what is the job of a verification commission? In 2016, the Ministry of Planning published guidance on benchmarking rules.
According to the Folder, each public notice must bring the verification methods applied in that event, in addition to indicating how the commission is composed and at what moments of the process it will act. However, each organization remains free to structure the evaluation process. So, how can the group act fairly?
The first step in establishing fairer criteria is to analyze the social context of each region. This is because each state, city or university brings its own reality, which must be taken into account when checking. It is also important to remember that the commission's work is not restricted to verification.
The group also follows up on how quota students enter and stay at universities in view of the exclusionary environment often perpetuated by academia. Hence, another reason to consider the social context in which each institution is inserted.
Unfortunately, fraudulent and bad faith attitudes are still registered in public selections regarding the use of the law. In addition to the cases caught by the commission itself, there are situations of complaints filed by citizens that are subsequently checked by the Public Prosecutor's Office. If fraud is proven, the candidate may be eliminated from the competition.
If he has already taken office, he may have his appointment annulled through a prior administrative procedure.
