the babaçú nut. However, large-scale land appropriation is now making it increasingly difficult for women to access babaçú forests.
Since the 1980s, industrial farmers have been acquiring and enclosing vast parcels of primary land where the babaçú grows, and they now intend to clear-cut and burn the forest to breed cattle or grow soybeans for bio-fuel. They especially want to stop indigenous and Afro-descendant collectors from traversing the forested areas, even though the babaçú nut just falls to earth and otherwise remains unused. Deterrents include erecting barbed-wire fences or hiring gunmen.
The Interstate Movement of Babaçú Coconut Breakers (MIQCB) has been trying to negotiate access with the local, regional and national governments, and has been discussing the laws for free access to the babaçú forests. They have also held the government accountable for illegal logging and forest destruction.
Some researchers see potential in the babaçú palm for biofuel, but industrialists lack interest because of supply logistics and difficulty in processing the nut. NGO and university projects in 2007 continued to try to attract Afro-descendant and indigenous Quebradeiras women toward using babaçú for agro fuel, but collectors can earn more selling the multi-use nut than from processed oil. They are also well aware of the effects of the soy and sugarcane industries on independent farmers and remain uninterested in turning babaçú into a corporate biofuel activity.
The Secretariat for the Promotion of Racial Equality (SEPPIR) is in charge of coordinating President 'Lula' da Silva's policies for Afro-Brazilians, indigenous communities, Roma, Jews and, to a lesser extent, Brazilian foreign relations with Africa (the SEPPIR minister has joined the president on all of his official delegations to Africa, including Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Cape Verde, Gabon, São Tomé and Principe and South Africa , and had a prominent role in the African Union meeting held in Salvador, Bahia in 2006). The SEPPIR ministry is made up of almost 150 staff members, the vast majority from activist backgrounds. Minister Matilde Ribeiro has effectively mobilized her team to implement projects and activities in a wide range of areas related to racial inclusion. In 2005, the ministry hosted the National Conference for Diversity, with representation from all of the minority groups and states in Brazil, and international representatives from key regions present at the UN World Conference in Durban. The minister has increased her outreach to indigenous communities in Brazil and has created a national platform for the small Roma community – which was prominently featured in the national press coverage of the event. Efforts to deal with the most vulnerable of the marginalized gathered momentum in mid-2007 when SEPPIR introduced the Quilombolas Development Programme that seeks to improve living conditions of communities that are among the most marginalized in Brazil. Initially it will benefit 525 quilombo settlements in 22 of Brazil's 26 states.
Despite the breadth of the activities SEPPIR has undertaken in the past three years, it still struggles for greater recognition by the Brazilian government, in part because the ministry lacks secure government financing. As a result, SEPPIR has turned to international donors to support programme activities, and is not well integrated into the government budget decision-making process.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that Brazilian women continued to be among the primary victims of international sex trafficking to Europe. The typical victims were darker-skinned women between 15 and 27 years of age.
The second term re-election of President 'Lula' da Silva in October 2006 was seen as a plus for minorities due to his commitment to social welfare reform. Da Silva won 77 per-cent of the vote in his north-east birthplace, which is home to darker-skinned, poorer Brazilians who especially benefit from the government's 'Bolsa Familia', cash-transfer programme.
Tackling racial discrimination
Brazilian courts are extreme