0 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 extremely reluctant to enforce discrimination cases, because discrimination is difficult for court employees to identify as a crime. Punishment for discrimination is so severe that judges are reluctant to recommend the required sentencing. Further, there is such a lack of understanding of racial discrimination by the court that, if an individual can demonstrate some non-European ancestry or connection to a person of another racial group via marriage – a standard that many Brazilians meet – the aggressor of a racist attack is exonerated. Despite advances in documenting racial discrimination, bringing forward cases of discrimination is often futile under the current system because there are seldom any convictions. In a study of 22 states by the Catholic University of São Paulo only 394 of 651 discrimination cases were brought to trial, and there was not a single conviction for racial discrimination among the cases presented to the court. Senator Paulo Paim has been a major advocate for a Statute for Racial Equality in Brazil. This statute sets mandatory guidelines for sentencing and strengthens criminal penalties for committing racist acts. The statute, however, continues to face major challenges in the Brazilian parliament. Although it passed the lower house, it is unlikely that it will become law in the near future because of the increasing debate on issues of race in Brazil.
Nevertheless racial discrimination continued to receive more recognition and remediation attempts from the 'Lula' government in 2007. For example, a quota law still under consideration will institute a system of racial preferences for the civil service, private sector and universities. Currently Afro-Brazilians represent only 16 percent of the university population. During 2006-7 more than 30 universities voluntarily implemented a quota system.
Brazil has taken a leadership role in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights at the Organization of American States (OAS). Brazil is the sole supporter of the Special Rapporteur for African Descendants, a 