International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights

According to tax filings, in 2024 the Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights received over 98 percent of its revenue from government grants. The group has also received funding from the left-of-center Open Society Foundations and the Ford Foundation.  ^{1 5 6 7}

Background

The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights was founded in 2000 to oppose racism, inequality, and discrimination against LGBT people in Latin America. The group has encouraged the Organization of American States to adopt a convention against racism, which it did in 2013. ⁸

The group operates in Latin American countries, at the United Nations, the at Organization of American States, and in the European Union. ⁹

The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights focuses on three primary activities: legal advocacy, capacity building, and human rights documentation. It conducts legal advocacy on international human rights, using litigation in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations Special Procedures, the United Nations Treaty Bodies, and other bodies to promote greater protections for ethnic and sexual minorities. It conducts capacity building by training LGBT, racial justice, and legal advocates to document and argue against alleged human rights abuses. It documents human rights violations and attempts to bring alleged violations to both national and international visibility.  ^{10 11  12}

Advocacy

Human Rights Day 2023

In 2023, the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights published a post celebrating Human Rights Day. The report also criticized several Latin American countries for what it viewed as human rights violations. The report criticized Cuba’s communist dictatorship for passing new laws further restricting freedom of speech and expression. The report criticized Nicaragua’s leftist authoritarian regime for banning political dissidents from returning to the country and holding hundreds of political prisoners. The report criticized Colombia for not doing enough to prevent the assassination of activists. The report criticized Peruvian conservative politicians for trying to ban abortion and gender ideology in schools. The report also criticized the Dominican Republic for deporting Haitian migrants.  ¹³

Nicaragua

In October 2023, the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights criticized Nicaragua’s leftist authoritarian regime for passing laws that it claimed threatened women’s rights. Nicaragua passed laws restricting non-governmental organizations and restricting the speech of women’s rights activists. The group] criticized Nicaragua’s government for stripping Nicaraguan dissidents of their citizenship and denying them entry in the country.  ¹⁴

In November 2023, the group attacked the Nicaraguan government for withdrawing from the Organization of American States. ¹⁵

LGBT Issues

In March 2024, the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights released a report to commemorate International Transgender Day of Visibility. The report criticized some Latin American governments for the lack of available cross-sex and puberty-blocking hormone therapy, sex change surgeries, and other related medical treatments. The report called for, among other things, providing sex change surgeries and other transgender-related healthcare treatments free of charge. ¹⁶

The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights also advocates for Latin American nations to recognize gender identity on official documents, to legalize marriage contracts between people of the same sex, and to “implement an intersectional approach” that factors in “Gender, race and/or ethnicity, social class, disparities, etc.” to their approaches to sexuality and gender identity. ⁴

United Nations Dues

The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights has joined with other left-of-center and human rights groups to encourage nations to pay their United Nations dues. The groups also called for an increase in the United Nations budget. ¹⁷

Leadership

As of 2026, the executive director of the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights was Carlos Quesada. Previously, Quesada was the director of the Ethnic and Racial Equality Program, an advisor on the interests of LGBT people, and the Latin American program director for Global Rights: Partners for Justice. He was also a program officer for Latin America for Penal Reform International and an advocacy director for the Commission for the Defense of Human Rights in Central America. He received a master’s degree in human rights and education for peace at the University of Peace of the United Nations. ^{18 19}

Financials

According to tax filings, in 2024 the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights reported $6,935,274 in revenue, $7,330,370 in expenses, and $898,782 in assets. That year, the organization spent $2,995,575 on race and equality activities in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, including promoting LGBT issues in the region. The organization also spent $3,448,972 on race, and LGBT advocacy in South America. The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights received over 98 percent of its revenues that year from government grants. ¹

The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights received $675,000 from George Soros’s Open Society Foundations since 2021. ² Additionally, the Ford Foundation gave a $150,000 grant to the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights in 2018, $275,000 to it in 2023, and $35,000 in 2024.^10 11

In 2024, the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights reported providing grants, largely to other left-of-center Washington, D.C.-based nonprofits. Grants distributed include: $455,000 to Freedom House, $327,500 to the Pan American Development Foundation, and $49,204 to the Internews Network. ¹