Ethnoracial relations in Trinidad and Tobago: analyzing how racial divisions among political parties block progressive realization

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dc.contributor.authorMohammed, Talia
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeDerejko, Nathan (Law)
dc.contributor.supervisorKhoday, Amar
dc.date.accessioned2025-04-23T16:53:39Z
dc.date.available2025-04-23T16:53:39Z
dc.date.issued2025-03-27
dc.date.submitted2025-04-22T20:25:14Zen_US
dc.degree.disciplineLaw
dc.degree.levelMaster of Human Rights (M.H.R.)
dc.description.abstractThe country of Trinidad and Tobago has held longstanding tensions between its two dominant ethnoracial groups: Afro-Trinidadians (Black) and Indo-Trinidadians (East Indian), despite ratifying the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) on October 4th, 1973 with zero reservations. The present ethnoracial tensions, despite not being outright violent, have greatly influenced the culture of the islands both socially and systemically. Race is frequently discussed and weaponized in politics to the point where the competing political parties are divided by ethnicity and is used as a focal point in their campaigns to draw in voters of the matching demographic. The existing prejudices that fuel the current political system are a violation of ICERD Article 4. This Article contends State Parties should be condemning propaganda based on theories or ideas of racial or ethnic superiority over other groups rather than promoting or justifying them. Despite this, there have been no interventions from the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination or other human rights committees based on racial discrimination. As a result: racial discrimination coupled with other human rights violations continue to persist within the country. Such examples include the disadvantaged standings of social, cultural, and economic rights that the Black and Indian populations face as well as the climate of crime through gang activity. This paper, therefore, argues that the racialization occurring within Trinidadian politics is negatively affecting the State and diverting it from fulfilling its obligations. I seek to explore Trinidad and Tobago’s political system through a racial lens and highlight the consequences of the population prioritizing voting based on their ethnoracial identity rather than the society’s collective need for improvement.
dc.description.noteMay 2025
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1993/39038
dc.language.isoeng
dc.subjectTrinidad and Tobago
dc.subjectPolitics
dc.subjectEthnoracial
dc.subjectRace
dc.subjectRacialization
dc.subjectEthnicty
dc.subjectIndo-Trinidadian
dc.subjectAfro-Trinidadian
dc.subjectHuman Rights
dc.subjectRights
dc.subjectProgressive Realization
dc.subjectPeople's National Movement (PNM)
dc.subjectUnited National Conress (UNC)
dc.subjectCrime
dc.subjectRacism
dc.subjectSocioeconomics
dc.subjectCritical Race Theory (CRT)
dc.titleEthnoracial relations in Trinidad and Tobago: analyzing how racial divisions among political parties block progressive realization
local.subject.manitobano
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