The dissertation analyzes race as the first criterion capable of explaining the prevalence
of human rights violations in the context of essentially extractive business activities in
the Americas. In order to do so, it resorts to the historical landmarks of the foundation of
capitalism, as this system is the essential element to understand another great point: the
racial division of labor and the Global North-South relations, present until the present
day. In the peripheries, the capital accumulation strategies of the large companies of the
North (center) involve, in addition to the great exploitation of the workforce, the
appropriation of territories, given their interest in extracting large volumes of natural
resources, the basis of the economies of the countries in the region. These elements are
key to explaining the immense pressure suffered in the territories, whose populations,
mostly Afro-descendants and indigenous people, deal with persistent violence,
dispossession and power disparities. The work studies the jurisprudence of the Inter-
American Court of Human Rights to investigate how this court has considered the racial
issue in cases related to extractive activities that violate human rights, and concludes that
the current framework of corporate accountability in international systems for the
protection of human rights, of a liberal nature, it does not offer adequate response
capabilities for reparation and guarantees of non-repetition of violations, given the very
essence of capitalism. However, a racial intervention in the critical discourse on
liberalism tends to present exit routes for the search for racial justice in the Americas.
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