E/CN.4/2001/21 page 38 C. Colombia 117. In his report to the Commission on Human Rights following his visit to Colombia from 28 June to 15 July 1996, the Special Rapporteur made the following recommendations to the Colombian Government (E/CN.4/1997/71/Add.1, para. 68): (i) An act on racism and racial discrimination should be adopted; (ii) The programme Sábadps Felices should be banned; (iii) The process of distributing land to the Afro-Colombian and indigenous populations should be speeded up; (iv) The administrative problems connected with subsidies to the resquardos should be resolved; (v) Awareness of human rights should be developed in the army and the police, whose personnel should receive appropriate training; (vi) The Afro-Colombian and indigenous populations should participate more fully in the taking of decisions of concern to them; (vii) More respect should be shown for the economic, social and cultural rights of the populations concerned when development plans are drawn up and implemented, especially in the Pacific region; (viii) The populations should be protected from violence in the areas of conflict. 118. The Colombian Government has sent the Special Rapporteur the following information concerning progress and obstacles encountered in the implementation of these recommendations. 1. Adoption of an act on racism and racial discrimination 119. Racism has not yet been criminalized in accordance with the provisions of article 4 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. However, the adoption of Act No. 599 (2000), pursuant to which the new Criminal Code will enter into force on 31 July 2001, represents a significant advance in this field. This Act enshrines a number of elements which should help to prevent and suppress the patterns of behaviour cited in the Convention, and represents an advance in other fields not dealt with under this instrument. 120. Thus, article 58 (Aggravated punishable conduct), paragraph 3, of chapter II (Criteria and rules for determining the punishable nature of an offence) refers to: “punishable conduct deriving from intolerance and discrimination associated with race, ethnicity, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, or any disease or infirmity of the victim”.