E/CN.4/1997/71/Add.1 page 6 13. Thus article 13 of the Constitution stipulates that all Colombian men and women are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection and treatment by the authorities. This provision prohibits, inter alia, discrimination based on race, national or family origin, language or religion. It also expressly stipulates that the State “shall promote the conditions necessary in order that equality may be real and effective and shall adopt measures in favour of groups which are discriminated against or marginalized.” 14. Based on this constitutional framework, legislation and regulations have been adopted to ensure respect for traditions and to improve the economic development of the Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, which are recognized as distinct collective subjects within the Colombian nation. 15. Pursuant to the provisions of transitional article 55 of the 1991 Constitution, which provides for the enactment of a law recognizing the right of the Black communities to collective ownership of the uncultivated land on the territory inhabited by them, the Colombian Government has been engaged in consultation with the Afro-Colombian communities. This process has culminated in the establishment of a National Commission and various regional advisory commissions, which submitted to the Congress of the Republic a bill that became Act No. 70 in 1993. This act establishes a precise legislative framework for improving the living conditions of the Black communities. The following are the most significant features of the Act: (a) The establishment of a special constituency to provide the Black communities with a minimum of two seats in the Congress of the Republic; (b) The right to collective ownership for the communities which have been occupying uncultivated land in rural areas adjoining the rivers of the Pacific Basin; (c) Rights over the resources of the subsoil; (d) The right to an education geared to these communities' needs and cultural aspirations (ethnic education); and (e) Participation by the Black communities in the fundamental bodies for defining social policies, such as the Territorial Planning Councils (Consejos Territoriales de Planeación ) and the Executive Boards of the Autonomous Regional Assemblies ( Consejos Directivos de las Corporaciones Regionales ). 16. Act No. 70 should, inter alia , resolve one problem of the Black communities that is directly linked to the question of the right to housing, by legalizing a de facto situation: the awarding to community members who have been living in areas adjoining the rivers of the Pacific basin for many years of land which has never been delimited and to which they have never held a written deed of title. They had thus found themselves in a situation of apparent illegality vis-a-vis the settlers and large landowners in the region and had no way of safeguarding their means of subsistence.