E/CN.4/2004/18/Add.3 page 5 B. Ethno-demographic data 6. In 2002, the population of Colombia was estimated at 43,775,839.1 Afro-Colombians (including the Raizales of San Andrés and Providencia) account for 26.83 per cent of the population, or 11,745,403 persons; indigenous peoples comprise approximately 2 per cent of the population, or 875,516 people. The overwhelming majority of Afro-Colombians live along the Pacific coast in the departments of Chocó (85 per cent), Valle (60 per cent), Cauca (39 per cent) and Nariño (17 per cent); they also live in large cities along the Atlantic coast: Barranquilla (48 per cent), Cartagena (60 per cent) and in the capital, Bogotá, where they are estimated to number more than 1 million. Divided into 84 groups speaking 64 languages, the indigenous peoples live mostly in rural areas, particularly in Amazonia, in the departments of Magdalena, César and Guajira (Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta), Cauca and Chocó. The Roma, or Gypsies, who are generally not included in statistics, told the Special Rapporteur that there are some 8,000 Roma, a large part of which lives a settled existence in such large cities as Bogotá, Cali and Medellín. I. EVALUATION OF THE GOVERNMENT’S EFFORTS FOLLOWING THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR’S VISIT IN 1996 A. Constitutional, political and legislative framework of efforts to combat racial discrimination 7. The new Government pledged to respect Colombia’s international human rights commitments and cooperates to this end with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Bogotá. It also extended a standing invitation to the Thematic Special Procedures in 2003 (statement of the Vice-President of Colombia at the fifty-ninth session of the Commission on Human Rights). Colombia has several national human rights protection mechanisms, including the Ombudsman and the services of the General Procurador. Colombia is a party to the principal international human rights instruments, including the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. However, Colombia has not recognized the competence of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to examine individual complaints under article 14 of the Convention. Moreover, in spite of the preceding Special Rapporteur’s recommendation following his visit in 1996 (E/CN.4/1997/71/Add.1, para. 68), Colombia has not yet adopted a general act on racism and racial discrimination. 8. It should be recalled that the 1991 Constitution recognizes Colombia’s ethnic and cultural diversity and is the basis for government action against all forms of discrimination. Thus, article 13 of the Constitution provides 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 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”. 9. 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 in Colombia.