E/CN.4/2004/18/Add.3 page 12 35. The Raizales of the islands of San Andrés and Providencia, who number 24,444 according to official statistics,6 told the Special Rapporteur that they considered themselves to be victims of racial discrimination. As the product of a mixture of African, British and Amerindian populations, the Raizales claim an identity distinct from other Colombians. Their native languages are English and Creole, and they are predominantly Protestant. They also consider that they have been subjected to discrimination as a result of emigration from the mainland, which the Government has encouraged. Today, of the 80,000 to 100,000 people living on the island of San Andrés, which has a density of 3,000 inhabitants per square kilometre, the indigenous people are in the minority. They claim that they are victims of political discrimination that excludes them from decision-making processes concerning their department. They are confronted with the cultural domination of Colombians from the mainland in the educational and judicial systems; the exclusive language of instruction is Spanish, while the courts use only English. 36. Although Colombia is a secular State, the Raizales believe that they are subjected to religious discrimination because they are not Catholic, the dominant religion. The State has given the Catholic Church control of educational institutions, and the Church has undertaken to convert the indigenous population to Catholicism, provoking opposition from that population. The economy of the islands, which is based on tourism and the import of manufactured products (San Andrés is a free port), is in the hands of the Colombians from the mainland, who employ very few indigenous people. The unemployment rate among the indigenous population is estimated at 70 per cent. 37. The Special Representative of the President of the Republic told the Special Rapporteur that the Government was aware of the special situation of San Andrés and was in the process of preparing a strategy to remedy the problems raised. This plan will make it possible to grant loans to persons who wish to create family inns for tourists or set up other types of enterprises. C. Situation of the Roma 38. The Roma have been in America since the fifteenth century, first as a result of their deportation from Spain and Portugal and later as the result of voluntary emigration beginning in the nineteenth century. Most of the Roma in Colombia belong to the Vlach, or Wallachian, ethnic group and arrived voluntarily in Colombia between 1880 and 1920. The Roma faced a process of assimilation, which they resisted, choosing to turn in on themselves. They were thus able to preserve their language and their traditional organization. However, as in Europe, stereotypes of Colombian Roma are widespread in society, where they are called “vagabonds”, “thieves” and “magicians”. 39. The Roma organization PROROM (Organizational Process of the Roma People of Colombia) is committed to bringing the Roma people out of their state of marginalization and out of the shadows in which they were forced to live owing to the intolerance of the majority, gaining recognition of Roma identity and, like the indigenous peoples and the Afro-Colombian communities, fighting for their collective rights. In 1998, Colombia began a process of recognizing the Roma by accepting that International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries applied to the