E/CN.4/2000/16 page 9 22. Article 19 of the Constitution of Iraq provides that citizens are equal before the law, without distinction on grounds of sex, race, language, social origin or religion. Iraqi legislation in force recognizes the national rights of the Kurds and provides a democratic legal framework to meet their political needs, bearing in mind their situation in neighbouring countries where their national and historical existence is denied. This was the reason for the adoption of Act No. 33 of 1974, granting autonomy to Iraqi Kurdistan, and Act No. 56 of 1980 concerning the regional legislative council. 23. The Iraqi Government also states that it has recognized the cultural and social rights of the Turkomans under Revolution Command Council Decree No. 89 of 1970, and the rights of the Syriac-speaking community (Assyrians and Chaldeans) under Decree No. 251 of 1972 on the same footing as the Sabian and Yezdi communities, thus demonstrating, according to the Government, the protection the State provides to religious communities, in accordance with article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. III. CONTEMPORARY MANIFESTATIONS OF RACISM, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA AND RELATED INTOLERANCE A. Discrimination against Blacks (negrophobia) 24. Amnesty International has informed the Special Rapporteur that the legal system in the United States is still heavily biased as a result of racial prejudices, the consequence of which is discrimination in the application of the death penalty to African-Americans. In its report published in May 1999 bearing the title United States of America. Killing with prejudice: Race and the death penalty in the USA, Amnesty International maintains that it is “undeniable that the death penalty in the United States of America is applied disproportionately on the basis of race, ethnicity and social status. Coupled with the near-total failure of the authorities to address or even recognize this reality, the persistent presence of racial bias only reinforces the other convincing arguments against any use of the death penalty.” 25. The statistics supplied in support of Amnesty International’s view reveal that of the 3,549 prisoners still on death row (July 1999 figures), 46.75 per cent are White, 42.24 per cent are Black (although Blacks represent approximately 12 per cent of the population), 8.09 per cent are of Hispanic (Latino) origin and 1.41 per cent are Native Americans (Ameridians), while Asians represent 0.79 per cent. Discrimination in the application of the death penalty is particularly flagrant between the homicide of a White by a Black and that of a Black by a White; “in 96 per cent [of reviews of death sentence] there is a pattern of either race-of-victim or race-of-defendant discrimination or both”. 26. The Special Rapporteur had already drawn the attention of the Government of the United States to this problem following his mission in 1994 (E/CN.4/1995/78/Add.1, para. 63). He hopes that steps will be taken to bring about greater equality in the process of American justice.