E/CN.4/2005/18/Add.2 page 9 indigenous communities and the Office for the Defence of Indigenous Women. A study has also been carried out on the community courts responsible for applying customary indigenous law. Under the auspices of the Supreme Court and in cooperation with the Academy of Mayan Languages, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and UNDP are preparing a glossary of Mayan legal terms. B. Legal and institutional framework for efforts to combat racism and racial discrimination and to protect human rights 15. The Constitution affirms and recognizes the primacy of the human person as the subject and object of State action, and the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights of 29 March 1994 called on the Government to undertake a number of legislative and institutional reforms to protect human rights in general and combat racial discrimination in particular. Paragraph 2 of the Agreement stipulates that “the Government of the Republic of Guatemala shall continue to encourage all those measures designed to promote and perfect norms and mechanisms for the protection of human rights”. 16. Of the laws that have been passed, the following are worth mentioning: the Civil Service Act (Decree No. 1748), which prohibits discrimination of any kind in the recruitment of civil servants; and the Labour Code (Decree No. 1441), which prohibits discrimination in the private sector. The Judicial Service Act (Decree No. 41-99) severely punishes (with an unpaid 20-day suspension) any judge who indulges in discriminatory acts in the course of his or her duties. As regards the media, the Broadcasting Act (Decree No. 433) prohibits the broadcasting of comments that are denigrating or insulting or that incite racial discrimination. 17. The adoption on 17 October 2002 of Decree No. 57-2002, which introduced article 202 bis into the Criminal Code, marked a significant step forward in the provision of criminal sanctions for discriminatory acts. This article describes discrimination as “any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on gender, race, ethnic origin, language, age, religion, financial status, state of health, handicap, civil status or any other ground, reason or circumstance with the intention of preventing or hindering a person, group of persons or association from enjoying a legally established right, including a right established by customary law or custom, in accordance with the Political Constitution of the Republic and international human rights treaties”. The punishments applicable for an act recognized as discriminatory by a court of law are a prison term of one to three years and a fine of 500 to 3,000 quetzales. The punishment may be increased if the discrimination is based on language, culture or ethnic origin. The law also forms the basis for the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (No. 169), which have been ratified by Guatemala. However, this law needs to be backed up by another law with a broader scope that would punish racial discrimination in all areas, including housing, access to health services, education and access to any place or service intended for use by the general public (transport, hotels, restaurants, cafes, theatres and parks), in accordance with article 5 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.