E/CN.4/2005/88/Add.2 page 7 13. The territorial planning organization law establishing the area and boundaries of the indigenous territorial entities and assigning the respective powers to these entities and the State has yet to be passed. Under the bill awaiting congressional approval, the indigenous territorial entities “shall enjoy cultural, political, administrative and financial autonomy in the handling of their own affairs” and “shall be governed by indigenous councils formed in accordance with the usage and custom of those peoples and communities”. 14. The law recognizes the indigenous councils, or “cabildos”, the traditional political authorities entrusted with administration and government, as special public entities. 15. The principle of the territorial, political and judicial autonomy of indigenous people established in the Constitution has been upheld in several Constitutional Court rulings recognizing indigenous people as subjects of fundamental rights. 16. The Constitution also establishes a special indigenous jurisdiction as a separate domain in which indigenous law is recognized and exists side by side with the ordinary jurisdiction of positive law. 17. In the area of economic development, the Constitution establishes the right to prior consultation on a free and informed basis, in accordance with International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, which has been ratified by Colombia; this is now one of the most keenly pursued (and apparently least observed) indigenous rights. Some dozen laws and regulatory decrees have now been enacted to apply the relevant provisions of the Constitution in the legislation governing indigenous peoples. However, many communities told the Special Rapporteur of shortcomings in the implementation of, and effective compliance with, the current legislation. 18. The Special Rapporteur met the full bench of the Constitutional Court, a body which plays a crucial role in interpreting constitutional provisions on indigenous rights in its rulings and in amparo actions in defence of human rights. The proposal currently before Congress to curtail the Court’s jurisdiction and restrict the scope of amparo proceedings is therefore a cause of deep concern. In the Special Rapporteur’s view, were the proposal to succeed, it would considerably weaken the national mechanisms for the protection of indigenous communities’ human rights. 19. The Office of Ethnic Affairs of the Ministry of the Interior is the linchpin in the coordination of public policy on indigenous people. It cooperates with ministries and with State and private bodies working in this area to formulate the policies affecting indigenous communities and ensure respect for indigenous rights. The objective of State policy on indigenous affairs is the defence, support, reinforcement and consolidation of ethnic and cultural rights, having due regard for the basic principles of participation, decentralization and autonomy within the framework of a social State based on the rule of law. 20. The Special Rapporteur was also informed about many programmes and activities carried out by, inter alia, the Presidential Programme for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, the Social Security Network, the Colombian Rural Development Institute and the ministries