A/49/415/Add.1 English Page 8 36. The protection of linguistic traditions is established in article 10, which states that the education provided in communities with their own linguistic traditions shall be bilingual. 37. Similarly, the Colombian Government protects religious freedom as follows: "Article 19 "Freedom of religion is guaranteed. Every individual has the right freely to profess his religion and to disseminate it individually or collectively. All religious faiths and churches enjoy equal freedom before the law." 38. There are two large minority ethnic groups in Colombia: population and the Black population. the indigenous The Afro-Colombian population 39. The Afro-Colombian population comprises approximately 6.5 million persons, including the ethnic group resulting from intermarriage between Whites and Blacks, usually referred to as mulattos. 40. The Afro-Colombian population may be found in the Pacific and Atlantic coastal regions, the mining areas of the Departments of Caldas, Antioquia and Santander, in the Cauca and Magdalena river valleys, in the agroindustrial belts and in the outskirts of the cities of Cali and Medellín. 41. Most of the Black communities of Colombia live along the Pacific coast and are grouped in 32 towns in the departments of Chocó, Valle del Cauca, Cauca and Nariño. 42. The major urban concentrations of Blacks may be found in Buenaventura, Quibdó, Tumaco, Guapi, Puerto Tejada, Santander de Quilichao, Puerto Berrío, Puerto Boyacá, Dorada, Turbo, Cartagena, Barranquilla, Santa Marta, Cali and Riohacha. 43. The Pacific and Atlantic coastal regions are home to 90 per cent of the Afro-Colombian population, who have chosen to live mainly along the coasts and rivers. Along the Pacific coast, the Black communities live among a population which includes 5 per cent indigenous inhabitants, living in the mountainous regions and along the rivers, and 5 per cent White inhabitants. 44. There are two kinds of economies along the Pacific coast: the formal economy, characterized by agriculture, industry, fishing and construction, and the traditional economy. The Black communities are the actors in the traditional, or subsistence, economy. Peasants in this region are farmers, fishermen, miners, craftsmen, woodcutters, oarsmen, sailors, hunters and day labourers. They work in one capacity or another, depending on their needs. Their basic skills enable them to move about within the various parts of the region, in rhythm with the planting and crop rotation seasons. Women are /...