A/HRC/13/72 suspended. In some areas, fumigation has damaged subsistence crops (pancoger). Food insecurity is particularly acute for internally displaced persons.33 N. Discrimination 90. In 2009, the Constitutional Court determined in several sentences that persons with disabilities are subject to various human rights violations, especially in the context of the internal armed conflict, and in particular with regard to education, health and work.34 The ratification by Colombia of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in July 2009 is an opportunity to move forward in ensuring differential attention and protection of the rights of these persons. The Government is urged to also ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention. 91. Attacks against the LGBT community have been on the rise in cities such as Bogotá, Cali, Medellín and Cúcuta. The Constitutional Court, through sentence C-029 of 2009, underlined the lack of protection for same-sex couples. 92. The Government’s decision to support the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, its spirit and guiding principles is welcomed. However, there are still major challenges with respect to ethnic minorities, including the adoption of a law to punish racial discrimination, reaffirming commitments made in the Durban Review Conference of April 2009, and the creation of a statistical system with disaggregated data on indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombians. 93. Available data appears to indicate that indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian communities are marginalized and subject to de facto racial discrimination. The five departments with the highest percentage of population living below the poverty line or in conditions of extreme poverty (Bolívar, Cauca, Chocó, Córdoba and Nariño) coincide with those where there is a high concentration of Afro-Colombian and indigenous populations.35 94. Several indigenous communities face malnutrition. Cases of death related to child malnutrition were reported in Cauca, Chocó, Nariño and Risaralda. 95. Government efforts to overcome ethnic inequalities have led to the formulation of specific policies for these communities.36 However, some of these efforts did not involve sufficient consultation and lacked an ethnically differential approach. Policies need to be translated into tangible improvements in the living conditions of these groups as soon as possible. 96. Several indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities have reported the lack of free, prior and informed consultation with regard to the “mega-projects” for exploration and exploitation of natural resources in their territories in Antioquia, Caldas, Cauca and Chocó. Some indigenous leaders who participated in consultation processes and consensus-building 33 34 35 36 18 Sixteenth Report to Congress of the National Ombudsman in Colombia, July 2009. For example, T-022 (education), T-096 and T-105 (health), T-125 (work). In Chocó, 82.12 per cent of the population is Afro-Colombian and 12.67 per cent indigenous; in Cauca, 21.55 per cent is indigenous and 22.2 per cent Afro-Colombian (DANE 2005 census). In these departments, the child mortality rate is 54/1,000, but in Medellín it is 8/1,000 (National Health Survey (Enquesta Nacional de Salud, ENDS) 2005). The maternal mortality national average is 73 deaths for every 100,000 live births, while in Chocó the rate is 250 and in Cauca 125 (Colombia, Health Situation in Colombia: Basic Indicators 2007 (Ministerio de la Protección Social, 2007)). For instance, the Comprehensive Long-term Plan for the Black, Afro-Colombian, Palanquera and Raizal Populations 2005–2007; and the “State Policy for the Colombian Pacific Coast” (Colombia, Consejo Nacional de Política Económica y Social (Conpes) Doc. No. 3491, 2007). GE.10-11819