80 386 (hereinafter "Convention on Racial Discrimination") - to which Colombia is a Party - define discrimination as "any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, 387 economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life." 363. In its General Commentary XX, CERD has established that the principle of enjoying human rights on the basis of equality is fundamental to the prohibition of discrimination in the Convention on Racial Discrimination based on race, color, descent, nationality or ethnic origin. It indicated that the reasons for discrimination are understood in practice by the notion of "intersection" in which "the Committee refers to situations of double or multiple discrimination based on origin or religion - when the discrimination appears to exist in combination with another cause or causes listed in Article 1 of the 388 Convention." 364. Similarly, CERD has established that the term "non-discrimination" does not mean the necessity of uniform treatment when there are significant differences in the situations between one person and another or one group or another, or in other words, if there is an objective and reasonable justification for treating them differently. It indicated that to treat persons or groups whose situation is objectively different in the same way would constitute 'effective' discrimination, just as it would for unequal treatment of persons whose situations are objectively the same. The Committee has also observed that 389 the principle of non-discrimination requires that the groups' characteristics be taken into consideration. 365. The Committee for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, for its part, has indicated that the fact that a person belongs to a group characterized by one of the prohibited reasons for discrimination frequently influences the effective enjoyment of the rights recognized in the Covenant on Economic, 390 Social and Cultural Rights. It recommended that to eliminate discrimination in practice, the State must pay sufficient attention to the groups who have suffered abuse historically or who are victims of persistent prejudice, instead of simply comparing the formal treatment received by persons in similar situations. It stressed that the States Parties must immediately adopt the necessary measures to prevent, reduce or eradicate the conditions and attitudes that generate or perpetuate substantive or de facto 391 discrimination. It maintained that to eradicate substantive discrimination the States Parties may adopt special measures of a temporary nature, establishing precise differences based on the prohibited reasons for discrimination. These measures are lawful as long as they adopt a reasonable, objective and proportional form to fight de facto discrimination, and cease to apply once a sustainable substantive 392 equality is achieved. 366. Similarly, the 169 ILO Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent 393 Countries - to which Colombia is a party - also enshrines various clauses which protect the cultural 386 Colombia ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination on September 2, 387 Art. 1 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. 1981. 388 General Recommendation 389 General Observation Annex 102. UN. CERD. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/comments.htm. Annex 102. UN. CERD. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/comments.htm. 390 No. No. 32, 32, para.7. At: 8. At: para. Colombia ratified the International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, on October 29, 1969. 391 Annex 103. UN Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights, General Observation No. 20, para. 8.b. At: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/comments.htmm. 392 UN Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights. General Observation No. 20, para. 9. At: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/comments.htmm. Cf. Annex 104. UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. General Observation No. 28, para. 18. At: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/recommendations/index.html. Colombia ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women on January 19, 1982. 393 Ratified by Colombia on August 7, 1991. Approved by Law 121 of 1991.