E/CN.4/2003/90/Add.2 page 15 36. A restriction which was repeatedly mentioned during the Special Rapporteur’s visit concerns the use of indigenous languages in legal proceedings and other related procedures. Litigation in an indigenous language is not permitted, even when the parties speak it. The provisions which require a properly qualified interpreter to be available are not complied with, and in practice interpreters are neither trained nor recruited in sufficient numbers. This situation leads to acts which are in breach of the rules of due process, to the detriment of the indigenous persons concerned, who furthermore have no adequate defence, especially because the few public defenders in indigenous areas lack training. 37. The leaders of the organizations interviewed attach special importance to recognition of and respect for a legal system specific to the indigenous peoples themselves, forming part of the Mayan Weltanschauung and rooted in the culture of the communities. Indigenous law is substantially different from official law; it has a set of culturally appropriate procedures, it is efficient in conflict resolution and the restoration of social balance at the least cost to the parties (victims and accused) and it has its own officers clearly identified in the system of traditional indigenous authorities. Although this customary law is mentioned in the Constitution, ILO Convention No. 169 and the Agreement on Identity and Rights (sect. IV-E),21 it is not clearly accepted or upheld in legislation or institutions; judges are not familiar with it and do not apply it, and when the traditional indigenous authorities exercise this function they often incur penalties for substitution of authority or contempt. 38. One of the phenomena which have caused most concern in the legal sphere in recent years is the persistence of lynchings and crowd violence which, according to MINUGUA, threaten the governability of the regions in which they are most frequent. Since 1996 MINUGUA has recorded 421 cases, with 817 victims and 215 deaths. In 2001 alone 75 lynchings were recorded, with 189 victims, of whom 27 died - an increase of 22 per cent over the previous year. These cases occurred in 140 out of Guatemala’s 330 municipalities, the great majority of them indigenous. These human rights violations are a consequence of years of armed conflict and its aftermath, for example, the persistent culture of violence, the fact that unelected leaders linked to the former paramilitary groups known as the Civil Self-Defence Patrols22 openly operate in the communities, the lack of efficient administration of justice, the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators of these crimes and the destruction of the traditional machinery of authority and justice in the indigenous communities, which was replaced by militarized structures during the years of conflict. Contrary to the opinion that violence is characteristic of indigenous habits and customs (and that therefore customary law should not be given official recognition) - an opinion which has no basis in fact - it is in fact the traditional community leaders who have put forward initiatives to put an end to this scourge, such as the community anti-lynching agreements and “community dialogue”. The Unit for the Modernization of the Judiciary was for some time behind the Prevention of Lynching Programme. MINUGUA has, however, pointed to the lynchings as a sign of the worsening human rights situation, and considers the State’s response to be very poor.23 39. Mention should also be made of the continuing incidence of unsolved cases of forced disappearances, torture, extra-judicial executions of members of indigenous organizations and