A/HRC/4/9 page 14 52. Lower income levels of minorities may be the result of discrimination in access to employment and fewer opportunities for progress to secondary or higher education and attainment of specialized skills. Persons belonging to minorities on average may be paid less and be more likely to lose their employment in periods of economic hardship because of discrimination. Women belonging to minority groups will be disadvantaged further because of the additional impact of gender discrimination in employment, an example of intersectional discrimination against minority women. Lower incomes may also exist because minorities live in areas with fewer economic opportunities. 53. Lower incomes are often related to the lack of assets of persons belonging to minorities. Their land and property are often the first to be appropriated for development or conservation purposes, aided by the weak social, economic and political situation of minority communities to defend their land and property rights. Minorities find themselves displaced to less fertile land or to urban centres, without their consent, without adequate compensation and with little or no consideration of the impact on their livelihoods and cultures. Equitable market access for minorities is also difficult to secure and they may be discriminated against in access to credit and other financial services. The physical infrastructure in their regions may be suffering from underinvestment partly as a result of lack of effective political representation at the national level. 54. Lack of investment in hospitals, housing and municipal services in regions with large minority populations has led to consistently lower levels of life expectancy and adequate living conditions for minorities. For example, the Government of Hungary is concerned that the life expectancy of Roma is over 10 years less than the average. Some States have used policies of forced displacement from remote regions in which minorities live in order to improve access to social services, but the result has typically been decrease, rather than increase, in human development due to radical alteration of traditional lifestyles and livelihoods. 55. Even where discrimination is evident and understood to be a causal factor of chronic poverty, it is important to distinguish between direct and indirect discrimination, the former implying a specific intent to discriminate and the latter an “effect” of discrimination that needs not be intentional per se, but is a negative consequence that replicates itself unless there is an intervention. Discrimination should be considered and analysed as a potential factor in each case where minorities are experiencing inequalities. While direct or indirect discrimination may be a factor, the policy response demands a more nuanced understanding of the development context. 56. Discrimination manifests in both public and private spheres. Employers that offer fewer employment opportunities, or lower wages to minorities, are discriminating against them and increasing their likelihood of poverty. These practices should be addressed through strong anti-discrimination laws and mechanisms that vigorously enforce them. Research suggests that the psychosocial effects of living with discrimination decrease the ability of individuals to improve their situation even with assistance programmes if those are not sufficiently sensitive. Discrimination in education and employment over generations results in families with no formal wage earners and perceptions that there is little benefit from education, or no opportunity to find skilled employment.