E/C.12/1/Add.60 page 3 indicators such as infant mortality, life expectancy, literacy, and access to sanitation, potable water and health-care services. In this regard, the Committee deplores the highly uneven distribution of wealth in Bolivia. 14. The Committee is particularly concerned about the marginalization of, and discrimination against, indigenous communities in Bolivia, who constitute the majority of Bolivia’s rural population and who suffer from inadequate access to basic education, adequate housing, and health services. Moreover, the Committee is concerned that the State party does not acknowledge the economic, social and cultural rights of indigenous populations as a distinct group. 15. Notwithstanding the impressive number of legal instruments and policies adopted by the State party to ensure gender equality, the Committee expresses its concern about the de facto inequality between men and women, which is exacerbated by the perpetuation of traditional prejudices and social conditions, such as discrimination in education of the girl child in rural areas. Such discrimination is particularly reflected in the low level of representation of women in public service, the high female illiteracy rate, unequal wages for work of equal value, and the high proportion of women working under inadequate conditions in the informal sector or as domestic workers. 16. The Committee deplores the de jure discrimination of salaried domestic workers established in Chapter II of the General Labour Code, with regard to daily and weekly rest and annual paid vacation, dismissal, social benefits and salary. Further, the Committee is concerned that domestic workers are subject to ethnic, class, gender and other discrimination. 17. The Committee is concerned that the method for determining the minimum wage is arbitrary, and that the current level of minimum wage does not secure a standard of living in dignity for the affected workers and their families. 18. The Committee considers that the excessively lengthy procedure for declaring a strike legal constitutes a restriction on the right provided for in article 8 (1) (d) of the Covenant. Similarly, the Committee expresses concern that restrictions imposed in the General Labour Law on trade union rights infringe on the rights provided for in article 8 (1) (a) of the Covenant. 19. The Committee deplores the practice of child labour and the exploitation of children in domestic work, in particular the existence of the practice of indigenous criaditos, which remains outside the control of the State party. 20. The Committee is concerned that land reform is not a top priority on the Government’s agenda, and that the Government does not provide legal counselling for farm workers with regard to establishment of title for their lands. 21. The Committee is concerned about the large housing shortage, the incidence of forced evictions with respect to peasants and indigenous populations in favour of mining and lumber concessions, and the absence of effective measures to provide social housing for low-income, vulnerable and marginalized groups.