E/CN.4/2002/24 page 26 basis, extensive rights concerning, in particular, the use of their own language and writing, the management of human resources, the conduct of economic and financial affairs, the administration of education and culture, and the management and development of their natural resources. 4. As a local organ of the State, the People’s Assembly of the Tibetan Autonomous Region and its permanent commissions, fully exercising the autonomous rights conferred on them by the Constitution and laws of the country, have devoted enormous efforts to formulating a special law adapted to the national autonomous region comprising over 160 special articles and covering all aspects of the life of the population. Since the establishment of the national autonomous region in 1965, the representatives of the Tibetans and other minorities have constituted 80 per cent of the delegates participating in the meetings of the Tibetan People’s Assembly. The representatives of the indigenous Tibetan population and the other minorities form, at all levels, the vast majority of senior officials of the autonomous region and, in the year 2000, their proportion totalled 78.89 per cent. The indigenous Tibetan population and the representatives of the other minorities not only play a leading role in affairs concerning local autonomy, but fully participate in the formulation of the principal policies of the State and in decision-making at this level. In the Chinese Peoples’ Assembly, Tibet holds 19 seats, of which 82 per cent are occupied by indigenous Tibetans and members of other minorities. Through their participation in political consultative conferences at all levels, Tibetans from all social strata and public personalities from every sector take part in the consideration of policies and exercise their democratic rights. At the present time, the Chinese political consultative conference includes among its members numerous indigenous Tibetans and leading Tibetan religious personalities. 5. In the sphere of employment, in order to improve Tibetans’ living conditions to the fullest extent possible, the authorities not only ensure that there is no discrimination against them but have taken even more favourable measures than those which have been adopted in other Chinese provinces. In the autonomous region, when workers have to be hired, specialist personnel recruited or students enrolled, priority is granted to Tibetan-speakers. Since the basis of the Tibetan economy is weak and the country has been hit by extremely severe weather conditions since 1980, the State exempts Tibetan farming communities from all national taxes and sales taxes on their products, which means that they are able to keep the whole of their earnings: this arrangement is without equivalent in any other region of the country. Furthermore, in certain very remote areas of the autonomous region, the State grants substantial sums for use as capital in assisting the local population to develop their own production, to rid themselves of the yoke of poverty and to proceed along the path to prosperity. 6. In the health sector, before the peaceful liberation of Tibet, there was not a single modern health-care centre or clinic in the whole region. Over a few decades, the State has allocated a total of over 1.8 billion yuan to the sector, setting up cooperative health care centres in most villages. At present, the region has 1,254 health-care centres comprising a total of 6,440 beds and 10,957 specialists; the number of beds and health personnel for every 1,000 inhabitants is equivalent to the national average. Moreover, in