E/CN.4/2005/18/Add.6 page 8 he ensures respect for the rights of the indigenous peoples and ethnic communities in the Atlantic coast regions. In 2003, the Procurator received 528 complaints from individuals and groups living in the Atlántico Norte and Atlántico Sur regions. These complaints mostly related to failure by the State to respect economic, social and cultural rights (social security, the right to health, the right to food, the right to culture, the right to housing, provision of basic services and the right to education), as well as the violation of property rights.5 III. PRESENTATION OF THEIR SITUATION BY THE POPULATION GROUPS CONCERNED A. Economic and social marginalization of the Atlantic coast regions 14. Generally speaking, the inhabitants of these regions consider their marginalized situation is the result of centuries-long discrimination at the hands of the central government and the dominant classes. Economic and social indicators for the region reveal large disparities compared with those for the Pacific region. These people remember that both before and since independence, the mines, plantations and fisheries in their regions have been exploited to the benefit of the Pacific regions or foreign companies, and to the detriment of their economic and social development. 15. The main demands of the inhabitants of Nicaragua’s autonomous regions (Atlántico Norte and Atlántico Sur) have to do with failure to apply the laws and regulations related to autonomy and the failure of the central government to allocate the financial resources needed for the development of their regions. Consequently, they denounce what they term a “fictitious autonomy” which stems from the fact that the central administrative authorities ignore proposals made by the autonomous regions and do not involve them in the adoption of decisions which concern them. Their representatives emphasize the complete lack of any linkage between the central government’s policies and the operation and management of the regional councils, and consider that the failure to allocate the resources needed for their activities is a lever used by the Government to impose its own decisions. In particular, this lack of linkage halted all activity by the regional council in the Atlántico Sur region over a period of more than eight months in 2003. The representatives also point out that regional autonomy still remains to a large extent subject to interference from the central government in the drafting and funding of economic and social development plans. They stress that they are excluded from decision-making concerning the use of their regions’ resources, despite the fact that the Constitution and the autonomy law acknowledge their ownership rights over communal land and their right to benefit from resources deriving from fauna and flora. 16. The following facts illustrate the economic and social marginalization of the Atlantic coast regions: – The human development index for the Atlántico Norte and Atlántico Sur regions is the lowest in the country, and this is reflected in the maternal mortality rate: 362 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, compared with 110 per 100,000 countrywide; almost 70 per cent of the population is classified as poor;