E/CN.4/2002/97 page 30 rights by the community or people, and they may end up losing most, if not all, of the land.48 Consultation has also been dealt with within the context of a number of situations involving displacement for the purposes of development projects, particularly in a number of Latin American countries as well as in Asia. In each instance, one of the primary concerns of both the tripartite committee and the Committee of Experts of the ILO has been the apparent lack or inadequacy of consultations with the indigenous peoples affected by these projects, and lack of protection of displaced persons. The Committee expressed concern that the burden of such projects should not fall disproportionately on the tribal people inhabiting regions where these projects take place. Measures should be taken to ensure that they are provided with adequate protection. 107. Ambiguities in the legal situation of indigenous peoples and communities are of particular concern to indigenous peoples in several Latin American countries, such as Argentina and Mexico.49 The Amazigh people, who inhabit several countries of North Africa, demand legal recognition and the respect of their cultural and social rights as an indigenous people. In the Philippines, the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act apparently stands in contradiction to other legislation that is also considered important by national authorities. Within the framework of constitutional review, the Ogiek, a hunter-gatherer people of Kenya, are claiming recognition as a distinct indigenous minority. The Maasai pastoralists are considered to be an indigenous minority in several East African countries, and their legal recognition varies in the different States. The Orang Asli of Malaysia are covered by special legislation in which the State retains the power of decision over certain rights of the people concerned. CERD has expressed its concern about the legal status of the indigenous peoples of Cambodia, particularly as regards their rights, culture and traditional lands.50 Women and children are particularly affected by the lack of citizenship documents, because they become more vulnerable to exploitation. Indigenous women suffer terribly from the violence that occurs in many indigenous lands. It has repeatedly been documented that humiliation of and violence against women are used as a tool to terrorize indigenous communities in several South-East Asian countries.51 In 1999, CEDAW expressed concern about hill-tribe women and girls in Thailand “whose rights may not be effectively protected by national law”,52 a concern also voiced by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.53 Child prostitutes from hill-tribe communities are especially vulnerable to exploitation in this region.54 (On the cases mentioned in this paragraph, see the addendum.) 108. In some countries, indigenous peoples have been the victims of civil conflicts, involving guerrilla warfare, paramilitaries, military repression and other forms of direct and indirect violence which has led to assassinations, forced disappearances, compulsory relocation, refugee flows, detention without due process, destruction of villages and entire communities, etc. The human rights situation of indigenous people in the framework of civil conflicts past or present has been extensively documented, but the actual protection of their human rights involves complex and difficult issues. In some countries, “truth commissions” were set up to elucidate the facts, in others special efforts at post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation are being undertaken. The Maya and Miskito of Central America, the Hmong in South-East Asia, the East Timorese, the Emberá and Huaorani in South America, the Twa in East Africa have all, at one time or another, been hapless victims of civil or international violence and conflict, and their human rights situation must perforce fall under the United Nations human rights mandate. (See the addendum for a more detailed summary of the topics discussed in the previous paragraphs.)