A/68/333 C. Persons and groups affected by poverty and racism 45. The Special Rapporteur notes that one of the major challenges in assessing the extent to which poor racial and ethnic minorities suffer discrimination is the lack of reliable disaggregated data. The lack of data is linked to legal prohibitions in some countries on collection of ethnically disaggregated data, the failure to establish mechanisms for collection of such data in others. The lack of this kind of data means that development policies such as those linked to the Millennium Development Goals may neglect to address the specific needs of racial and ethnic minorities. 46. The Special Rapporteur observes that the problem of disproportionate poverty among some racial and ethnic groups is prevalent in all regions of the world. In this report, however, he highlights the situation of just some of those groups. 1. Persons of African descent 47. More than 200 million persons identify themselves as being of African descent. The Special Rapporteur notes that many of them continue to face pernicious discrimination as part of the legacy of slavery and colonialism that still hinders them from fully participating in the decision-making process. Despite their contribution to the economic development of their countries, they still experience prejudices and exclusion. In North and South America, two regions characterized by great disparities, a disproportionate number of persons of African descent are affected by a lack of income, health services, quality of education and opportunities to attain well-being. In the United States, poverty, as defined by the Census Bureau, is determined by 48 different thresholds according to size of the family, the number of dependent children, and ages of family members. 31 In 2009, 25.8 per cent of persons of African descent were living in poverty, whereas only 9.4 per cent of non-Hispanic whites were living in poverty. In a similar trend, in Brazil, in 2006, 47 per cent of people of African descent were living below the poverty line, as opposed to 22 per cent of those classified as white. 32 48. In Latin America and the Caribbean, most persons of African descent live in rural areas where access to education remains limited. The Special Rapporteur on the right to education has observed that, in this region, isolation and discrimination are the main factors preventing children’s access to a high level of education and skills. 33 Children living in low-income households are more likely to attend low-quality schools that lack basic materials and infrastructure and are also more likely to receive low quality of teaching. In Uruguay for example, at the end of the school cycle, the enrolment rate is 22 per cent among those aged 18 to 24 for Afro-Uruguayans, compared to 41 per cent for whites. 34 In the United States, the 2004 American Community Survey of the Census Bureau reported that about 80 per cent of persons of African descent aged 25 and older were high school graduates but __________________ 31 32 33 34 12/22 See report on the mission to the United States of America of the independent expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty (E/CN.4/2006/43/Add.1), para. 25. See report on the mission to Brazil of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance (E/CN.4/2006/16/Add.3), para. 33. See A/HRC/17/29 and Corr.1. United Nations Population Fund, “Afro-descendant youth in Latin America: diverse realities and (un)fulfilled rights”; available from http://lac.unfpa.org/webdav/site/lac/shared/ DOCUMENTS/2012/pagina%20de%20juventud/Afro-descendant_Youth.pdf. 13-43133