E/CN.4/2004/80/Add.2 page 14 D. The conflict in Chiapas 38. As a result of the EZLN uprising in 1994 the collective and individual human rights of indigenous people in many communities were violated. The failure to meet indigenous demands has also caused strains between various social and political organizations in the region that have led to extreme violence and serious human rights violations in which some government authorities are not blameless. As in other such conflicts, this has polarized the ideological and political positions of the contending parties, NGOs and public opinion in general. 39. The 1995 negotiations did not culminate in a peace agreement and provide a solution to the Zapatista proposals; latent conflict continues, making the protection of human rights in the area a highly precarious business. The current Coordinator for Dialogue and Negotiation in Chiapas has been unable to re-establish contact with EZLN despite the action undertaken, according to the Government, to resume dialogue, and he has concentrated on promoting development in indigenous communities. There are, however, two issues of special concern to the Special Rapporteur: displaced persons and reports of paramilitary activity and an excessive military presence. Internally displaced persons 40. More than 12,000 persons have been displaced by the conflict. Some received aid from the Government or from national and international humanitarian organizations. Generally speaking, their conditions of existence are extremely difficult. As a result of negotiations between the Government and the Displaced Persons’ Commission, a start was made on the return or resettlement of some hundreds of families who receive material support and whose security it has been endeavoured to protect by means of reconciliation agreements between opposing groups. Pursuant to the recommendations made by the Representative of the Secretary-General on internally displaced persons in 2002, the Government has set up an inter-ministerial Commission and has taken some action, though it admits that the financial resources available to it are limited. This effort came late and to date has been inadequate. Fear and insecurity continue to exist among the displaced, and halfway through 2003 the problem is still extant. 41. In other indigenous regions of Mexico there are also displaced persons who are never mentioned. These are people who were relocated without their consent to build a dam or some other project many years ago and are still waiting for the compensation the Government offered them. The paramilitary and militarization 42. The violence amidst which the indigenous communities of Chiapas live is partly the aftermath of action in the 1990s by paramilitary groups linked to local and State authorities which played a violent role in the region’s political and social conflicts with their toll of murders, injuries, disappearances and displacements. Although they have kept a lower profile under the present administration, it is reported that they have not been disbanded or disarmed.