A/62/286 recent decades, public policies such as the State’s various attempts to modernize and sedentarize nomadic communities, or programmes to privatize communal ranches, have worsened these communities’ economic, social and cultural rights situation. These circumstances have been made even more difficult by the frequent cases of corruption that have arisen in the allocation of Government and trust lands. 19. Special mention should be made of the growing difficulties faced by some of these communities as a result of their eviction to make way for the creation of protected natural areas in their ancestral lands. While these parks serve to generate foreign exchange for the national economy, their creation remains highly controversial because of violations of the land and resource rights of neighbouring communities, which are not allowed to carry out their traditional hunting and herding activities in these areas and, to date, have not been able to participate fully in their management or to benefit from the income they generate. 20. Social and infrastructure services in indigenous areas are inefficient and, in many cases, simply non-existent, with the result that these areas’ poverty levels are above the national average. Indigenous children and women are particularly affected by the lack of access to social services on an equal footing with majority sectors of the country’s population. They are also discriminated against with respect to property rights and are victims of harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation, which is also practised on many other girl children and adolescents in Kenya. 21. The democratization process in Kenya has permitted the emergence of indigenous organizations and networks that have succeeded in placing their concerns on the national agenda, especially in discussions on constitutional reform. The Government has announced important initiatives such as various community development projects in arid and semi-arid regions, as well as a universal primary education programme. It has also recognized the need for affirmative action in favour of herding and hunter-gatherer communities, especially in the poverty reduction strategy. 22. The Special Rapporteur, on the basis of his visit to Kenya this year, as well as his previous visit to South Africa (see E/CN.4/2006/78/Add.2) and his conversations with members of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and with other experts, has formulated some ideas on the problems of indigenous peoples which he would like to share with the members of the General Assembly. 23. In Kenya, as in other countries of the continent, all Africans are indigenous to the country, since most Kenyans are descended from the original inhabitants and in colonial times were considered “natives” by the authorities, regardless of their tribal or ethnic affiliation. At independence all inhabitants became free and equal citizens of the new States. However, geographic conditions and historical, social and cultural circumstances became defining characteristics that differentiated among the many tribes that now populate these countries. Thus, in many African countries the contested use of the term “indigenous” has implications for policy decisions and therefore for the human rights of the populations concerned. From a human rights perspective, the question is not who came first but the shared experiences of dispossession and marginalization. The term “indigenous” is not intended to create a special class of citizens, but rather to address historical and present-day injustices and inequalities. It is in this sense that the term has been applied in the African context by the Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities of the 6 07-48664