E/CN.4/2000/16 page 7 C. Costa Rica 11. The Government of Costa Rica has sent information on the ethnic composition of the population and on penal and educational measures adopted to combat racial discrimination and xenophobia. Particular stress has been laid on measures on behalf of the indigenous populations. 12. In Costa Rica individuals belonging to indigenous ethnic groups (approximately 35,000 persons) are living side by side with members of the Black race and persons of oriental origin. For many years now, Costa Rica, which is traditionally a host country for immigrants, has contained a large proportion of persons of very different socio-cultural origins (for example, it is thought that in recent years at least 300,000 to 400,000 persons of Nicaraguan origin, accounting for some 25 per cent of the country’s population have entered Costa Rica); this influx has given rise to an extremely rich culture with an acceptable level of tolerance. 13. It should be noted, however, although the situation is encountered throughout the world, that economic immigration has led to a recrudescence, while not of exacerbated racism or xenophobia, nevertheless, a measure of intolerance which in a country with a long democratic tradition as a host country is a matter for concern. For example, Costa Rica’s most widely read newspaper published an article on 15 August 1999 entitled: “Ticos (Costa Ricans) are the most intolerant. Study detects a decline in democratic values”. This article states that 13.7 per cent of Costa Ricans are irritated by Nicaraguans and 9.8 per cent by atheists. Despite the view of society these figures give, there have been no violent reactions in terms of xenophobia, racial violence or serious intolerance in Costa Rica. This would seem to be attributable to a large extent to the education in democratic values and respect for fundamental rights which the country dispenses. 14. During the period 1998-1999, the Office of the Ombudsman reported that it was approaching the question of the rights of the indigenous peoples on the basis of two well-defined strategies. The first, concerning a project for the promotion and protection of the indigenous peoples, was conducted from November 1997 to December 1998 with the support of the Embassy of Canada. The second was adopted in response to consultations and complaints submitted directly to the Office of the Ombudsman by inhabitants of the various indigenous communities. The project emerged as a result of the Ombudsman’s observations regarding the current need for Costa Rica’s public sector to provide an adequate platform for action to enable the country’s society to overcome the legal, political and cultural obstacles which leave Costa Rica’s indigenous peoples with very limited options for developing their potential, whether individually or collectively; and this situation adversely affects their fundamental rights. 15. The experience of the promotion and protection of the rights of the indigenous peoples in which the Office of the Ombudsman has been engaged since 1993 has revealed the systematic exclusion of these peoples from decision-making which directly affects their interests and those of their communities; some of the most frequently observed problems are: being stripped of their land, irrational exploitation of natural resources, pollution of the environment, lack of basic services as regards health, education, housing and access to credit, domestic violence and systematic non-compliance with the Indigenous Act. The aim of the project for the promotion and protection of the indigenous peoples was to support institutional and community capacity, on the basis of initiatives from the indigenous population itself, in the territories of Talamanca and southern Costa Rica.