A/HRC/45/34/Add.1 87. No data is reportedly available on how many indigenous individuals have been arrested and detained in the criminal justice system. Civil society organizations, including conservation organizations, do not have data but they have reported that a disproportionate number of detainees in Ouesso prison are indigenous and that some of them were arrested in relation to their traditional hunting and gathering livelihood activities. When meat is found in their huts by “eco-guards”, indigenous individuals are immediately accused of poaching even if when the meat in question comes from animals that are not on the protection list. Most of those accused and imprisoned suffer from beatings and violence but do not have access to lawyers to defend them. The Special Rapporteur was informed that indigenous persons held in detention were particularly malnourished, as, unlike most of the other prisoners, their families do not live in the vicinity and cannot therefore bring them food; the authorities apparently do not provide meals despite the fact that it is the State’s responsibility to do so. 88. For these and other reasons, the overall situation regarding access to justice, as described by local communities and civil society, appears inconsistent with the State’s responsibilities to indigenous peoples under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other international standards, as well as the Constitution and domestic legislation, which should guarantee for indigenous peoples the right to remedy and redress for any violations of their rights. G. Civil registration 89. The Government has made concrete efforts to make sure that indigenous peoples have registered civil status. The draft national action plan for 2020–2023 provides for the inclusion of indigenous people in the census, a mapping of indigenous populations and the organization of national itinerant campaigns to increase civil registration of indigenous peoples. 1. Birth registration 90. Only 32.1 per cent of indigenous peoples have civil documents compared to 93.3 per cent of the general population. 26 Decree No. 2019-199 of 12 July 2019, providing for special measures to grant indigenous peoples civil documentation, is a welcome step to reduce this gap. The Decree waives the fee for all civil registrations of indigenous peoples and facilitates the late registration of births without any charge or fine. 27 91. The Government reported that the civil registration of indigenous peoples was made a priority for all prefects deployed in the departments. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the fact that all local authorities interviewed during her visit to Sangha had been actively working on issuing birth registration and late birth registration documents for indigenous peoples. 2. National census 92. The Government reported that a nationwide census including indigenous peoples was under way28 to update the previous census, which had taken place in 2007. A mapping of indigenous peoples across the country, foreseen in the draft national action plan for 2020–2023 was, according to the Government, also under way. In order to ensure that indigenous peoples will be accurately counted, they must be involved in the design of the census and data collection process and strategies must be included to reach remote communities still living in the forest. For instance, one proposal was to conduct the census during the rainy season, when semi-nomadic communities settle in Bantu villages outside the forest. 26 27 28 16 Congo, Ministry of Forest Economics, Cadre de Planification en Faveur des Peuples Autochtones : Rapport Final (November 2018), p. 21. Complying with the recommendations contained in CRC/C/COG/CO/2-4, paras. 37 and 73 (d). See Decree No. 2019-130 of 17 May 2019.