A/HRC/41/54/Add.1 channels was devoted to Amazigh culture and language. Television channels and radio stations are required to allocate 30 per cent of their time to Amazigh-language programmes. 2. Access to justice 36. The Special Rapporteur was informed that Amazigh speakers continued to experience significant communication difficulties in their interactions with the State administration and the judiciary. These difficulties are often the result of the relevant officials lacking Amazigh-language skills, the predominance of Arabic as the sole language of the juridical sphere, and the absence of adequate Amazigh-language resources such as sworn interpreters. Both the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Independent Expert in the field of cultural rights have previously emphasized that the predominance of Arabic within the State bureaucracy poses a barrier to equal and effective access to justice for those who are not fluent in Arabic. 31 The limited availability of qualified, certified interpreters creates communication difficulties for Amazigh-speakers at every stage of the legal process, including during court proceedings, which can have serious consequences for the substantive adjudication of their cases and may lead to violations of the right to equal treatment, effective protection and redress before the courts. In order to ensure equality and non-discrimination in the administration of justice, Morocco should strengthen its efforts to advance the use of the Amazigh language in judicial and administrative proceedings and to guarantee the availability of free interpretation services. This is a crucial step for empowering all individuals to claim the rights they are entitled to enjoy under Moroccan and international law. 3. Socioeconomic marginalization 37. The Amazigh also reported experiencing racial discrimination in their enjoyment of economic and social rights – a concern that both the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights raised in their concluding observations. 32 Although Morocco has achieved substantial progress in reducing poverty, Amazigh communities remain concerned that regional disparities, inequality and the urban-rural gap in poverty remain significant. Amazigh are disproportionately affected, since the predominately Amazigh-speaking regions (the Rif, Atlas, Assamer and Souss regions) are the poorest in the country and thus face the greatest challenges in terms of infrastructure and the adequate provision of basic services such as water, sanitation and health-care facilities. Amazigh communities inhabiting rural areas and those who were not fluent in Arabic reported persisting, structural marginalization and discrimination with regard to equal access to employment and health services. In these areas, cultural identity intersecting with rural economic marginalization seemingly creates regions in which residents enjoy a poorer quality of life, compared to those residing in urban areas. In addition, some civil society representatives reported that stereotypes associated with rural inhabitants of areas where the Amazigh language and Amazigh culture were especially salient often meant that people from those regions faced discrimination when they attempted to settle in more urban areas. 38. Moreover, concerns were raised regarding Amazigh communities’ ownership and control over land, forests and natural resources, which were inherently tied to Amazigh tradition and culture. Amazigh representatives reported experiencing inequality and discrimination with regard to forced displacement, land dispossession and environmental despoilment of rural areas across the country. This often occurred in the context of development projects and natural resource extraction by private actors or public authorities. For example, the Special Rapporteur was told about several regions in which mining companies exploited land and resources without paying due regard to the needs and rights of the communities affected. Issues connected to land and resource use are rooted in colonial-era laws, which disbanded previously existing communal land and property ownership structures and led to the dispossession of land that had been traditionally inhabited by Amazigh communities. The cumulative effect of colonial-era laws and 31 32 CERD/C/MAR/CO/17-18, para. 19; and A/HRC/20/26/Add.2, para. 33. CERD/C/MAR/CO/17-18, para. 11; and E/C.12/MAR/CO/4, paras. 13, 41 and 43. 11