A/HRC/33/42/Add.2 F. Economic, social and organizational development 60. Honduras is considered a middle- to low-income country, with a high level of economic inequality and poverty. Although measures are in place to improve human development levels in the country, there remain problems to be overcome in such areas as access to health, education, gender equality and the environment. Such problems particularly affect the indigenous peoples. One problem that was raised was the lack of upto-date official disaggregated data on indigenous peoples and their social and economic situation and on the effectiveness and cultural suitability of the social programmes implemented in indigenous regions. 1. Economic and employment situation and situation of women, young people and children 61. Seventy-two per cent of indigenous households, as against 41.6 per cent of households nationally, cannot afford a basic food basket, which puts them on the extreme poverty line. The worst percentages are found among the Tolupán (93.9 per cent), the Chortí (87.4 per cent) and the Pech (84.4 per cent). Of the indigenous child population, 88.7 per cent live in poverty, while more than 88 per cent of Tolupán, Lenca and Pech children live in extreme poverty. The unemployment rate among indigenous persons over the age of 18 years is 44.7 per cent. Women make up 83.6 per cent of unemployed persons. The average monthly income of indigenous people amounts to 36.8 per cent of the national average, and much less in the case of the Tolupán, Chortí, Pech and Lenca. 15 They also face discrimination, which makes them vulnerable to unfair and precarious working conditions. 62. Information was received about the Miskito divers who have died or been severely injured while lobster fishing. The Government has been urged for many years to pay compensation to victims and their families, to provide health services, grants and housing and to strengthen labour regulations, and a claim against it was lodged with the interAmerican system. The Government provided information on its inspections of the ships that hire the divers, the installation of hyperbaric chambers in some areas, initiatives to regulate underwater fishing and the provision of social services for the divers and their families. It seems, however, that the available grants, housing and medical services are inadequate to meet the real needs of disabled divers and their families. The lack of economic opportunities and proper regulation has meant that the number of deaths or injuries to divers has risen. 63. One problem that came up again and again was the lack of services to provide indigenous persons with identity documents, without which they cannot obtain access to social services or exercise their civic rights. The families of Miskito divers who died without holding such documents did not receive the social benefits to which they would have been entitled. 64. Government representatives provided information on such social programmes as Better Life, which issues food, housing, environmentally friendly stoves and medicines, on the various benefits available for poor indigenous families and on the Indigenous and AfroHonduran Peoples and Climate Change Programme, in addition to the assistance, school equipment and food that the Government provides for indigenous children. There have, however, been complaints that these programmes are totally inadequate, that political 15 14 See United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Niñez indígena y afrohondureña en la Republica de Honduras (Indigenous and Afro-Honduran children in the Republic of Honduras), Tegucigalpa, Dec. 2012, pp. 37-42. GE.16-12632

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