A/HRC/39/17/Add.3 Service to combat impunity and corruption, and the action taken to improve indigenous people’s access to justice and to abide by indigenous jurisdiction in practice. 81. The Special Rapporteur received information on the Policy on Access to Justice for Indigenous Peoples, the implementation plan of which is being developed by the Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat of the Public Prosecution Service, and on the steps taken to facilitate such access, such as the provision of interpretation services and training for justice officials in indigenous peoples’ rights, including training courses run by the judiciary’s School of Legal Studies. 82. Notwithstanding these efforts, indigenous people continue to experience serious difficulty, against a backdrop of extreme impunity, in obtaining access to the ordinary justice system in a way that meets the relevant international standards. The Special Rapporteur received numerous testimonies about the discrimination and racism suffered by indigenous people, particularly indigenous women, when they apply to the courts at the local level. For geographical and linguistic reasons, the Garifuna people face special difficulties. There are no municipal offices of the Public Prosecution Service in Livingston and only one district court in Puerto Barrios. It is therefore very difficult, owing to the cost of transport, to submit claims or keep track of cases. 83. The record of the Public Prosecution Service is clearly contradictory, with, on the one hand, its excellent work against impunity and corruption, its support for indigenous jurisdiction and the standards on indigenous people’s rights that it has adopted and, on the other, the conduct of many of its local prosecutors. There is a lack of scrutiny and support in the consistent application of international standards by the staff of the Service. There were reports of cases in which anthropological surveys had been stopped. The Public Criminal Defence Institute lacks resources, especially in respect of its programme on setting up offices for the defence of indigenous rights. 84. The Special Rapporteur is concerned at the pressure, including threats, to which staff and institutions of the legal system that deal with cases involving indigenous people’s rights are subjected. She also notes that the general tendency to resort to criminal prosecutions to deal with problems relating to rights over lands and natural resources places an impossible burden on the legal system that it cannot cope with, if it is to function properly. E. Freely determined development, poverty and racism 85. Over the past 10 years, the national economy has continued to grow, yet inequality has increased. Approximately 80 per cent of indigenous people live in poverty, whereas, according to the National Standard of Living Survey for 2014, the poverty rate among the non-indigenous population is 46 per cent. About 40 per cent of indigenous people live in extreme poverty and more than half of indigenous children suffer from chronic malnutrition. This is a problem of alarming proportions for the country. Unless radical measures are taken, such a negative trend will make it impossible for Guatemala to fulfil its commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals to “leave no one behind”. 86. According to official estimates, public expenditure for indigenous people is less than half of that for the rest of the population. This indicates profound institutional discrimination. The situation is aggravated by the systematic corruption and one of the lowest levels of tax collection in the world. 87. Almost 70 per cent of the indigenous population work in the informal sector and only 10 per cent of the persons in receipt of social security are indigenous. The situation of indigenous workers is extremely serious, with the persistence of such practices as labour tenancy. 88. The Special Rapporteur met indigenous persons with disabilities who told of the multiple and intersectional discrimination that they faced, especially girls and women. There is a lack of proper policies and services. In general, persons with disabilities face serious restrictions on effective participation in the community, independent living and the enjoyment of their rights on an equal footing with others. GE.18-13268 15