A/HRC/39/17/Add.3 IV. Principal areas of concern A. Rights of indigenous peoples over their lands, territories and natural resources 29. As repeatedly stated by international and regional human rights bodies, the basic underlying cause of the problem affecting the indigenous peoples in Guatemala is the lack of protection of their rights to their lands, territories and natural resources in conformity with the relevant international human rights standards. Guatemala lacks a legal framework or an allocation mechanism to identify and apply the collective ownership rights of indigenous peoples in accordance with their traditional land tenure systems. 30. The disturbing failure to protect these rights arises out of a context of extreme inequality in the distribution of land and the insecurity of tenure, together with an inadequate registration system that enables third parties to be given title to indigenous ancestral lands. Moreover, there are no appropriate mechanisms to settle conflicts of ownership, which means that disputes tend to come before the courts. 31. This situation has deep historical roots. It began with conquest and colonization in the sixteenth century, continued after independence and was exacerbated during the armed conflict, when 1.5 million people, the vast majority belonging to indigenous communities, were displaced by the violence. In 1982, declaring that their lands had been voluntarily abandoned, the Government nationalized them and distributed them to landowners and the military. The Peace Secretariat has stated that there has been little progress in implementing the 1994 Agreement on Resettlement of the Population Groups Uprooted by the Armed Conflict, which should have resolved the situation. 32. The land issue was a central component of the Agreement on Identity and Rights of Indigenous People and the subject of the Agreement on Social and Economic Aspects and the Agrarian Situation. Measures intended to develop a new legal framework, to make land available and to provide support for agriculture in rural and indigenous communities have not been properly implemented. In the area of legislation, only the Land Registry Act referred to above has been adopted, but even that has been weakened by subsequent amendments. The Land Fund has stated that it lacks the necessary budget to comply effectively with its mandate of facilitating affordable access to lands. Up until 2016, of the 800,000 landless families applying for land, only 13,162 — of whom 10,719 were Maya — had received any. 33. Despite the progress made with the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, there are no proper mechanisms for the recognition of communal lands to address indigenous territorial claims. The Secretariat for Agrarian Affairs has reported that 1,425 disputes are currently on file, affecting more than a million people. Some of these disputes have arisen out of the shortcomings of the system itself, such as overlapping registers, which occurred in the case of the Choctún Basila community in Alta Verapaz. 34. The inefficiency of the system means that people frequently apply to the ordinary courts or engage in criminal activity to resolve territorial claims. In many cases, court rulings disregard the rights of the indigenous peoples and indigenous claims are not heard as promptly as those of other parties. Previous rights are being ignored, including in situations in which a community has a recognized ownership title, as in the case of the Copones. Communities that submit claims are often the victims of criminal activity and violence, as in the case of the Q’eqchi’ and Ch’orti’ communities. Communities often have to resort to amparo in order to safeguard their territorial rights. Mining, energy, infrastructure, conservation and other activities that affect indigenous lands, territories and resources 35. The insecurity of land tenure suffered by indigenous peoples is exacerbated when licences are issued without prior consultation or consent, and in contravention of the country’s international obligations, for mining, energy, agro-industrial, infrastructure, conservation and other activities, that affect their traditional lands and resources. The legal GE.18-13268 7