A/HRC/11/11 page 5 with representatives of their federations and member organizations. In addition, the Special Rapporteur participated in meetings with the NGOs that make up the human rights community, as well as with other civil society organizations, academic institutions and private companies. 7. Similarly, the Special Rapporteur held information sessions with the bodies, funds and agencies represented by the United Nations country team, representatives of the diplomatic community and bilateral cooperation agencies and with the secretariat of the Fund for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. III. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT 8. As amended in 1995, the Constitution defines Bolivia as a unitary, multi-ethnic and multicultural Republic. According to the 2001 population and housing census, 62 per cent of the population identifies itself as indigenous. Official recognition is granted to 37 indigenous peoples. Of these, the Quechua and Aymara - comprising 30.7 per cent and 25.2 per cent, respectively - constitute the majority and reside mainly in the Andean region, in the valleys of the western part of the country and in urban areas. In the eastern lowlands - the Chaco and the Amazonian region - 17 per cent of the population is indigenous and comprises 32 distinct peoples. Of these, the most numerous are the Chiquitano, the Guaraní and the Mojeño, who live alongside internal migrants from the highlands. Many Bolivians identify themselves as either Andean kolla (indigenous), most of whom are Quechua or Aymara, or camba from the lowlands, where the majority of the population defines itself as mestizo and where the indigenous population constitutes a demographic minority. 9. Bolivia became an independent Republic in 1825. As in other countries in the region, independence did not put an end to the colonial pattern of exploiting and marginalizing the predominantly indigenous population or the plundering of their lands. The nationalist revolution of 1952 paved the way for the development of citizenship among the indigenous population and implemented agrarian reform. The revolution encouraged the social and political mobilization of the highland indigenous communities and promoted trade unionization in mining and tenant farming, with the active participation of indigenous workers. 10. Starting in the late 1960s, the indigenous peoples began to emerge as new sources of power and as dynamic actors on the national political scene. During the 1990s, marches led by the indigenous organizations served as vehicles for conveying their demands to the central Government. One product of the indigenous movement was the first recognition of indigenous rights in the constitutional reform of 1995, which highlighted the country’s multicultural and multi-ethnic nature and provided for a series of legislative amendments, including the promotion of land titling in the indigenous territories. 11. In December 2005, the first indigenous President of Bolivia, Evo Morales Ayma, was elected with the support of the country’s main indigenous organizations. The new Government announced its intention to promote far-reaching changes aimed at benefiting the indigenous population. Some of the reforms that were adopted, such as the agrarian property regime and the renegotiation of hydrocarbon contracts, as well as the debate surrounding the country’s proposed new Constitution, have given rise to conflicts pitting the central Government against the prefects and other political, social and economic sectors in the lowlands.