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Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, established by the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO); and the various activities of the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the protection of the intangible cultural heritage. For
its part, the Working Group on Indigenous Populations is elaborating a set of principles and
guidelines for the protection of the cultural heritage of the indigenous peoples.
61.
In November 2005, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted its
general comment No. 17 (2005) (E/2006/22/E/C.12/2005/5, annex IX) in which it recognized
that, under article 15 of the Covenant, indigenous communities and other groups are entitled to
the right to protection of their moral and material interests resulting from their scientific, literary
and artistic productions, including knowledge and intangible practices.
I. Indigenous poverty, standards of living and social policies
62.
Although sundry governments have adopted social policies with the aim of “closing the
gap” as regards the disparities in human development indicators between indigenous and
non-indigenous peoples, the results have thus far been meagre. Of the indigenous population in
Latin America, 40 per cent lack access to basic health services, and the huge differences between
health rates among the indigenous and non-indigenous population persist. Indigenous children
display extraordinarily high malnutrition rates. A World Bank comparative study conducted in
five Latin American countries shows that the situation of indigenous people has not changed in
the past decade, except in the field of education.
63.
In Latin America 17 countries already officially recognize the indigenous peoples’ right
to intercultural, bilingual education, but the actual results have been relatively modest.
Educational outcomes of pupils in indigenous schools tend to be inferior to the educational
standard among other national sectors. This is basically due to the fact that bilingual
intercultural education has not been given the required institutional, technical, academic and
financial support it needs and that teacher training, availability of teaching materials and the
suitability of school syllabuses to indigenous people’s needs and cultural contexts are severely
lagging behind.
64.
Official indicators in Australia show that the aborigines are the poorest and most
marginalized sector of the population. The aborigines’ household income is 68 per cent that of
non-indigenous Australians, and an estimated 30 per cent of all indigenous households are poor.
The aborigines of Australia enjoy less than half the opportunities to complete 12 years of
education than non-indigenous inhabitants do; their unemployment rate is 4 times as high, their
imprisonment rate 16 times higher, and their life expectancy 20 years lower than that of
non-indigenous Australians. Historically, indigenous poverty is directly linked to dispossession
of their lands.
65.
Indigenous men, women and children have continued to emigrate to urban centres.
In some countries, most of the national indigenous population is currently living in cities; this is
the case in Australia, Canada, Chile, the United States of America, Norway, Kenya and
New Zealand. Even in economically developed countries the urban indigenous population posts
lower indicators of social well-being and human development than the average for the population
as a whole: they lack a systematic social welfare system and are excluded from the protection