E/CN.4/2005/18/Add.2 page 16 B. Situation of indigenous children and women 43. Indigenous children and women are among those who are most affected by racial discrimination. Indigenous women, because of their ethnic origin and sex, suffer twice over from discrimination, which typically takes the form of a rejection of their traditional dress, the denial of access to education, health care and basic public services (water and electricity) and the lack of job opportunities and access to land. The illiteracy rate among indigenous women is between 50 per cent and 90 per cent; only 43 per cent of them complete their primary education, 5.8 per cent secondary education and 1 per cent higher education.19 44. In the area of reproductive health, indigenous women mostly resort to the services of healers and give birth in hazardous conditions. The maternal mortality rate, which is estimated at 74 per 100,000 live births in Guatemala, is one of the highest in Central America, and is linked to the situation of indigenous women. In 2000, according to UNDP, 65.4 per cent of the cases of mortality related to childbirth concerned indigenous women.20 45. As far as children are concerned, the majority (62.3 per cent) of the 556,000 children aged between 7 and 14 who do not go to school are indigenous.21 The rate of malnutrition among indigenous children is 29 per cent, as compared with 17.2 per cent among non-indigenous children; the infant mortality rates are, respectively, 69 and 52 per 1,000 live births. 46. Several cases of racial discrimination described by the Human Rights Procurator illustrate the form taken by discrimination both in personal relationships and within institutions. For example, Ms. Rigoberta Menchú tried to sue members of the Frente Republicano Guatemalteco political party for making allegedly racist remarks about her, calling her a “market Indian” and a “tomato seller” and inviting her to “sell her vegetables somewhere else”; a councillor from the town of Xela is being prosecuted for saying during an interview that “during the conquest, the Spaniards exorcised the indigenous peoples”; a teacher of Mayan origin and her pupils were forced to identify themselves as Ladinos on a form for the Ministry of Education; a pupil of Mayan origin was refused admission to a private school because she was dressed in Mayan costume; and in 1996, racist graffiti appeared on walls in the city of Quezaltenango, which was governed by an indigenous person. IV. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 47. Racism and racial discrimination are deep-rooted, though not institutionalized, in Guatemala. They are reflected in the pervasiveness of the centuries-old prejudices that have marked Guatemalan history, culture and mentalities and that have been amplified by the tragic events of the country’s recent past, culminating in a genocide of indigenous peoples. Guatemala’s economic and social situation is characterized by the non-egalitarian development of the so-called Ladino population and of indigenous peoples and people of African descent, illustrating the structural and systemic nature of discrimination. The lowest economic and social development indicators are found in the regions populated mostly by indigenous people and people of African descent. The correspondence between areas of economic impoverishment and social marginalization and the geographical distribution of indigenous groups is a glaring example of the systemic and structural nature