CERD/C/64/CO/9 page 4 party to set up an independent body to conduct environmental impact surveys before any operating licenses are issued, and to conduct health and safety checks on small-scale and industrial gold-mining. 16. The Committee is disturbed at reports of growing sexual exploitation of children and the rape of girls belonging to indigenous and tribal peoples in regions where mining and forestry operations have developed. The Committee recommends that the State party take the necessary measures to ensure that those responsible are prosecuted. 17. The Committee is concerned at information about the spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS amongst indigenous and tribal people, in connection with the expansion of mining and forestry operations in the interior of the country. The Committee recommends that the State party introduce a plan of action to combat AIDS in the interior. 18. The Committee expresses surprise at the State party’s statement that the Maroons and Amerindians have never officially complained about the effects of natural-resource exploitation. The Committee recommends that an information campaign be directed to the indigenous and tribal peoples, informing them what remedies are available for upholding their rights and interests, and that investigations take place whenever the State party receives reports that the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples have been flouted. 19. The Committee is disturbed at the continuing lack of health and education facilities and utilities available to indigenous and tribal peoples. It regrets that no special measures have been taken to secure their advancement on the grounds that there are no available data suggesting that they need special protection. The Committee recommends that greater efforts be undertaken by the State party, in particular as regards the education plan of action for the interior. It also recommends the inclusion in agreements with large business ventures - in consultation with the peoples concerned - of language specifying how those ventures will contribute to the promotion of human rights in areas such as education. 20. The Committee welcomes the delegation’s statement that the 1992 Amnesty Act did not terminate the proceedings concerned with human rights violations committed during the civil strife of 1985-1991, including the 1986 Moiwana massacre. It is, however, disturbed that the inquiries into those events have still not reached a conclusion. The Committee recommends the State party to attach high priority to ensuring that those guilty of human rights violations during the civil war do not go unpunished, and that the victims are offered appropriate compensation as swiftly as possible.