E/CN.4/2004/18/Add.1 page 13 illustration, 94 per cent of the army is Afro-Guyanese, and the statistics on the main administrative departments show that there are no disparities between the races.6 The Government has recently taken steps to improve the Amerindians’ standard of living. A Ministry of Amerindian Affairs has been established, with a budget of US$ 2 million. 32. The Government does not consider it can be accused of nepotism, since Parliament has oversight of its activities through the parliamentary sectoral committees (on natural resources, services, foreign affairs and social services), appointment to which requires a two-thirds majority vote in Parliament. It is true, however, that some of these committees have been paralysed by long-drawn-out wrangles precisely over appointments, which only reinforce the impression of nepotism among the general public. D. Action by the United Nations 33. The agencies represented in the United Nations country team have put together a multifaceted programme that aims to strengthen national cohesion, security and governance. The social cohesion component will include a long-term strategy to analyse the root causes of the Guyanese crisis and to support political dialogue between the parties involved, but also to help build up a civic and political culture that takes account of the race factor in a positive way in the quest for consensual solutions. In this way the United Nations will ensure the strengthening of democratic institutions. The initiatives will be coordinated by the UNDP office in Georgetown. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights also intends to appoint a human rights officer to provide support in the implementation of the national cohesion programmes. E. Action by civil society 34. Social Partners, a non-partisan, multiracial lobby group consisting of leaders of the Guyana Bar Association (GBA), the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), played a discreet but watchful part in the debate on the main problems of Guyanese society in 2002, and in the proposals put forward. The group has consistently called on politicians and parties to focus primarily on issues of economic and social development and thereby transcend racial polarization. It has drawn the main political parties into compromise and encouraged them to make room for civil society in the political debate and economic policy-making. It acts as an informal conduit for intimate dialogue between the various protagonists. 35. Meetings with young members of various associations - Rights of Children (ROC), the Lethem Young Achievers’ Club, Guyana Youth Development Association and the United Nations Association - gave cause for considerable hope of positive developments in the situation in Guyana. These youth groups, some formal, some informal, and generally multi-ethnic in membership, are making efforts to break through racial barriers by taking concrete action to encourage “living together”, and by reflecting on the various problems of Guyanese society and putting forward proposals. ROC, for example, launched a friendship campaign in 2000, which involved, among other things, distributing posters, T-shirts and stickers calling on the Guyanese to take the “Race-Free Zone Pledge”, proclaiming their environment free of racial prejudice, attitudes and actions. It also conducted a survey of young people, published in July 2003, just before the Special Rapporteur’s arrival, that showed that 97 per cent