A/HRC/18/35/Add.5 the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,4 and acknowledged as a significant problem by the Congolese Government itself.5 17. The Special Rapporteur was informed by a number of Government officials that this practice is not tolerated, and has been combated. Nevertheless, the Special Rapporteur heard reports of ongoing domination of indigenous people by Bantu individuals, and directly heard a Bantu village chief refer to the indigenous people working for him as “my pygmies”. Several indigenous people report that they are forced to carry out backbreaking agricultural work for their Bantu masters, and that the going wage for a day’s such work was a meagre 500 CFA (less than US$1). 18. Many indigenous people explained that working in the fields of a Bantu precludes them gathering the resources necessary to feed and sustain themselves and their families. Furthermore, because of their superior hunting skills, indigenous people are expected to hunt for their Bantu masters as part of their work commitments. Because indigenous people often do not have the necessary tools or weapons for hunting, they must borrow those of the Bantus. Indigenous persons also reported that if they do capture game, they are expected to hand it over to the Bantu master, and are given the less desirable animal parts as compensation. 19. The Special Rapporteur learned that Bantu masters often exploit their positions of power with violence. Indigenous persons reported that if they refuse to participate in work ordered by their masters or are unable to repay debts or return from hunting empty handed, they are violently beaten. It was also reported that if Bantu masters are displeased with the results of a hunt or agricultural work done, they might, simply at whim, confiscate the possessions of the indigenous servants, such as their cooking implements or mosquito nets, then require that the possessions be repurchased through additional work. Furthermore, because of their extreme poverty, indigenous persons sometimes “borrow” food, clothes or other material items from Bantus, which leads to a form of debt servitude, in which indigenous workers are bound perpetually to work for their employer in an ultimately futile attempt to repay their debts. D. Poverty 20. Indigenous peoples typically live in relatively small settlements or campements (camps), made up of rudimentary, mostly single-room wood-plank shelters that are highly vulnerable to the frequent torrential rains and other natural elements. Having been encouraged by the Government and development aid workers to abandon their seminomadic way of life, indigenous peoples now mostly live in camps in fixed locations, often on the periphery of Bantu villages. Although chronic underdevelopment and poverty is pervasive throughout the country, the Special Rapporteur observed markedly worse conditions among the indigenous communities. Community members expressed their frustration about being deprived of basic necessities, such as housing, and limited access to social services, including education and health care. The Special Rapporteur perceives that discrimination also contributes significantly to limiting indigenous opportunities for social development. 4 5 CERD/C/COG/CO/9, para. 15. CERD/C/COG/9, paras. 152–155. 7