A/HRC/19/60/Add.1 We are unable to have access to our ancestral territories, since everything is private property and so it is very difficult to recover it. Our traditional territory has been split up and destroyed through cattle farming. Non-indigenous society imposes projects and plans on us without consultation, although we are talking about ancestral territory. Traditional culture is also affected, including indigenous religious practices and beliefs, which were already completely overrun and not respected at all. In the communities there are also representatives of other religions who do not let the shamans work. There is practically no health service available. We need access to education, but Government support is lacking and not all the communities have schools. The Government and its agencies do not communicate with the communities or ask their opinion and do not respect the distinctive form of our organization. In addition, we are very poorly paid for the work we do. 12 46. The Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its concluding observations on Paraguay of January 2010,13 expressed concern at the limited enjoyment of rights by indigenous children and, in particular, their limited access to education and health and disproportionately high malnutrition rate, and relevant infant and maternal mortality rates. The Committee recommended that Paraguay should take all necessary measures to protect the rights of indigenous children against discrimination and guarantee their enjoyment of the rights enshrined in domestic law and in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 47. Reports from and discussions with representatives of different indigenous peoples conducted by the Special Rapporteur in Asunción, Ciudad del Este and Filadelfia revealed that the imposition of religious doctrines and practices against their will seems to persist to a certain degree today. This critical assessment was corroborated by the Chairman of the National Institution for Indigenous Populations (Instituto Paraguayo del Indígena), as well as by other experts working in this field. 48. Interlocutors from indigenous peoples mostly agreed that the general attitude towards their traditional beliefs and practices had become more respectful in recent years. While in the past traditional cultural or religious practices, such as shamanist healing rituals, were denounced as “satanic” by some Christian missionaries, such attitudes have fortunately become rather exceptional. Moreover, efforts to recapture the cultural, linguistic and spiritual heritage of indigenous peoples can now count on the political and financial support of major streams in Christian churches in Paraguay and internationally. The Catholic Church in particular seems to have largely abandoned its former paternalistic attitude for active solidarity with indigenous peoples in their struggle for better living conditions. Such positive examples were also cited with regard to Protestant churches. 49. In spite of such encouraging developments, however, members of indigenous peoples also reported on persisting practices or policies of religious paternalism that may violate their freedom of religion or belief. For example, they mentioned a number of instances in which material benefits or jobs given to indigenous individuals were made dependent on their compliance with religious norms. This problem was particularly tangible during the Special Rapporteur’s visit to Filadelfia, a town in the Chaco region established three generations ago by Mennonite settlers. The Mennonites are a Protestant community, with roots in the Netherlands and Germany, who themselves endured centuries of religious persecution. The ancestors of many of those now living in Filadelfia fled from the former Soviet Union, where Mennonites were exposed to harsh discrimination and political persecution, including deportation and killings. Since settling in the Chaco from the late 12 13 14 Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Mission to Paraguay, available from www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/UNPFII_Mission_Report_Paraguay_EN.pdf, p.11. CRC/C/PRY/CO/3, paras. 79-80.