- 122 - Non-governmental organizations: Habitat International Coalition, Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos en Panama (CONADEHUPA), Centre for Social Training (Panama), Central American Human Rights Commission, Comisión Americana de Juristas, Coordinadora Popular de Derechos Humanos en Panama, Service Peace and Justice in Latin America, Congreso General Ngöbe-Buglé, Asociaciones de moradores de San Miguelito, Sagrada Resurrección, Felipillo and others. 14. The mission took place from 16 to 22 April 1995. The two members of the mission were accompanied during their visits, with the consent of the Government, by the Executive Secretary of Habitat International Coalition. 15. The Government of Panama provided the mission with all required information, facilitated access to the areas of interest for the mission, helped to organize various meetings with the representatives of regional and municipal authorities, non-governmental organizations, the church and academic institutions both in Panama City and Colón, and cooperated with the mission in a constructive and open manner, which was highly appreciated by the members of the mission. 16. A detailed schedule of the mission’s meetings and activities is contained in annex I. Statistical data on housing issues are contained in annexes II to VII. I. REPORT OF THE MISSION A. General context 17. Panama is a country whose development is relatively advanced and which now ranks forty-seventh in the world. It has some particular features that are probably the result of the existence and operation of the Panama Canal since the beginning of the century. The tertiary sector in Panama is therefore much larger than in neighbouring Central American countries, since it accounts for 75 per cent of GDP. However, enormous social inequalities are evident throughout the country, and in particular in the city of Colón, where the coexistence of very great wealth and very great poverty is quite striking. 18. In a document prepared for the World Summit for Social Development, the Government reports one of the worst distributions of income in the world and very high rates of unemployment and underemployment, estimating that about half the population of the country lives in poverty. 19. The indigenous population, which is composed of five ethnic groups, accounts for between 8 and 10 per cent of the population, i.e. some 200,000 persons out of a total of approximately 2.4 or 2.5 million, according to the latest census. It is one of the poorest and most vulnerable sectors of society. 20. The population is characterized by very uneven geographical distribution: it is heavily concentrated in urban areas, especially around the capital, and thinly spread out in rural areas. This trend towards flight from the land will probably not decline and can only speed up the processes of unemployment, underemployment, increased poverty and land take-overs if measures are not taken to reverse it.