E/CN.4/2005/18/Add.5 page 8 peoples and by helping Hondurans to come to terms with the multicultural nature of their country. The report lays the foundations for strengthening community institutions and opens up the possibility of involving them in decisions that affect them, legalizing their land rights and building basic infrastructure, including sanitation services, in the places where they live. From 1998 to 2001, the National Agrarian Institute granted 325 land titles covering 186,916 hectares to groups of Lenca, Garifuna, Tolupan, Chorti and Pech. 14. On 26 April 2004, on the occasion of the celebrations of the two hundred and seventh anniversary of the arrival of the Garifuna in Honduras, President Maduro established by decree the Anti-Discrimination Commission, whose task is to eliminate racial discrimination and create harmony among all ethnic groups in the country. Although the Commission is not yet operational, the Special Rapporteur welcomes its establishment and hopes that it will be given the financial and human resources it needs to function effectively. However, he thinks that the Commission would have been guaranteed greater independence if it had been established by a law linking it to Congress. III. PRESENTATION OF THEIR SITUATION BY THE POPULATION GROUPS CONCERNED A. Land rights of indigenous and Garifuna population groups 15. Indigenous and black people have pointed out that the changes to the way the questions concerning them are dealt with were not proposed spontaneously by the Government, but were the result of a sustained campaign by different communities that began in 1994 with marches on the capital to demand the legalization of their lands, environmental protection, a fair justice system, recognition of their traditional cultures and values and the introduction of intercultural bilingual education. 16. Driven back to the mountains during the colonial conquest, indigenous populations live a highly precarious existence. Almost all of them, with the exception of the Miskito, have lost their identity, no longer speak their own language and have not kept up their cultural traditions. Generally speaking, most indigenous communities have limited access to education and health services and to decent housing. 17. Representatives of the Tolupan drew the Special Rapporteur’s attention to the fact that, despite the granting of 28 land titles by the State, Ladino landowners encroach on their territory and have taken over some of it. About 58 people are reported to have been killed by landowners for resisting the invasion of their lands. In 2002, 30 families were reportedly evicted and their houses destroyed by the Santa Bárbara town council at the request of a private company, even though they had been granted the deeds of ownership by the National Agrarian Institute in 1974 and 1990. 18. Honduras (the island of Roatán) is the land to which the Garifuna were initially deported in 1796 when they were expelled from Saint Vincent by the English, who were holding them as prisoners of war, before they spread out to Belize, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Their expulsion explains the large number of them in Honduras, where there are believed to be 300,000 of them. Their vibrant and lively cultural displays and traditions have left a deep mark on Honduran