Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee (SOCHUM)

find a job, they are usually employed in unskilled and
underpaid positions such as domestic or construction
workers or small street vendors. Because of these
low-paying jobs, indigenous populations in cities are
dependent on social services from the government
though many do not have access to these benefits for
varied reasons.
The lack of adequate housing is another serious
problem for indigenous peoples in cities. They
often reside in informal settlements and slums on
the outskirts of the traditional city center that are
overcrowded and do not have sufficient sanitation
facilities, electricity, and other amenities. these
settlements and slum are never constructed with
long-term settlement in mind, so they are susceptible
to mudslides and erosion, exposing residents to
danger. 162
An example of an indigenous group that has
encountered intense discrimination after urbanization
is the Murle community of South Sudan. in a search
for increased employment opportunities, many Murle
families migrated to the regional capital, Bor. in Bor,
however, they have been unable to find jobs or get
adequate housing because of the discrimination that
they have faced from the majority ethnic group, the
Dinka. Much of the economy of Bor is still based on
agriculture, and the Murle community often faces
revenge attacks from the Dinka for cattle death, even
when there is no evidence that the Murle people had
any involvement in deaths in the first place. The Dinka
also harass the Murle when they hear them using
their indigenous language around town. 163
Current Situation
Statistics about the current state of poverty among
indigenous populations make clear the seriousness
of the problem the international community is facing
today. Rates of poverty among indigenous peoples
are significantly higher than those among nonminority
groups. Overall, indigenous peoples make
up between four and five percent of the world’s total
population, a small but substantial minority. When
we restrict our focus to the world’s poor population,
however, the relative size of the indigenous
population dramatically increases; it is estimated that
been ten and fifteen percent of the world’s poor are
members of indigenous minorities. 164, 165 Given the fact
that many indigenous peoples reside outside of urban
centers, it is not surprising that they make up an even
higher portion (around one-third) of the world’s rural
poor population. 166 Of all of the indigenous peoples
throughout the world, just over one-third live in
poverty. 167
As will be discussed below, one of the major
obstacles in solving the problem of poverty among
indigenous peoples is the lack of information on the
current condition that such populations are facing in
different regions. That being said, the information
that we do have on indigenous poverty presents a
dire reality. Latin America, with its sizeable indigenous
population, provides a good case study. Across the
region, rates of poverty among indigenous peoples are
significantly higher than those among ethnic majority
groups. In Peru, for example, 65% of the indigenous
population lives in poverty, as opposed to 43% of the
general population. 168 Bolivia and Guatemala have
even higher rates, with about half of the population
under the poverty line, including three-quarters of all
indigenous peoples. In the Latin American country
with the highest poverty rates, Ecuador, only one in
ten members of indigenous communities do not live
in poverty; as suggested above, the problem is even
more pronounced in rural areas, with 96% of rural
indigenous Ecuadorians under the poverty line. 169 the
issue of poverty among indigenous peoples in Latin
America affects not only the indigenous communities
themselves but also the general population. In
Mexico, for example, rates of extreme poverty are
almost five times higher in regions with significant
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