E/C.12/1/Add.100 page 3 12. The Committee is concerned that, although the Constitution recognizes the rights of indigenous communities to hold property communally and to be consulted before natural resources are exploited in community territories, these rights have regretfully not been fully implemented in practice. The Committee is deeply concerned that natural extracting concessions have been granted to international companies without the full consent of the concerned communities. The Committee is also concerned about the negative health and environmental impacts of natural resource extracting companies’ activities at the expense of the exercise of land and culture rights of the affected indigenous communities and the equilibrium of the ecosystem. 13. The Committee is deeply concerned about the de facto discrimination against the Afro-Ecuadorian population in all spheres of life. The Committee regrets that insufficient information was provided with regard to this particular group in the State party’s report. 14. The Committee is deeply concerned about the high percentage of people with disabilities in the State party. While noting with appreciation the recent legislation that promotes the rights of people with disabilities, including access to education, employment, transportation, and communication, the Committee regrets that the State party has allocated few resources to ensure access to these services in practice. 15. The Committee expresses its concern about the de facto inequality that exists between men and women in Ecuadorian society despite legislative guarantees of equality, owing to the perpetuation of traditional stereotypes and the lack of implementation of legislative guarantees of equality. Such inequality is reflected in unequal wages for equal work, the high percentage of illiteracy amongst women particularly in rural areas, the low level of representation of women in public service and administration, and limited access to credit, professional work and skilled trades. The Committee is also concerned that insufficient resources are allocated to programmes that aim at eliminating gender-based discrimination. 16. The Committee is concerned about the high percentage of unemployment in the State party and the size of its informal economy. 17. The Committee is particularly concerned that the minimum wage is not sufficient to provide a decent living for workers and their families and that in practice such a minimum wage is not always paid. 18. The Committee is concerned about the insufficient enforcement of health and safety regulations for workers in the State party, particularly in small mines and in banana plantations, and about the high number of occupational accidents. The Committee is also concerned that labour inspections are not carried out regularly, especially in rural areas. 19. The Committee is concerned that the Labour Code in the State party limits the right to set up a trade union section or a business assembly designed to create a labour union section to a required minimum of 30 workers. The Committee is deeply concerned about the wide extent of temporary contracts and subcontracting, and of the obstacles these phenomena have created to workers’ exercise of their trade unions rights. The Committee also regrets the limitations to the right to strike contained in the Ecuadorian Labour Code.