accessible, comprehensive and comprehensible manner.The State party should also adopt appropriate measures to control the export of minerals and to impose drastic sanctions on those involved in the illicit trade in natural resources. The Committee further calls upon the State party to ensure that revenues derived from the mining sector are allocated for the development of the province of Katanga and that its inhabitants are provided with basic social services and infrastructure so that their living conditions may be improved. 14. The Committee is concerned that despite the adoption of the Forestry Code and a moratorium on concessions, illicit trade of wood and abusive exploitation of the country’s forests continue to adversely affect the ecology and biodiversity and undermine the rights of indigenous populations, especially pygmies, to live in their ancestral lands and manage their forests according to their traditional practices. The Committee also expresses concern that representatives of indigenous communities were not invited to take part in the second session of the inter-ministerial commission in charge of reviewing illicit logging contracts, although the session was devoted to the signature of contracts between local authorities and logging companies. (article 1.2) The Committee urges the State party to enforce the moratorium on concessions until the mapping and zoning exercise is completed and to ensure that future forest concessions do not deprive the indigenous peoples of the full enjoyment of their rights to their ancestral lands and natural resources, and that the benefits thereof contribute to their poverty alleviation. The State party should ensure that forestry projects are centred on advancing the rights of forest-dependent peoples and conducted only after comprehensive studies are carried out, with the participation of the peoples concerned, to assess the social, spiritual, cultural and environmental impact on them of planned activities. The Committee encourages the State party to consider ratifying ILO Convention No. 169 (1989) on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries. 15. The Committee is concerned that land-related disputes which were at the heart of the Ituri conflict and continue to be the source of conflicts in many provinces, remain unresolved and therefore may lead to new inter-ethnic confrontation. The Committee is especially concerned that the consultation process to revise the Land Law, although announced in the State party report, has not yet formally begun and that no other initiative is foreseen to prevent future land dispute. The Committee expresses further concern at the numerous cases of peasants expelled from their land due to mining operations in Kijiba, Kaposhi, Ngaleshi, Kifunga and Chimanga (Katanga). (article 1.2) The Committee calls upon the State party to urgently launch a consultation process with a view to revising the current Land Law and securing land tenure. Until such a law is adopted and implemented, the State party should take all the necessary measures in consultation with local and regional authorities to solve the existing land conflicts and prevent further disputes. As part of its efforts, the State party should envisage financially supporting the sensitization and mediation activities of the Land Commission established in February 2008 in the province of Ituri and creating community-based land commissions in the other provinces. The State party should also inquire into the expulsion of farmers in Katanga and provide them with compensation and alternative locations for agriculture. 16. The Committee expresses serious concern that despite the international development aid that has been provided, no sustainable institutional framework for its absorption and utilization exists in the State party. The Committee is also concerned about the continuous decreaseover the past decade of the resources allocated to social sectors, notably health and social protection, whereas budgetary allocations to defence and public security have increased considerably to reach 30 per cent of State expenditures. The Committee is even more concerned that only a small part of the low budgetary allocations to the social sectors are actually disbursed. The Committee considers that mismanagement of international cooperation aid and unbalanced budgetary allocations constitute serious breaches in the obligations of the State party under article 2.1 of the Covenant. (article 2.1) The Committee draws the attention of the State party to its statement entitled “An evaluation of the obligation to take steps to the ‘maximum of its available resources’ under an optional protocol to the Covenant” (E/C.12/2007/1), and recommends that the State party which is currently voting the annual 2010 budget substantially increase its national spending on social services and assistance such as housing, food, health and education, so as to achieve, in accordance with article 2, paragraph 1, the progressive realization of the economic, social and cultural rights provided for in the Covenant. The Committee also urges the State party to use a human rights-based approach in the elaboration of the State budget and the utilization of international development aid with clear strategic budgetary lines for the most disadvantaged and marginalized groups and provinces. It further encourages the State party to foster transparency and accountability to improve effectiveness in the implementation of development programmes funded by international donors. 17. The Committee is concerned that while pygmies continue to suffer extreme forms of societal marginalization, in particular with regard to their access to identity documents, education, health and employment and in spite of repeated calls by human rights bodies