A/HRC/42/38/Add.1 The Cabo Verde islands were uninhabited when they were first reached by the Portuguese in the 1450s. The Portuguese colonized the islands in the fifteenth century. In the 1950s, Cabo Verdeans joined in the war for the liberation of Guinea. In 1956, Amílcar Cabral founded the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cabo Verde. After more than two decades of struggle, on 5 July 1975 Cabo Verde achieved its independence. 7. Most of the inhabitants of Cabo Verde are descended from the first inhabitants of the islands, a majority of whom were people brought from West Africa as a result of the slave trade, and a small proportion of whom were Portuguese colonists and other Europeans. Cabo Verdeans are predominantly Roman Catholic; there also are Christians from other denominations and small Muslim and Baha’í minorities. Over 70 per cent are Creole, 28 per cent are African and about 1 per cent are European. Over the centuries, the country’s population has fluctuated, as a result of periods of famine, epidemics and emigration. Labour migration is historically extremely pronounced and has resulted in a situation wherein more Cabo Verdeans live abroad than live on the archipelago; remittances provide a key source of income for those who remain. In recent decades, emigration has declined due to the adoption of more restrictive migration policies in destination countries. Lower rates of emigration, together with a large population of young people, decreased mortality rates and an increased life expectancy, resulted in population growth, stretching further the limited domestic resources. In addition, Cabo Verde has attracted growing numbers of immigrants, mostly from West Africa, Portuguese-speaking African countries and Portugal. 8. Due to its geographical location, an extension of the Sahel belt, the climate of Cabo Verde ranges from arid to semi-arid, with scarce rainfall and an average annual temperature of 25°C. The country is affected by recurrent droughts, with significant impact on agriculture, on food supply and on access to water, exacerbating poverty. Desalinization of water is a major issue. Cabo Verde is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change: insularity and climate characteristics can have serious impacts on already sensitive ecosystems and can reverse progress made in development and poverty reduction. 9. Cabo Verde is a small island developing State, and graduated from the least developed country category in 2007. Being a graduate is an achievement, but during his visit the Special Rapporteur learned that the “graduation”, and the global economic crisis of 2008, resulted in a drastic decrease in funding for the country, thus leading to stagnation in development and delays in introducing many much-needed reforms. Achieving graduation is a long process, and signifies that the country has reached a number of development indicators. 1 However, new graduates from the least developed country category do not benefit from any additional special benefits. They thus face new hurdles, since they are no longer competitive on the basis of low costs and cheap labour, but they have not yet developed sufficiently technologically to achieve upper-middle-income status. 10. The Special Rapporteur was heartened to learn that, despite the challenges and unfavourable world economic environment, poverty in Cabo Verde has declined in recent years. According to national estimates, however, 35 per cent of the population still lives below the poverty line. 2 Furthermore, about 39 per cent of the population living in households headed by women are poor, as compared to 31 per cent of those living in households headed by men.3 In rural areas, 51 per cent of the households headed by women are poor. Women make up the majority of heads of poor households (60.5 per cent); their average age is 48.6 years old, most have had no training. While more than half of those women are literate, they have 3.8 years of study on average, as compared to an average of 1 2 3 See www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/least-developed-country-category/ldc-criteria.html. Since the graduation of Cabo Verde, additional measures were put in place to ensure a smoother transition for newly graduating countries (see www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/least-developed-countrycategory/preparing-for-ldc-graduation-and-smooth-transition.html). A/HRC/WG.6/30/CPV/1, para. 39. SDG Cabo Verde: Voluntary National Report on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, p. 19. Available at https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/ documents/19580Cabo_Verde_VNR_SDG_Cabo_Verde_2018_ING_final_NU_280618.pdf. 3