A/HRC/40/77 Bamako by an international humanitarian organization. They reported that they had been subjected to various forms of ill-treatment by the Algerian security forces and members of unidentified armed groups at checkpoints in Mali. They also stated that they had been arrested and taken to an overcrowded detention centre where they had been beaten by Algerian security forces. The latter reportedly refused to give them access to bathing facilities and toilets and did not provide them with food during the period of their detention. The migrants stated that, once they had been returned to the border, they had been left to fend for themselves in an arid wasteland occupied by armed groups and had therefore been placed at greater risk of violations of their human rights. F. Economic, social and cultural rights 58. The Independent Expert notes with concern that poverty rates are still very high, particularly in the violent central and northern areas of the country. The phenomenon of poverty can be characterized as a failure on the part of the authorities to provide people with access to basic social services, including adequate food, clothing and housing and basic education, combined with a failure to avert preventable deaths. The Independent Expert has received reports regarding the lack of these basic social services in several areas of the country. 59. The Independent Expert notes with concern that the rate of severe acute malnutrition is still above the emergency threshold and that food insecurity persists despite a generally satisfactory harvest. 60. He is concerned that, even as humanitarian needs are on the rise, there is a current shortfall of $223 million for the Humanitarian Response Plan. The number of people classified as being in need of humanitarian assistance in Mali rose from 4.1 million in January 2018 to 5.2 million following a review of the Plan in July 2018. The number of vulnerable people has increased for several reasons, including floods, which affected more than 137,000 people, and the deteriorating security situation, which has driven up both the rate of malnutrition, particularly in the centre of the country, and the number of internally displaced persons, which doubled in 2018. 61. The Independent Expert welcomes the project launched in September 2018 by the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development and the Education Above All Foundation. This project will focus on the most marginalized out-of-school children. Every effort should be made to promote access to quality education for marginalized children and help them regain a sense of normalcy in their lives. The project seeks to reach nearly 600,000 out-of-school children and to provide them with a quality primary education in a country where it is estimated that only 45 per cent of children finish primary school. IV. Conclusions and recommendations A. Conclusions 62. The security situation in the country’s central regions and in Timbuktu, Ménaka and Gao Regions has become worse. People live in fear as a result of incidents linked to intercommunal conflict, and the number of such incidents has increased significantly. The activities of extremist groups, the abuses committed by the security forces in the course of counter-terrorism operations and the levels of crime that prevail in these regions as a consequence of the absence of State institutions are a cause of concern for the Independent Expert. He has also received consistent reports that acts of sexual violence are on the rise in the prevailing climate of insecurity. The sluggish pace at which State authority is being restored in the centre and north of the country continues to interfere with the protection of the civilian population. Without the disarmament and demobilization of armed groups and a policy for fighting poverty, the situation in northern and central Mali will not improve. GE.19-00939 13