A/HRC/10/59 page 8 logging activities of private actors or corruption cases. Finally, human rights defenders encounter illegitimate restrictions of the exercise of their rights to freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association that are not in line with international obligations or the Constitution. 20. While the country has a wealth of natural resources and arable land, little progress has been made to ensure the enjoyment of economic and social rights, such as the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of health or to education, including free primary education, by the large majority of Congolese. The disastrous impact of more than a decade of armed conflicts and the burden of the external debt as well as bad governance and pervasive corruption in the public and private sectors are among the root causes of this situation. The health system is in a dire state and, due to user fees, not accessible to the poorest sectors of society, which results in maternal and infant mortality rates that are among the highest in the world. This sector requires the sustained support of the international community. The global food price crisis further compounds the grave situation. The high rates of severe malnutrition among groups in a vulnerable situation, especially the poor, women and children, have made them more susceptible to infectious diseases. A particular challenge, also affecting human rights, is the drastic fall in world market prices for certain minerals mined in the DRC, which presently affects employment and livelihood options for hundreds of thousands in resource-rich provinces such as Katanga. The BaTwa (often referred to as “Pygmies”) and other forest dependent peoples remain totally marginalized. 21. Violence against women, rooted in serious gender inequality, is pervasive and an issue of particular concern. During her official visit to the DRC in July 2007, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women noted that women living in areas of conflict continue suffering extreme levels of sexual violence, committed by FARDC, PNC, armed groups and increasingly also civilians.3 Perhaps even more worrying, violence against women remains rampant throughout the country even where war has ended.4 In Equateur Province for example, PNC and FARDC have carried out systematic reprisals against civilians, including mass rape, but most perpetrators enjoy impunity. Women survivors of rape have suffered severe physical and psychological injuries, but lack sufficient care. Survivors are often socially stigmatized and live in extreme poverty. B. Review of the human rights situation in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo 22. Those of the seven thematic special procedures, who carried out individual fact-finding visits in 2007 and early 2008, all concluded that the situation in the areas affected or threatened by armed conflict was particularly grave. Since the outbreak of major hostilities in August and September 2008, the situation in the east of the DRC, in particular the Kivus and Province Orientale, has further deteriorated. Systematic and gross violations of the human rights of civilians and grave breaches of international humanitarian law are taking place. 3 A/HRC/7/6/Add.4. 4 Ibid., paras. 37 ff.