A/HRC/7/66 page 8 politicians, and by the unusually long delays in court trials. The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs, the national entity responsible for taking the lead on such matters, lacks capacity and is hamstrung by the Government’s inadequate budgetary allocation for women’s empowerment programmes. The Peacebuilding Fund is providing support for capacity-building of family support units and the Ministry. E. Refugees 19. As at 15 October 2007, there were 9,947 refugees, all of whom except for 57 were Liberians. Refugees are hosted in eight camps located in the south-western part of the country in Bo and Kenema Districts and Freetown. It is expected that, by the end of 2007, 200 refugees will be resettled in third countries, mainly Canada, Australia and the United States of America. Education and health care for refugees are now mainstreamed in the Government system. Refugees are granted the same right to education as the Sierra Leoneans. One-time support was provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the form of payment of tuition fee for students in colleges up to June 2006. The direct health support provided by UNHCR was phased out in September 2007. 20. The main challenge for Sierra Leone, as a host country, is posed by refugees who neither want to stay in Sierra Leone nor have opted for voluntary repatriation and who only want to be resettled in a western country. The underlying reason is the level of poverty in Sierra Leone and the obstacles in receiving work permits. However, tolerated by the Government, many refugees are working in the private sector. F. Economic, social and cultural rights 21. In its Human Development Report for 2007-2008, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ranked Sierra Leone last of 177 countries based on life expectancy, adult literacy, combined gross enrolment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary education and gross domestic product per capita. In 1976, Sierra Leone was ranked among the last countries (176 of 177), a clear indication that the chances of Sierra Leone achieving the Millennium Development Goals are getting slimmer. 22. The Sierra Leone Human Development Report 2007 focused on empowering local government for sustainable human development and poverty reduction. The report highlighted the challenges faced by Sierra Leone, including limited social services, environmental problems, gender inequity, lack of empowerment of the population, population growth, rising unemployment and increasing poverty. The year 2007 saw an ongoing lack of basic social services, such as safe drinking water, health-care services and educational facilities. 23. Violations of human rights associated with mining activities persisted in Kono District. Implementation of a housing project by Koidu Holding Limited to provide alternative housing facilities for property owners affected by company mining operations is slow, in spite of the increasing advocacy by civil society organizations. A peaceful demonstration by affected property owners on 23 November against Koidu Holding Limited owing to the delay in the implementation of the housing project and the persistent human rights violations ended in a riot, during which two people were killed. The Government has since halted the operations of the company and launched an investigation.