A/HRC/22/33 high level of poverty, the population’s limited access to basic social services and the inequitable distribution of national wealth, particularly from natural resources. 16. Malian society is also characterized by a high level of corruption, lack of independence of the judiciary, and by a number of “discriminatory and harmful cultural practices”6 that are detrimental to the enjoyment of the rights of the child and women. Early marriages, unequal access to education for girls and boys, female genital mutilation and the taboo on sexual violence against women and girls are symptomatic of a society where women’s rights remain largely ignored, especially in rural areas. 17. In addition, discrimination against certain ethnic and social groups continues, especially in some Tuareg communities that have a caste system and where slavery is still a widespread practice. This is particularly the case for the Bella people. Moreover, identity claims over the course of history have fostered intercommunity tensions. V. Human rights situation in the north of the country following the events of 17 January 2012 A. The right to life: extrajudicial and summary executions 18. Numerous allegations of violations of the right to life have been reported, including extrajudicial killings and summary executions. Apparently such violations have been committed since the first attacks in January 2012 carried out by MNLA in the north of the country and subsequently by other armed groups. 19. The Mission was informed that in Aguelhok, armed combatants identified as belonging to MNLA, entered the town on 24 January 2012 and started firing at random. When they reached the Teacher Training Institute, they terrorized pupils and students and used them as human shields to attack the neighbouring military camp, forcing the soldiers to surrender. The assailants reportedly captured 153 soldiers and tied their arms behind their backs. Some 84 men (military estimate) had their throats slit or were executed with a bullet fired into the back of their head. Students at the Institute witnessed this massacre; the armed group Ansar Dine also claimed that it carried out the attack. 20. Reprisals against Tuareg soldiers in the national army and members of their families were carried out at the beginning of the conflict. In particular, an incident allegedly took place on 4 February 2012 in which nine Tuareg soldiers of the Timbuktu National Guard were hunted down. Seven of them were executed by soldiers in retaliation for the MNLA offensive. However, such information has not yet been confirmed by Malian military sources. 21. In Gao, in early April 2012, armed groups, including MNLA, looted the warehouses of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the World Food Programme (WFP), killing several people who refused to obey orders. On that occasion, a 70-year-old man and a 15-year-old child were killed by bullets. In a second ICRC warehouse, a woman was killed in the same conditions. The Mission was also apprised that during the looting of the WFP warehouses, a young Tamashek woman, who had resisted a rape attempt by armed men, was shot dead by her assailants. The Mission was also informed of the murder of Mr. Idrissa Oumarou, a municipal councillor in Gao, on the night of 25 June 2012. 6 GE.13-10067 A/HRC/8/50, recommendation No. 5. 9