8 out of 10 indigenous children in Mexico live in poverty

Eight out of ten indigenous children in Mexico live in poverty, compelling the government to take action while ensuring the children retain their cultural identity, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) said Saturday.

The largest percentage of Mexico's 4.7 million minors living in extreme poverty is represented by children and teenagers from indigenous communities, said the CNDH.

Mexico has around 40 million children and teenagers and out of this number, almost half of them live in poverty or extreme poverty, the CNDH said, citing figures from a joint report with the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL) and the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

"78.6 percent of girls, boys and teenagers from indigenous homes and 90.8 percent of them that speak an indigenous language are living in poverty," said the national ombudsman's office.

As part of the activities for Mexico's Children's Day on April 30, the CNDH asked authorities to use short-, medium- and long-term measures that could yield better services and opportunities so that the children can tap their full potential.

"It is necessary to recognize that inequality, inequity, poverty, discrimination, violence, exploitation and forced labor predominate in the reality of minors," the CNDH said.

Mexico's 21 million poor children lack one or more social rights such as access to food, education, health or housing with basic services, according to the human rights organization.

In Mexico, there are around 11.1 million indigenous members from 62 ethnic groups which are mainly found in 10 states in the center, south and southeast of the Latin American country, according to the United Nations.

The indigenous populations make up a little more than nine percent of the country's 119 million inhabitants, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography. Endi