News from Survival International

Awá woman’s death highlights government neglect

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:01:00 +0100

Ajrua Awá's death is a huge loss to her community

An Awá woman has died of an easily treatable disease, despite the Brazilian government receiving funds from a mining company for the tribe’s care.

Ajrua Awá was 40 years of age and the mother of five children, the youngest 10 years old. Her death is a huge loss to her community of Awá Indians, which numbers just over 160 people.

She died earlier this month of leishmaniasis, a disease which is easily treatable with adequate health care. Brazilian indigenous rights organization CIMI reported that she had been suffering from symptoms for over a month.

Many Awá died from common diseases when their lands were opened up in the 1970s for the Great Carajás Program, which included the construction of the world’s largest iron ore mine.

Many other Awá were killed by colonists who flooded into their territory in the wake of the scheme; in some cases, entire families were massacred.

Vale, the mining company responsible for the project, has provided substantial funding to the Brazilian government to support its work with the Awá. However, very little of this money is benefiting the tribe.

The company is now planning to expand its railway line which links the mine to the coast and runs past Awá land, without the consent of the Indians.

The Awá are now Earth’s most threatened tribe as their total population stands at just 450, and their lands are invaded by waves of illegal loggers, settlers and ranchers. They are one of Brazil’s last remaining nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes, and they depend completely on their forest for their survival.

Experts have warned the Awá face genocide and extinction.

Survival is calling for a proper investigation into Ajrua’s death, for a comprehensive health care program for the Awá, and for the invaders to be removed from Awá lands before more lives are lost.

Guatemala’s former dictator convicted of genocide

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:03:11 +0100

Thousands of indigenous people in Guatemala were tortured or killed during the military dictatorship of José Efrain Ríos Montt.

A former general who presided over a reign of terror in Guatemala during the 1980s has been convicted of genocide.

During the military dictatorship of José Efrain Ríos Montt, around 200,000 people, almost all of them members of Guatemala’s indigenous population, were killed or disappeared.

When he seized power in 1982 with a promise to restore ‘authentic democracy’, the country was already in the midst of a brutal civil war, with left-wing guerrillas launching attacks against the military regime from their bases in the countryside.

Ríos Montt’s response was to order a new military offensive against alleged guerrilla strongholds in the highlands.

At least 100,000 Indians, mostly Maya speakers, fled to Mexico, whilst thousands of indigenous men, women and children in the northwest highlands of Guatemala were tortured or killed, their villages and crops destroyed, their water supplies poisoned and their forests burned.

In 1983 Survival released its report ‘Witness to genocide’, after interviewing Guatemalan refugees along the border with Mexico. The testimonies gathered in it provide a harrowing glimpse into the terrors visited upon hundreds of villages during that time.

Survival’s researchers interviewed one 30-year old woman, for example, from the province of Huehuetenango. As described in the report, ‘At 6am on May 6th 1982, about one hundred soldiers whom she could identify by their camouflage suits and pistols, arrived on foot in her village and surrounded it. Villagers then were robbed of their clothes and money, and their houses were burned. Many were hacked, beaten and shot to death. She alone saw soldiers kill fifteen people, as she stood twenty-five meters away. She was raped. Her husband and brothers were killed inside their house. Shortly after this, she fled to Mexico.’

Ríos Montt has been sentenced to 80 years’ imprisonment. Presiding Judge Yassmin Barrios said he ‘knew what was happening and did not stop it, despite having the power to.’ His lawyers have said they will appeal.

Brazilian Indians forced to leave mega-dam site

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:58:29 +0100

Amazon Indians have been protesting against Belo Monte for years

The Brazilian authorities have evicted Indians from the Belo Monte dam site, where they were protesting for their land rights.

Representatives of eight tribes had been occupying the area, demanding that the government respect their right to their ancestral land and to be consulted about projects that will affect them, and that the construction be stopped immediately.

The government initially responded to the protest by preventing journalists, lawyers, and food entering the occupation site. A judge then ruled that the Indians could be forcefully removed.

Belo Monte is currently being built despite widespread opposition by thousands of indigenous people, who warn it will devastate their land and reduce fish stocks, a crucial part of their diet.

Its construction was illegally approved, without the consent of the local population.

The Indians, including representatives of the Kayapó, Arara, Juruna and Asurini tribes, have held numerous protests in recent years, and have stated that they will defend their lands against the project at all costs. They have warned that if the construction goes ahead, the Xingu river will become ‘a river of blood’.

In an open letter published on 2 May they declared ‘We are the people who live in the rivers where you want to build dams. We are the Munduruku, Juruna, Kayapó, Xipaya, Kuruaya, Asurini, Parakanã, Arara, fishermen and peoples who live in riverine communities. We are Amazonian peoples and we want the forest to stand. We are Brazilians. The river and the forest are our supermarket. Our ancestors are older than Jesus Christ.’

Landmark operation evicts illegal ranchers from Yanomami land

Fri, 10 May 2013 13:33:00 +0100

The Yanomami are celebrating the start of an operation to remove illegal ranchers from their land

The Brazilian authorities have begun an operation to remove eleven illegal ranches from the Yanomami territory in Brazil, and return the land to the Indians.

At least three of the ranches, in the region of Ajarani, have been closed down so far. They were reportedly operated by a Mr. Abrão Pires Mateus.

The operation is a result of intense lobbying and protests by the Yanomami organization in Brazil, Hutukara, pressure from the Public Ministry and an investigative expedition carried out by Indians and the Brazilian government’s indigenous affairs department, FUNAI.

The Yanomami land in Brazil was demarcated for the Indians’ exclusive use in 1992, in a landmark victory following the devastation brought to the tribe by the tens of thousands of goldminers who had previously invaded their land.

But illegal miners continue to operate in the area, polluting the rivers and threatening the lives of the uncontacted Yanomami, and the ranchers in Ajarani have illegally cut down parts of the Yanomami’s forest.

The Yanomami’s land is vital for their livelihood and survival. Davi Kopenawa, Yanomami shaman known as the ‘Dalai Lama of the Rainforest’ told Survival, ‘Our land has to be respected. Our land is our heritage, a heritage which protects us.’

The Yanomami are celebrating the start of this operation and pushing for the other ranches to be removed swiftly.

Survival has supported the Yanomami for decades, and is calling for the removal of all illegal invaders from their land in Brazil and Venezuela.

Awá's plight reaches top human rights watchdog

Tue, 07 May 2013 10:05:55 +0100

The Americas' leading human rights body has been called upon to save the Awá, Earth's most threatened tribe, from illegal invaders on their land.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the Americas’ leading human rights body, has received an urgent petition from Survival International and Brazilian indigenous rights organization CIMI to save Earth’s most threatened tribe.

The official submission calls on the IACHR to hold Brazil’s government to account for failing to remove hundreds of illegal invaders from the Awá’s land.

It says, ‘The Awá will not survive without their lands, which the State of Brazil has failed to take timely and effective measures to protect against the loggers, ranchers and settlers who continue to encroach upon them.’

The Awá are one of the last nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes in Brazil and live in a rapidly disappearing island of rainforest – over 30% of one of the Awá’s territories has already been cut down, and loggers are closing in on their communities.

The 450-strong tribe depends on the forest for survival. But the Awá report that hunting has become increasingly difficult as the game is disappearing, and they fear attacks by the armed loggers.

Loggers, settlers and ranchers have destroyed large areas of the Awá's forest.

Concern for the approximately 100 uncontacted Awá has also been growing. The uncontacted Awá are constantly on the run from the illegal invaders and face extinction if their forest disappears.

Tatu, an Awá man, told Survival, ‘There are uncontacted Indians nearby. My brother saw their abandoned huts. Might the loggers kill the uncontacted Indians? Let the uncontacted Indians stay there!’

More than 50,000 letters have been sent to Brazil’s Justice Minister since Survival launched its campaign to save the Awá one year ago. The government has since announced the Awá are a priority, but has taken little action.

Survival International’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘Brazil’s government must show that it really can protect its most vulnerable citizens, the Awá, from the crooks who are destroying the rainforest. If South America’s largest nation, one of the world’s fastest growing economies, hasn’t the strength to do this, then all minorities there should be worried. The Awá are threatened with extinction, the time for action is now.’

Notes to editors:

- Survival last submitted a petition to the IACHR in the 1980s to support its landmark campaign for Brazil’s Yanomami, who were facing an invasion of illegal goldminers on their land. The campaign successfully resulted in the demarcation and protection of the Yanomami’s territory.
- Download a summary of the main points of the submission to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (PDF, 47kb)
- The IACHR is an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States (OAS). Its stated function is to promote the observance and protection of human rights in the Americas.

Survival launches tourism boycott of India’s Andaman Islands

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 03:00:00 +0100

Still of video showing Jarawa girls forced to dance for tourists.

Survival International has today launched a tourism boycott of India’s Andaman Islands, until the degrading practice of ‘human safaris’ to the 400-strong Jarawa tribe is stopped.

The tribal rights organization is calling on the 200,000 tourists visiting the islands every year to stay away – until tourists are banned from the road through the Jarawa’s forest and an alternative sea route is put in place.

Survival has written to over 200 travel companies and websites in eleven countries urging them to stop their tours to the Andaman Islands, and will place ads targeted at tourists to discourage them from visiting the popular travel destination. Survival is also asking members of the public to pledge not to travel to the islands until the demands are met.

Hundreds of tourists from India and around the world travel along the illegal Andaman Trunk Road every day to ogle at members of the Jarawa tribe – treating them like animals in a safari park.

Survival has launched a tourism boycott of India's Andaman Islands until the 'human safaris' to the Jarawa are stopped.

When asked how he felt when outsiders took pictures of him, Enmai, a young Jarawa, said, ‘I don’t feel good. I don’t like it when they take photos from their vehicles.’

Earlier this year, India’s Supreme Court banned tourists from the road for seven weeks, reducing the traffic along the Andaman Trunk Road by two thirds. But the ban was lifted after the Islands’ authorities changed their own regulations in order to let the ‘human safaris’ continue.

The tours have been widely condemned both in India and around the world. India’s Minister for Tribal Affairs called them ‘disgraceful’ and ‘an embarrassment’, and last year, in response to a submission by Survival, the United Nations expressed their ‘deep concern’ about the ‘human safaris’ and called for the illegal road to be closed.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The Andaman government is arguing that the road is a necessary lifeline for the north of the islands. It’s nonsense: in fact there’s no reason for the road. The route by boat is faster, more convenient and cheaper for islanders, so providing an alternative sea route is better for locals, tourists, and the Jarawa alike. There will be no end to these degrading human safaris until tourists stop using the road, and we’ll continue the boycott until that happens.’

Note to editors:

- Download Survival International’s letter to travel companies (PDF, 1mb)
- Download the United Nations’ letter to India (PDF, 66kb)

'Lost' report exposes Brazilian Indian genocide

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 09:57:28 +0100

Umutima shaman in 1957. In 1969 most of the Umutima were wiped out by a flu epidemic.

A shocking report detailing horrific atrocities committed against Brazilian Indians in the 1940s, 50s and 60s has resurfaced – 45 years after it was mysteriously ‘destroyed’ in a fire.

The Figueiredo report was commissioned by the Minister of the Interior in 1967 and caused an international outcry after it revealed crimes against Brazil’s indigenous population at the hands of powerful landowners and the government’s own Indian Protection Service (SPI). The report led to the foundation of tribal rights organization Survival International two years later.

The 7,000-page document, compiled by public prosecutor Jader de Figueiredo Correia, detailed mass murder, torture, enslavement, bacteriological warfare, sexual abuse, land theft and neglect waged against Brazil’s indigenous population. Some tribes were completely wiped out as a result and many more were decimated.

The report was recently rediscovered in Brazil’s Museum of the Indian and will now be considered by Brazil’s National Truth Commission, which is investigating human rights violations which occurred between 1947 and 1988.

One of the many gruesome examples in the report describes the ‘massacre of the 11th parallel’, in which dynamite was thrown from a small plane onto the village of ‘Cinta Larga’ Indians below. Thirty Indians were killed – just two survived to tell the tale.

A Karajá couple with their baby, who has died of flu.

Other examples include the poisoning of hundreds of Indians with sugar laced with arsenic, and severe methods of torture such as slowly crushing the victims’ ankles with an instrument known as the ‘trunk’.

Figueiredo’s findings led to an international outcry. In a 1969 article ‘Genocide’ in the British Sunday Times based on the report, writer Norman Lewis wrote, ‘From fire and sword to arsenic and bullets – civilisation has sent six million Indians to extinction.’ The article moved a small group of concerned citizens to set up Survival International the same year.

As a result of the report, Brazil launched a judicial enquiry, and 134 officials were charged with over 1,000 crimes. Thirty-eight officials were dismissed, but no-one was ever jailed for the atrocities.

The SPI was subsequently disbanded and replaced by FUNAI, Brazil’s National Indian Foundation. But while large swathes of Indian land have since been demarcated and protected, Brazil’s tribes continue to battle the invasion and destruction of their lands by illegal loggers, ranchers and settlers and the loss of land from the government’s aggressive growth program which aims to construct dozens of large hydroelectric dams and open up large-scale mining in their territories.

Survival International’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The Figueiredo report makes gruesome reading, but in one way, nothing has changed: when it comes to the murder of Indians, impunity reigns. Gunmen routinely kill tribespeople in the knowledge that there’s little risk of being brought to justice – none of the assassins responsible for shooting Guarani and Makuxi tribal leaders have been jailed for their crimes. It’s hard not to suspect that racism and greed are at the root of Brazil’s failure to defend its indigenous citizens’ lives.’

Note to editors:

- Extracts from the report are available on request.

Photos available for download:

Umutima shaman in 1957. In 1969 most of the Umutima were wiped out by a flu epidemic.
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Credit: © José Idoyaga/Survival

Atrocities against the Cinta Larga tribe were exposed in the Figueiredo report. After shooting the head off her baby, the killers cut the mother in half.
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Credit: © Survival

A Karajá couple with their baby, who has died of flu.
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Credit: © Jesco von Puttkamer/ IGPA archive

Worldwide protests demand protection for Peru's uncontacted tribes

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:43:00 +0100

Protesters in London wearing gas masks and carrying placards to symbolize the lethal effects of the Camisea project on Peru's uncontacted tribes.

Survival International supporters held worldwide protests outside Peruvian embassies and consulates in London, San Francisco, Berlin, Madrid and Paris today, calling for an end to the deadly expansion of the Camisea gas project in Peru’s Amazon rainforest. Camisea threatens the lives of uncontacted Indians.

Protesters in London and Madrid, dressed as gas workers with masks and helmets, carried placards symbolizing the lethal effects of the Camisea project. The protesters handed oil canisters filled with the names of 120,000 people to the Peruvian embassies and consulates, asking Peru’s President to stop outsiders and companies from invading uncontacted tribes’ land.

Peru’s government is on the brink of approving a huge expansion of the notorious Camisea gas project which would penetrate further into the Nahua-Nanti Reserve, home to several uncontacted and isolated tribes.

Protesters called for an end to the expansion of the Camisea gas project.

Camisea already lies in the heart of the Nahua-Nanti Reserve, which is the buffer zone to the Manu National Park, considered by UNESCO to be ‘the most biodiverse place on earth’. It is Peru’s largest gas project, and is run by Argentina’s Pluspetrol, US’s Hunt Oil and Spain’s Repsol.

The UN recently called for the ‘immediate suspension’ of the Camisea expansion over the risk it represents to the lives of uncontacted tribes living nearby.

Uncontacted Indians are extremely vulnerable to diseases brought in by outsiders – initial exploration in the Camisea block in the 1980s led to the deaths of half the Nahua tribe.

The expansion of the Camisea gas projects would threaten the lives of uncontacted tribes in the Nahua-Nanti Reserve.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The UN wants to suspend the Camisea expansion. Thousands of people worldwide are against it. International law prohibits it. So why is this lethal project still on the cards? Not only is the government putting its reputation in jeopardy, it’s guilty of breaking international law.

Note to editors:

- The protest in San Francisco, California, will be held later today at 9am PST.
- Download the letter handed to the Peruvian embassies and consulates (pdf, 882 KB).
- High resolution images of the worldwide protests will be available for download here:

Protesters in London wearing gas masks and carrying placards to symbolize the lethal effects of the Camisea project on Peru's uncontacted tribes.
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Credit: © Survival

Protesters in Madrid wearing helmets and carrying placards to symbolize the lethal effects of the Camisea project on Peru's uncontacted tribes.
Download hi-res image
Credit: © Survival

Protesters in Berlin wearing masks and helmets to symbolize the lethal effects of the Camisea project on Peru's uncontacted tribes.
Download hi-res image
Credit: © Survival

Protesters in Paris were carrying placards to symbolize the lethal effects of the Camisea project on Peru's uncontacted tribes.
Download hi-res image
Credit: © Survival

Protesters in London wearing gas masks and carrying placards to symbolize the lethal effects of the Camisea project on Peru's uncontacted tribes.
Download hi-res image
Credit: © Survival

In Paris the Jummas from Bangladesh showed their solidarity with Peru's uncontacted tribes.
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Credit: © Survival

Protesters in London carrying placards to symbolize the lethal effects of the Camisea project on Peru's uncontacted tribes.
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Credit: © Survival

Protesters in London handed in a petition to ask Peru's President to protect uncontacted tribes from invaders on their land.
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Credit: © Survival

Protesters in San Francisco were carrying placards to symbolize the lethal effects of the Camisea project on Peru's uncontacted tribes.
Download hi-res image
Credit: © Survival

Indonesian military ‘development’ program spreads fear in West Papua

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:55:58 +0100

The military presence in West Papua is almost always accompanied by human rights violations such as killings, arbitrary arrests, rape and torture.

Papuan leaders have voiced their concern at plans for more than a thousand Indonesian soldiers to build 1,500 km of new roads in the next two years to accelerate ‘development’ in West Papua.

The government claims that unrest in the region is caused by a lack of ‘development’, while Papuans blame their problems on the violation of their political and human rights. Survival International and many Papuans fear that the influx of soldiers will bring neither development nor peace to the region.

One Papuan leader, Rev Socratez Yoman, told Survival, ‘The West Papuans do not need big roads, but a better life on their own land, without intimidation, terror, abuses and killings’.

Another leader, Markus Haluk, warned that the roads would open up the forests to illegal logging, much of it likely to be at the hands of the military.

The military presence in West Papua is almost always accompanied by human rights violations such as killings, arbitrary arrests, rape and torture.

So-called ‘development’ has already inflicted enormous damage to the Papuan people. Despite the presence of the world’s biggest gold mine, West Papua remains the poorest region in Indonesia with an HIV/AIDS rate thought to be 20 times higher than the rest of the country. Many of the cases of HIV/AIDS can be traced back to the commercial sex industry, which has accompanied the arrival of migrant workers in the fishing, logging and mining industries.

Many Papuans believe that the military have a vested interest in introducing HIV/AIDS in West Papua and see it as an attempt at ethnic cleansing. In some areas the military have supplied alcohol and prostitutes to bribe tribal leaders in order to gain access to their land and its resources. The disease is devastating some tribes. Rates are especially high in areas where so-called ‘development’ has already taken place, such as close to the US- and British-owned Grasberg mine.

Survival International is calling on the government of Indonesia to end human rights violations in West Papua and to enter into meaningful talks with the Papuan people so they are able to decide their own way of life, their own development priorities and their own future.

For more information about the impact of imposing ‘development’ on tribal people see Survival’s campaign Progress Can Kill.

Brazilian Indians occupy Congress in land protest

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:57:00 +0100

Brazilian Indians protest in Congress against constitutional amendments

As Brazil marks its annual ‘Day of the Indian’ today, hundreds of Brazilian Indians of various tribes invaded and occupied part of the country’s Congress this week, to protest at attempts to change the law regarding their land rights.

The Indians are outraged about a proposed constitutional amendment that would weaken their hold on their territories. They fear that ‘PEC 215’, by giving Congress power in the demarcation process, will cause further delays and obstacles to the recognition and protection of their ancestral land.

The Indians say they will not stop protesting until the planned amendment is scrapped.

Alongside Directive 303, amendment 215 is a result of pressure by Brazil’s powerful rural lobby group which includes many politicians who own ranches on indigenous land.

It could spell disaster for thousands of indigenous peoples who are waiting for the government to fulfil its legal duty to map out their lands.

Whilst Brazil’s sugar-cane industry booms, benefitting from plantations on indigenous land, the Guarani Indians of Mato Grosso do Sul suffer from malnutrition, violence, murder and one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Guarani spokesman Tonico Benites explains, ‘Guarani suicide is happening and increasing as a result of the delay in identifying and demarcating our ancestral land’.

Elsewhere in the country, indigenous peoples are fighting for their land to be protected from waves of invasions at the hands of loggers, ranchers, miners and settlers. The Awá Indians in the north-eastern Amazon are now Earth’s most threatened tribe. The uncontacted Awá will not survive unless action is taken now to protect their forest.

Yesterday, the Yanomami association Hutukara organized a demonstration of about 400 Yanomami in Ajarani, in the eastern part of their territory. This area has been occupied by cattle ranchers for decades. Despite a court order to leave, they have refused to do so.

Hutukara’s vice-president Maurício Ye’kuana said, ‘The presence of the ranchers in the region has caused huge harm to the indigenous people and to the environment, such as deforestation and burning of the forest. We want an end to this.’

Meanwhile Munduruku Indians have been protesting for months against the proposal to build a series of hydro-electric dams along the Tapajós, a large tributary of the Amazon.

Last month the military and police launched ‘Operation Tapajós’ in an attempt to stamp out the Indians’ protests against the arrival of technical teams surveying the area for the first dam, São Luis do Tapajós.

On 16 April a federal judge ordered that this operation be suspended, and that the Indians and other affected communities be consulted before technical studies are carried out. The judge also ruled that an environmental impact assessment should be carried out on the cumulative impact of all the dams planned for the Tapajós.

Worldwide protests to stop Amazon gas project expansion

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:59:00 +0100

Protesters will carry placards symbolizing the lethal effects of the Camisea project on Peru's uncontacted tribes.

Survival International supporters will protest outside Peruvian embassies and consulates around the world on April 23rd to call for an end to the deadly expansion of the Camisea gas project in Peru’s Amazon rainforest, which puts the lives of uncontacted Indians at risk.

Protesters will carry placards and gas masks symbolizing the lethal effects of the Camisea project on uncontacted tribes in the area, and will hand a petition to Peruvian embassies and consulates in London, San Francisco, Berlin, Madrid and Paris.

The urgent petition asks Peru’s President to stop outsiders and companies from invading uncontacted tribes’ land, and has been signed by over 120,000 people around the world.

Uncontacted Indians are extremely vulnerable to diseases brought in by outsiders – initial exploration in the Camisea block in the 1980s led to the deaths of half the Nahua tribe.

Half of the Nahua tribe was wiped out after their land was opened up for oil exploration in the 1980s.

Camisea lies in the heart of the Nahua-Nanti Reserve for several uncontacted and isolated tribes, and is the buffer zone to the Manu National Park, considered by UNESCO to be ‘the most biodiverse place on earth’. It is Peru’s largest gas project, and is run by Argentina’s Pluspetrol, US’s Hunt Oil and Spain’s Repsol.

Now Peru’s Ministry of Energy is set to approve a massive expansion of the project, despite a UN call for the ‘immediate suspension’ of the work, that is likely to prove devastating for the tribes.

Apart from the risks of diseases from first contact, the gas work also threatens to destroy the forest and scare away the game on which the uncontacted Indians depend for survival.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘Expanding the Camisea project deep into the territory of uncontacted Indians is a reckless and incredibly irresponsible thing to do. The UN has called for the plan to be scrapped – I hope Peru’s government has the sense to listen.’

Note to editors:

- The protests will be held on Tuesday, April 23, outside the Peruvian embassy in London (52 Sloane Street, London SW1 9SP) at 9.30am (GMT+1); and outside the Peruvian Consulate in San Francisco (870 Market Street, Suite 1067, San Francisco, California 94102) at 9am (PST).

- Further protests will be held in Paris, Berlin and Madrid.

Ban upheld: Avatar tribe ‘to decide’ future of Vedanta mine

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:10:49 +0100

India's Supreme Court has recognized the Dongria Kondh's right to worship their sacred mountain in a landmark decision.

In a landmark ruling, the Indian Supreme Court today rejected an appeal to allow Vedanta Resources to mine the Niyamgiri hills. In a complex judgement, the court decreed that those most affected by the proposed mine should have a decisive say in whether it goes ahead.

The court recognized that the Dongria Kondh’s right to worship their sacred mountain must be ‘protected and preserved’, and that those with religious and cultural rights must be heard in the decision-making process. The tribe now has three months to decide whether to allow mining of their sacred hills, but there are serious concerns over the pressures that might be heaped on the community during this crucial time.

The Dongria’s determined fight against the FTSE 100 mining company has been likened to the story of ‘Avatar’ and has won them the support of celebrities. British actress Joanna Lumley said today, ‘It is wonderful to see justice finally prevail. For the court to allow the mine would have been unthinkable – the evidence against the mine was so strong.’

The decision deals a blow both to billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta and to the state-owned Odisha Mining Corporation, which brought the appeal and supported Vedanta’s mine from the beginning.

The Dongria reasserted their pledge not to leave the Niyamgiri hills at their annual festival in February.

Final clearance for the mine was blocked by India’s Environment Minister in 2010. Until recently, however, Vedanta had kept its refinery at the bottom of the hill in operation. The refinery was closed in December 2012 due to a lack of bauxite to supply the facility.

Opposition to the mine has been vocal across the Indian state of Odisha. Thousands of protesters joined a ‘rally of defiance’ last December and hundreds of Dongria reasserted their pledge not to leave the Niyamgiri hills at their annual festival in February. The project has also come under attack from the Norwegian and British governments, the Church of England, and many others, resulting in several shareholders disinvesting from Vedanta.

At a time when the central government has been reported to want to water down tribal rights, this judgement will be seen as upholding the rights of the Dongria and all of India’s tribal peoples.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said, ‘This is a huge relief, and shows that companies like Vedanta are not all-powerful: local and global campaigning really does work. Companies and governments worldwide should sit up and take notice – Vedanta has learned the hard way that the days of stealing tribal land with impunity are over. The Dongria have consistently and passionately said no to Vedanta’s mine. Let us hope that they have the final say. It is essential that they are protected from harassment and intimidation at this critical time and that, when it is made, their decision is respected by Vedanta and the government.’