News from Survival International

Nomad tribe emerges from forest to prove its existence

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:52:33 +0100

Karapiru, an Awá man who survived the massacre of his family by gunmen.
© Fiona Watson/Survival

Indians from the tiny Awá tribe will stage a three day protest in the Brazilian Amazon from August 1st to 3rd, to prove that they exist and to demand that their land be protected from invasion.

The event, named ‘We Exist: Land and Life for the Awá Hunter-Gatherers’, has been organized by Brazilian indigenous rights organization, CIMI, the local Catholic church and several indigenous groups.

Around 100 Awá Indians are expected to participate in the protest. For most, it will be the first time they have left their forest home.

The protest will take place in Ze Doca, a town near the Awá’s land in Maranhão state in the eastern Amazon. It is in response to remarks by the local mayor’s office denying that the Awá exist.

The Awá are one of only two nomadic hunter gatherers tribes remaining in Brazil. More than 60 Awá have no contact with outsiders and are in grave danger from illegal loggers.

Although Awá lands have been legally recognized, the Indians are being targeted by loggers, who are bulldozing roads into the forests, and by settlers, who hunt the game the Awá rely on, exposing the Indians to disease and violence.

A federal judge ruled in June 2009 that all invaders must leave the Awá territory within 180 days. However, the ruling has since been suspended, and deforestation and invasions are increasing.

Stephen Corry, Director of Survival, said today, ‘Denying the existence of indigenous peoples is self-fulfilling and belongs to the colonial past. It’s also a crime: deny they exist and they won’t exist, they’ll disappear like so many Brazilian tribes before them. If Brazil wants to be viewed as a leading nation, the authorities must no longer tolerate violations like this.’

Survival’s Research and Field Director Fiona Watson, who has visited the Awá, is available for interview.

Avatar’s Na’vi in London to stop Vedanta mine

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:08:00 +0100

Two Na’vi protested outside Vedanta’s AGM.
© Survival

Two Na’vi from James Cameron’s film Avatar today paid a visit to British mining company Vedanta Resources’ Annual General Meeting in Westminster, London.

The Na’vi joined tribal rights organization Survival in a demonstration against Vedanta, over its controversial plan to mine the sacred mountain of India’s Dongria Kondh tribe.

Martin Horwood MP, Chair of the all-party parliamentary group for tribal peoples, also attended the AGM, whilst former Monty Python star Michael Palin sent a message of support: ‘I’ve been to the Nyamgiri Hills in Orissa and seen the forces of money and power that Vedanta Resources have arrayed against a people who have occupied their land for thousands of years, who husband the forest sustainably and make no great demands on the state or the government. The tribe I visited simply want to carry on living in the villages that they and their ancestors have always lived in.’

Vedanta’s AGM was the same day that British Prime Minister David Cameron met Indian PM Dr. Manmohan Singh. Martin Horwood MP wrote to David Cameron urging him to raise the issue of the plight of the Dongria Kondh at the meeting.

The Dongria Kondh tribe have been described as ‘the real Avatar tribe’ because their plight closely parallels that of the aliens in James Cameron’s blockbuster.

Vedanta Resources is majority-owned by billionaire Mayfair resident Anil Agarwal.

In the past month Vedanta has suffered three major blows to its mining plans. India’s Environment and Forests Minister ordered an investigation into the Dongria’s rights to their forest; the Chief Secretary of Odisha state ordered a separate probe on the same topic; and leading Dutch investment firm PGGM announced it had sold its stake in Vedanta over human rights concerns.

Previous shareholders who have sold their stake include the Norwegian government, the Church of England and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Download photos of the demonstration at Vedanta’s AGM (more photos will be available shortly):

Two Na’vi protested outside Vedanta’s AGM.
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Credit: © Survival

The Dongria Kondh’s plight closely parallels that of the Na’vi from Avatar.
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Credit: © Survival

Two Na’vi protested outside Vedanta’s AGM.
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Credit: © Survival

Vedanta’s CEO was confronted by a large number of protesters from various NGOs.
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Credit: © Survival

Indians hold construction workers hostage at Amazon dam site

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:01:56 +0100

A dam being built in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest.
© Survival

Brazilian Indians are occupying the site of a hydroelectric plant, demanding that they be compensated for the damage caused to them by the dam, that their land rights be upheld and that no more harmful dams be built in the region.

Around 300 Indians from eleven tribes, including about 50 Enawene Nawe Indians, arrived Sunday at the site of the Dardanelos dam in Mato Grosso state in the Amazon, and more Indians are continuing to join the group.

100 construction workers were held hostage at the construction site on Sunday. The protesters have since allowed the workers to leave, with several company officials taking their place. According to reports, nobody has been injured.

The Indians say the dam is being built on a sacred ancient burial ground.

An Enawene Nawe spokesman told Survival, ‘We joined the protest to raise awareness about the damage the dams cause, about the recognition of our land and the dangers of future projects like this’.

77 small hydroelectric dams are planned for the Juruena River, upstream of the Enawene Nawe’s land. Five are already under construction.

Another series of dams is planned for the Aripuanã river, including the Dardanelos dam – the site of the protest- which will affect the Cinta Larga and Arara tribes.

The Indians were not consulted about the projects before they started, and their livelihoods are now threatened.

The Enawene Nawe say that the dams are polluting the river water and killing the fish. This is preventing the Enawene Nawe from performing yãkwa, an important ritual in which they build intricate dams across the smaller rivers and trap fish in large baskets.

This year and last year the Indians caught almost no fish, a disaster for the tribe, for whom fish is a vital part of their diet. The government had to bring tons of farmed fish to the tribe.

The Indians are urging that they be fairly compensated for the damage already incurred by the dams, that their lands be mapped out and protected as a matter of urgency, and that no more dams be built without the Indians’ approval.

Earlier this month, Enawene Nawe and other Indians protested against the dams in the Amazon town of Sapezal.

Sarawak’s Chief Minister faces UK protesters over Penan

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:47:00 +0100

Chief Minister Taib Mahmud was met by demonstrators protesting at the destruction of the Penan's rainforest.
© Survival

Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud faced protests by supporters of the Penan in the UK today, while British MPs have written to him expressing concern over the newly documented cases of sexual abuse of Penan women.

Protestors from Survival and other organizations greeted the Chief Minister in Oxford this morning, where he had travelled with cabinet colleagues to give the keynote speech at the Inaugural Oxford Global Islamic Branding and Marketing Forum. The protestors held placards reading ‘Penan tribe say NO to logging’ and ‘Malaysia: Stop destroying the Penan tribe’. The protest forced the Chief Minister to enter the building through a side entrance.

The chairman of the British parliament’s All Party Parliamentary Group for Tribal peoples, MP Martin Horwood, has written to Taib Mahmud on the occasion of the Chief Minister’s visit to the UK. ‘The Penan have frequently been subject to violence and intimidation at the hands of loggers operating on their land… Without recognition of their land rights, the Penan are struggling to provide for themselves, and are left vulnerable to violence and exploitation’.

Mr Horwood urged the Chief Minister to ‘halt logging and other developments on the Penan’s land without their free, prior and informed consent, according to international law’ and to ‘ensure that Penan women and girls are protected from sexual violence and the perpetrators of such abuse brought to justice’.

Download a copy of the All Party Parliamentary Group’s letter to the Chief Minister

Download photos of the Oxford demonstration:

Chief Minister Taib Mahmud was met by demonstrators protesting at the destruction of the Penan's rainforest.
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Credit: © Survival

Michael Palin sends message to support Dongria Kondh

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:55:00 +0100

Michael Palin
© John Swannell

Actor, presenter and explorer Michael Palin has sent a message in support of the Dongria Kondh tribe of India, who are resisting a mine on their land by FTSE 100 company Vedanta Resources.

In a statement, Michael Palin said, ‘I’ve been to the Nyamgiri Hills in Orissa and seen the forces of money and power that Vedanta Resources have arrayed against a people who have occupied their land for thousands of years, who husband the forest sustainably and make no great demands on the state or the government. The tribe I visited simply want to carry on living in the villages that they and their ancestors have always lived in.’

On July 28th, Vedanta’s Annual General Meeting in London will be attended by protestors from Survival International and other groups keen to draw shareholders’ attention to Vedanta’s human rights and environmental record.

PIRC, the shareholder lobby group, have announced that they are urging shareholders to vote against re-electing three of the company’s directors on human rights, safety and environmental grounds.

Last chance for Palawan tribe to stop mining

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:00:00 +0100

The impact of nickel mining in the concession of Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation (RTNMC).
© Dario Novellino

The Palawan tribe of the Philippines have one more chance to stop companies from mining on their land. A government panel meeting on July 30th will decide whether or not to give the go-ahead to two companies who have applied to mine on their territory, which is also a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Last month, 600 indigenous people and farmers held a rally, calling on the provincial government to prevent two companies, Macro Asia and Ipilan Nickel Mining Corporation (INC), from mining nickel on their land. As a result of these protests the provincial government agreed to freeze the mining applications pending further investigation.

The Palawan provincial government has now endorsed both companies’ mining plans, despite the protests by the indigenous land owners and those objecting to the idea of mining inside a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

The final step in the approval process for the mining applications will take place at a meeting of a statutory panel known as the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development at the end of July.

Maman Tuwa, a Palawan elder, fears that mining will destroy his community. ‘If our mountains are deforested, how are we going to survive? What are we going to plant if the soil of the uplands will be washed down to the lowlands? How are we going to feed our children? We’ll surely die.’

Outrage as Botswana Bushmen denied access to water

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:32:00 +0100

Today's ruling is a blow to the Bushmen. Xoroxloo Duxee died of dehydration in 2005.
© Survival

There was outrage today as Botswana’s High Court denied the Kalahari Bushmen access to water.

The Judge ruled that the Bushmen were not entitled to access an existing water borehole on their lands or to drill a new one inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, one of the driest regions in the world. The hearing of the case was held on June 9, but the judge reserved his ruling until today.

The ruling is a blow to the Bushmen who have struggled without water since 2002 when the Botswana government sealed and capped a borehole to drive them out of the reserve. In 2006, the forced evictions of the Bushmen were declared illegal and unconstitutional by the High Court, and hundreds have since returned to their lands.

Despite the ruling, the government banned the Bushmen from re-commissioning the borehole, leaving them to face what the UN’s top official on indigenous peoples, James Anaya, described as, ‘harsh and dangerous conditions due to a lack of access to water’. At the same time, Wilderness Safaris opened a luxury tourist lodge, complete with bar and swimming pool, on Bushman land; the government drilled new boreholes in the reserve to provide water for wildlife with funding from the Tiffany & Co Foundation; and Gem Diamonds was given environmental clearance to mine in the reserve on condition the Bushmen could not use any of its water.

Bushmen are also being prevented from bringing water to their relatives inside the reserve.

Bushman spokesman, Jumanda Gakelebone, said, ‘This is very bad. If we don’t have water, how are we expected to live? The court gave us our land, but without the borehole, without water, our lives are difficult.’

Survival’s director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘In the last ten years Botswana has become one of the harshest places in the world for indigenous peoples. If Bushmen are to be denied water on their lands when it is freely provided for tourists, animals, and diamond mines, then foreigners should be asked if they really want to support this regime with their visits and jewellery shopping.’

Note to editors: the Bushmen’s lawyer is available for interview.

Report reveals rape of tribeswomen by loggers

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:33:33 +0100

The Penan's forests have been devastated by loggers
© Andy and Nick Rain/Survival

A new report has exposed an ‘environment of violence’ against tribeswomen in Borneo. According to the report, released by a coalition of Malaysian human rights groups called the Penan Support Group, there have been repeated cases of rape and sexual assault against Penan women by the loggers who are destroying the tribe’s forests.

They follow allegations by other Penan women in 2008, which the Malaysian government denied but was later forced to confirm.

The report condemns the Malaysian government for giving lucrative logging concessions on Penan land to ‘private companies closely tied to the state government’, resulting in ‘dispossession, destruction, dislocation and impoverishment’ and an ‘environment of violence’ which leaves Penan women and girls ‘highly vulnerable’.

The Sarawak state government has licensed the Penan’s land to logging and plantation companies that have devastated the rainforests the tribe rely on.

The Malaysian Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development has refuted the new allegations. The Chief Minister of Sarawak also denied the previous allegations of rape, saying they were ‘lies’ and an attempt at ‘sabotage’. A government investigation later confirmed that the women’s claims were true.

Officials have continued to dismiss the issue. When the BBC confronted Sarawak’s Minister for Land Development with the statement of a teenage Penan rape victim, he said, ‘They change their stories, and when they feel like it. That’s why I say the Penan are very good storytellers.’

Survival’s director Stephen Corry said today, ‘Logging has brought the Penan nothing but abuse, with rape, violence and hunger now commonplace. For the government to react by calling them ‘storytellers’, and pretending all this is ‘progress’ is appalling.’

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is due to visit some Penan villages on July 22.

Download the Penan Support Group’s report

Bushmen prevented from bringing water into one of world’s driest regions

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:18:22 +0100

Authorities in Botswana are preventing Kalahari Bushmen from bringing water to their relatives in one of the driest places on earth.

The move suggests the government is stepping up its long-running campaign to force the Bushmen out of their ancestral homeland and into government resettlement camps.

Wildlife scouts have told Bushmen attempting to bring water into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) for their hard- pressed relatives that they cannot use donkeys to carry the water since these are no longer permitted.

Without access to vehicles, Bushmen wanting to support friends and families inside the reserve rely heavily on donkeys to transport water to them. Despite a High Court ruling that says the Bushmen have the right to live on their ancestral lands inside the reserve, the Botswana government has banned residents from accessing a borehole on their lands. In the dry season this makes them dependent on water from outside the reserve, which is extremely difficult to carry without donkeys.

Last month, the Bushmen went to court in a bid to gain access to their borehole. However, the Bushmen are still waiting for the judge to give his ruling; this is scheduled to be announced on Wednesday, July 21.

The new policy appears to be in clear breach of Regulation 25(1) of the National Parks and Game Reserves Regulations which provides that anyone can enter the Reserve ‘by means of… riding a horse, camel, donkey or other animal approved by the Director’. It is presumably on this basis that the Department of Wildlife and National Parks has said that ‘Animal back safaris (camel, horseback, etc.) must be permitted and encouraged’ in ‘low density tourism zones’ including areas of the CKGR. What is not acceptable when a Bushman does it is, apparently, perfectly acceptable when a tourist does it. One pays money and the other does not.

The government has also allowed the opening of a luxury Wilderness Safaris tourist lodge, complete with bar and swimming pool for tourists, and drilled new boreholes to provide water for wildlife only. In the near future it is likely to issue a licence for a diamond mine on Bushman land, for which new boreholes will be drilled, on condition that the mine will not provide water to the Bushmen.

Survival’s director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘When they realise what’s going on, ethical tourists won’t want to go to areas where they have rights explicitly denied to the indigenous peoples. Botswana says it wants more tourists, yet its actions couldn’t be better designed to put them off. The country’s relentless oppression of its first citizens is yet another nail in the coffin of its reputation.’

UK government bars Iroquois Lacrosse team

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:23:45 +0100

The British government has refused to allow an Iroquois lacrosse team into the country because they are using Iroquois passports.

The Iroquois, a confederacy of six tribes who straddle the US-Canada border, are trying to come to the UK for the world lacrosse championships.

The game was invented by the Iroquois and other tribes of north-east North America hundreds of years ago, and the Iroquois team is currently ranked fourth in the world.

Both the US and Canada allowed the team to travel using their own passports, with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton granting a special waiver.

The Iroquois and some other tribes have used their own passports when travelling for decades, as an assertion of indigenous sovereignty.

Delby Powless, a member of the team, told Canadian Press that the team was frustrated at the decision. ‘We have travelled on these passports on numerous occasions. The team is very disappointed with what is happening, but we are trying to stay as positive as we possibly can.’

Survival has launched an appeal on Twitter to persuade the British Home Secretary Theresa May to allow the team in to compete. Email mayt@parliament.uk and urge Mrs May to allow the team in to compete.

Retweet now

Judgment day for Bushmen in vital water case

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 09:47:13 +0100

The long-awaited judgment in the landmark court case over the Botswana Bushmen’s right to water will be delivered next Wednesday July 21st at the High Court in Lobatse, Botswana.

The case was heard on June 9, with many Bushmen making the long journey to court.

When the government evicted the Bushmen from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) in 2002, it capped the borehole, the only source of water for the Bushman communities in the reserve.

In 2006 Botswana’s High Court ruled that the government had acted unconstitutionally when it evicted the Bushmen and said they had the right to return to the reserve. Hundreds of Bushmen have since gone back home.

Despite the Bushmen’s repeated attempts to negotiate with the government, it still refuses to let them use the water borehole.

The Bushmen, who live in one of the world’s driest regions, are forced to make arduous journeys to obtain water outside the reserve. Since the borehole was capped one Bushman has died of dehydration.

One Bushman said from inside the reserve, ‘We are thirsty and suffering… The single thing we most need is water. It’s a big problem, especially during the school vacation, when we get a lot of children back, and they are used to getting water every day, and they suffer, and we have to walk all night to Kaudwane [resettlement camp].’

Stephen Corry, Survival’s Director, said today, ‘Thousands of Bushman supporters, all over the world, will be supporting the Bushmen in their long wait for justice. Whatever the court decides, it will be a very important day for indigenous peoples’ rights.’

Pygmy peoples issue warning on climate change policies

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:45:00 +0100

Lush forests are key to the Pygmy sense of identity. Their land informs their culture and provides their livelihood.
© Kate Eshelby/Survival

Members of ‘Pygmy’ communities in Cameroon have issued a clear message in the wake of the Copenhagen climate change talks: their rights to their forests must be respected.

According to the Forest Peoples Programme , the Baka, Bagyeli and Bakola peoples fear that climate change mitigation projects will further exclude them from their forest homes and that climate change is already affecting their forests.

A central plank of current international climate change talks is REDD – reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. REDD projects could help to protect forests and the communities that depend on them, but only if they are developed with the full involvement of the peoples concerned and have the protection of land rights at the core.

The latest incarnation of REDD is REDDplus, but it is the ‘plusses’ – conservation, forest management and enhancement of carbon stocks – that are causing concern for indigenous peoples. Pygmy peoples have suffered both from the deforestation of their lands and from conservation programmes which have excluded them.

Pygmy communities in Cameroon, state they will only accept REDD if their rights to their forests and to free, prior informed consent over projects are respected and if they get an equal share in any benefits from the projects.

“If we are talking about conservation, then the Baka are the best conservationists. We have been living here since time immemorial, and the forest has not disappeared. Those who now claim they are conserving the forest are the same people pillaging our forests. We see sawmills felling large portions of our forest every day. Is it not this same government that authorises the felling?" Daniel Njanga, Cameroon.