Jarawa Tribe used for trophy photos in human safaris

The Jarawa Tribe of the Andaman Islands (owned by India) have only recently had contact with the outside world (1998) and that contact has been abused since then and has now descended into human safaris, where tourists hope to get a photo of one of the 403 tribal members. Evidence is now there that some police, who are supposed to protect the Jarawa people from this, are actually assisting the tourists in getting their trophy photos.


The Guardian/Observer

"Dance," the policeman instructed. The girls in front of him, naked from the waist up, obeyed. A tourist's camera panned round to another young woman, also naked and awkwardly holding a bag of grain in front of her. "Dance for me," the policeman commanded... The role of the police is to protect tribespeople from unwelcome and intrusive outsiders. But on this occasion the officer had accepted a £200 bribe to get the girls to perform. "I gave you food," he reminded them at the start of the video.

The Observer reporter noted

Tourists threw bananas and biscuits to the tribespeople at the roadside, as they would to animals in a safari park.

Too little has been done to date to protect these very vulnerable people

In an attempt to reduce contact, the authorities have cut the number of convoys to eight a day, but they will not close the road completely – as the supreme court ordered in 2002 – because they say too many people rely on it.

In 2007 the government established a buffer zone around the reserve, hoping to protect the tribe from further interaction with the outside world, in particular a luxury resort being constructed on the very edge of the reserve by the Barefoot India tour company. The company hired lawyers to fight the zone and the case is currently with India's supreme court: in the meantime the resort stands abandoned in a clearing near the shore of Constance Bay, on the west coast of the island. But the safaris go on, four each way, day in, day out, and the police admit they are powerless to prevent some contact between the tribe and the tourists.

The human rights group Survival International, which has been campaigning for the Jarawa for nearly 20 years, believes the current situation is precarious. "The Jarawa could easily be decimated or reduced to a state of dependency, as has happened to so many other tribes worldwide," says spokeswoman Sophie Grig. Survival argues that closing the road would at least allow the tribe to decide whether it has contact.

Visit Survival International to see how you can help the Jarawa Tribe. Pressure must be applied to protect these people and it must be applied quickly.

I have posted about the Jarawa Tribe before here

testing our defences

I agree with the Greens on this new Environmental Protection Agency when they say that there is a lack of environmental advocates on the Board. Anake is there but one or two voices  will not stop the rest. And the other members of the board include "former managing director of road building giant Fulton Hogan David Faulkner, former Wellington mayor Kerry Prendergast and former Security Intelligence Service chief executive Richard Woods." as well as Anake Goodall, Tim Lusk, Graham Pinnell, Taria Tahana and Gillian Wratt.

NZH (Adam Bennett)

Greens co-leader Dr Norman said the legislation which allowed for the establishment of the authority "had nothing in there" about environmental protection. "It's mainly being used to fast track roading projects... now it's going to have the job of fast tracking deep sea mining."

"You haven't got a bunch of environmental specialists there, it's been set up to enable short term economic development under the pretence of environmental protection. It is a totally dishonest process."

The EPA will have big responsibilities.

The legislation will make the newly established Environmental Protection Authority responsible for issuing consents, monitoring and enforcement of activities within the EEZ which lies from 12km to 200km offshore and the Extended Continental Shelf, which lies beyond that. The EPA begins full operation next month and will process resource consent applications for nationally significant projects such as oil rigs and power stations.

The usual suspects pipe up

Petroleum Exploration and Production Association executive officer John Pfahlert told Morning Report that the proposed rules are similar to those imposed by other countries. He says tighter controls mean more costs for companies and a higher end price for oil and gas at the pump.

Yes higher prices so that the companies can manitain their profit - that is why they are fake concerns - the companies still make their profit and extra costs are loaded onto the pumps.


Greywolf are gone but they are just the expendable bunny sent to test the defences. Where the defences are strong the opponents begin to weaken them. Where the defences are weak, the opponents build up their forces and lines. We are strong in people power but we are vulnerable to multiple attacks and that is what they will exploit - human wave tactics - lots of applications, lots of resources they want, lots of areas all around our country. They will try to splinter opposition to their plans, they will try to alienate maori and environmentalists and communities. They will try to discredit and mock. They will cry false tears on marae and they go back and work out how to use that to their advantage. Make no mistake this is a serious game and they play seriously.