British peer claims Bushman way of life is biologically less evolved

British peer claims Bushman lifestyle less evolved

2006-03-31T07:00:00+01:00

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Jenny Tonge, a former MP and now member of the UK's House of Lords, has sparked outrage by claiming that the <a href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=11" target="_self">Bushmen</a>'s way of life is biologically less evolved. In a debate in the House of Lords, and later in a BBC <a href="/sights.php?gallery_id=333" target="_self">interview</a>, she called the Bushmen's lifestyle 'stone age' and 'primitive'. Shortly afterwards, in the British newspaper <a href="/related_material.php?id=410" target="_self">The Guardian</a>, she went further, implying that the hunter-gatherer way of life is low down the evolutionary scale: 'A more accurate description would have been Mesolithic, middle stone age or hunter gatherer. Why this perfectly acceptable, biological, evolutionary description should cause offence I do not know.' She also called for a proper debate about the 'management of indigenous people' to prevent them 'failing to adapt and becoming dropouts'. The Bushmen's organisation, First People of the Kalahari, called her remarks offensive. They said, 'If you call someone stone age or primitive, it sounds like you think they are inferior to you... We just want the opportunity to be allowed to choose our lifestyles. We want to go back to our land to be with our ancestors and we want to be allowed to live there in peace by hunting and gathering - not as 'exhibits in a museum' but because it is a very clever way to survive in the desert. Tonge obviously does not respect us enough to think we know how to choose what is best for ourselves.' Baroness Tonge's statements come soon after Survival International launched <a target="_self" href="http://www.survival-international.org/stampitout.php">'Stamp it Out'</a>, a campaign to highlight how the use of labels such as 'stone age' to describe tribal peoples underpin prejudices which cause them real harm. Baroness Tonge formed her opinions of the Bushmen on the basis of half a day in a Bushman relocation camp during a visit controlled by the Botswana government. As was widely predicted, Bushmen in the camp have recently started to die from alcohol abuse - see <a href="/news.php?id=1513" target="_self">press release</a>. Listen to Baroness Tonge debating her views with Survival International's Fiona Watson <a href="/sights.php?gallery_id=333" target="_self">here</a>. To read Baroness Tonge's article, and reactions to her remarks in the press, click <a href="http://www.survival-international.org/related_material.php?id=410" target="_self">here</a> For more information call Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email <a target="_self" href="mailto:mr@survival-international.org">mr@survival-international.org</a>

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2006-03-31T07:00:00+01:00

Jenny Tonge, a former MP and now member of the UK's House of Lords, has sparked outrage by claiming that the Bushmen's way of life is biologically less evolved.

http://bit.ly/ObHJK

British peer claims Bushman way of life is biologically less evolved

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2009-08-31T12:20:03+01:00

Botswana: Government- 'Bushmen drinking themselves to death'

2006-03-30T07:00:00+01:00

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The Botswana government has admitted that evicted <a target="_self" href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=11">Bushmen</a> are drinking themselves to death in relocation camps. At least fifteen Bushmen have died in just one camp this year so far. The government newspaper Daily News confirmed last week that some of these deaths were due to cirrhosis of the liver (caused by excessive alcohol consumption) and ‘consumption of illicit brew'. Other causes of death were listed as ‘cancer, respiratory diseases, malaria and heart conditions.' In contrast to their current plight, there were no known deaths from alcohol consumption in the reserve, when the Bushmen were living on their ancestral land and drinking was rare. In the resettlement camps, where they cannot hunt or gather food and are dependent on government ‘destitute rations', boredom and depression are rife and many Bushmen of all ages spend much of the time drinking. The government claims in the Daily News report that its decision to move the Bushmen off their land ‘emanated from a need to ensure food security and socioeconomic advancement opportunities.' However, Bushman organisation First People of the Kalahari said in a recent press release, ‘Our people are dying in New Xade resettlement camp... What the government says about New Xade being a place to develop the Bushmen is not the truth.' The problems of social breakdown now afflicting the Bushmen are common amongst other indigenous people in Australia and North America who have lost their land. The Innu, a Canadian Indian group suffering sky-high rates of suicide and alcohol abuse, recently issued a plea to the Botswana authorities, saying, ‘Please believe us when we tell you that pressurizing people to leave their ancestral land, and moving them to new settlements to live like other Batswana, will be sentencing them not to development, but to decades of misery.' For more information call Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email <a target="_self" href="mailto:mr@survival-international.org">mr@survival-international.org</a>

1143726092

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2006-03-30T07:00:00+01:00

The Botswana government has admitted that evicted Bushmen are drinking themselves to death in relocation camps.

http://bit.ly/2VRCqB

Government admits Bushmen drinking themselves to death

1513

2009-08-31T12:19:58+01:00

Botswana: Witness admits armed guards in Bushmen reserve

2006-03-30T07:00:00+01:00

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A senior Botswana government official admitted under cross-examination this week that wildlife and police officers were camped around the Bushman community of Metsiamenong in December 2005 and January 2006. The government has consistently denied that armed guards have been camped in the reserve to intimidate the Bushmen who refuse to abandon their homes and land. Witness Joel Moragoshele was responsible for Bushman development, welfare and poverty reduction in New Xade resettlement camp (where many of the evicted Bushmen are forced to live), yet he claimed never to have talked to Bushmen in New Xade about conditions in the camp. Moragoshele admitted that Bushmen in the camp are heavily dependent on government handouts. He also admitted that despite having worked in New Xade for two years prior to the 2002 evictions and having been to the reserve six times per year, he was never aware that relocation was an issue and had never discussed it with Bushmen living inside the reserve. He said he was not concerned about the impact of terminating water supplies and other services as he 'did not have any business to enquire about the issue'.

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2006-03-30T07:00:00+01:00

http://bit.ly/kpKDX

Witness admits armed guards in Bushmen reserve

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2009-08-31T12:19:59+01:00

Brazil: Indigenous children dying as health crisis deepens

2006-03-24T05:00:00+00:00

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Since the Brazilian government's national health foundation, FUNASA, took over indigenous health care from non-governmental organistions last year, indigenous organisations report that diseases are spreading unchecked, and sometimes with fatal consequences. The Pro Yanomami Commission (CCPY) reports that malaria amongst the <a href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=54" target="_self">Yanomami</a> has quadrupled from 418 cases in 2003 to 1,645 in 2005. This is despite FUNASA spending twice as much money on providing health care in the Yanomami area as Urihi, the NGO it replaced. Medical staff have refused to provide health care until they are paid, leading Yanomami representatives to stage protests outside the local FUNASA office. Malaria has been the biggest killer of the Yanomami since it was introduced to the area by invading goldminers in the 1980s. In an open letter, seven indigenous organisations in Amapá and northern Pará states have expressed their anger that FUNASA will no longer work with them to provide health care to <a href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=25" target="_self">indigenous peoples</a>. ‘We want to participate actively and have close control over health care in our indigenous areas, because we know our reality and the needs of the communities we represent... We do not accept that a non-indigenous or non-indigenist organisation... with no experience of working with indigenous peoples' health, can take over indigenous health care.' The Indigenist Missionary Council (CIMI) reports that indigenous children are dying as a consequence of FUNASA's inability to provide adequate health care. In the state of Tocantins, fifteen Apinajé Indian children have died in the last five months from diarrhoea, vomiting and fever. Last year in Mato Grosso do Sul dozens of <a href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=50" target="_self">Guarani-Kaiowá</a> children died from malnutrition. In Acre state, ten Kaxinawá children died as a consequence of diarrhoea.  Since 2005, twenty indigenous children from Bananal village in Maranhão state have died due to diarrhoea and malnutrition. CIMI blames ‘the privatisation of the heath service, initiated by the former government and continued by the current government, with the added difficulty that under the current government, in all states, political agreements were established with local oligarchies, which are historically opposed to the interests and rights of the indigenous peoples.'

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2006-03-24T05:00:00+00:00

http://bit.ly/4wpL1U

Indigenous children dying as health crisis deepens

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2009-08-31T12:19:51+01:00

India: Government committee to determine future of Jarawa

2006-03-23T05:00:00+00:00

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The Indian government has set up a new committee to decide the future of the <a href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=37" target="_self">Jarawa</a> tribe of the Andaman Islands. The Jarawa, who have only had contact with Indian settlers on their islands since 1998, are increasingly under threat from poachers invading their land. The Indian newspaper The Hindu reports, ‘The sub-group will review the existing administrative practices and institutional arrangements for protecting the Jarawas.... The eight-member sub-group will also examine the feasibility of augmenting the sea transport as an alternative to the Andaman Trunk Road.' The Indian supreme court ordered in 2002 that the Andaman Trunk Road must be closed. But the local authorities have left the road open in violation of the court order. The road cuts through the Jarawa's forest, bringing the tribe into daily contact with settlers. Poachers regularly enter the Jarawa reserve from the coast and from the road, and hunt the animals on which the Jarawa depend. They give the Jarawa alcohol, tobacco and food in return for work. They also risk introducing diseases to which the Jarawa have no immunity. Over a year ago, the authorities announced a policy on the Jarawa which recognised the need to protect the Jarawa's land and prevent poaching. But little has been done to tackle the problem.

1143134209

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2006-03-23T05:00:00+00:00

The Indian government has set up a new committee to decide the future of the Jarawa tribe of the Andaman Islands.

http://bit.ly/7GfNu

Government committee to determine future of Jarawa tribe

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2009-08-31T12:19:46+01:00

Botswana: Mystery disease killing evicted Bushmen

2006-03-22T05:00:00+00:00

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At least fifteen <a href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=11" target="_self">Bushmen</a> have died suddenly of unknown causes this year in New Xade resettlement camp and three remain in a critical condition. The deaths come as British Baroness Jenny Tonge and other peers insist in the House of Lords that the evictions have benefitted the Bushmen. [Read an article about Baroness Tonge and her description of the Bushmen as 'stone age' <a target="_self" href="/related_material.php?id=403">here</a>.] Gaseitsiwe Gaorapelwe died very suddenly after spots appeared all over his body. After being tortured by wildlife guards in 2000 for hunting, he said to a Survival researcher, ‘Who will look after my children?  The government is killing me.' [To see a video of Gaseitsiwe Gaorapelwe describing his torture click <a href="http://www.survival-international.org/sights.php?gallery_id=56" target="_self">here</a>.] Gaorapelwe was evicted from his ancestral community of Molapo in February 2002. In July that year he told Survival, ‘I want to go back to Molapo. I did not ask to relocate.... So I'm going back.' He did return to Molapo despite government harassment, but was evicted once again by armed police in October 2005. Bushman organisation First People of the Kalahari said in a press release last week, ‘Since the middle of January even more people have been dying [in New Xade] than is usual since our evictions from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). They have been dying quickly with vomiting, and difficulties to breathe. The authorities know about this but so far we are not aware that any doctor has been to New Xade to find out what is wrong... This shows that what the government says about New Xade being a place to develop the Bushmen is not the truth.' Baroness Tonge called the Bushmen ‘stone age' and ‘primitive' in a House of Lords debate earlier this month, and claimed the Botswana government had evicted them to provide them with ‘education and development'. Lord St John of Bletso added, ‘Many of the Bushmen have objected, but I take the view that it has been in the best interests of many of the Bushmen.' The catastrophic health implications of removing tribal peoples from their land are well documented. Among the Innu of northern Canada, who were moved by the government in the 1960s, the suicide rate is at least twelve times the national average. Over 50% of Innu have diabetes. Both suicide and diabetes were unknown before the Innu lost their land. For more information call Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email <a href="mailto:mr@survival-international.org" target="_self">mr@survival-international.org</a>

1143119616

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2006-03-22T05:00:00+00:00

At least fifteen Bushmen have died suddenly of unknown causes this year in New Xade resettlement camp and three remain in a critical condition.

http://bit.ly/H7gnF

Mystery disease killing evicted Bushmen

1493

2009-08-31T12:19:43+01:00

Indonesia: Six killed in Freeport mine protests

2006-03-20T05:00:00+00:00

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Two Papuans, three police and an army intelligence officer were killed on the 16th March in Papua in protests demanding the closure of the giant Freeport gold and copper mine. The protests took place outside a university in the Papuan capital, Jayapura. The mine is the largest gold and copper mine in the world, and is run by the American company Freeport McMoRan. It has devastated the land of the highland <a target="_self" href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=15">Amungme</a> tribe, destroying their sacred mountains. Many Amungme have been killed by Indonesian soldiers ‘defending' the mine. The lowland <a target="_self" href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=36">Kamoro</a> tribe have thousands of tonnes of mining waste pumped into their rivers every day. The area around the mine is one of the most militarised areas in Indonesia, and killings, tortures and disappearances have taken place there. Local people believe the mine's own security personnel have been involved in these human rights abuses.

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2006-03-20T05:00:00+00:00

Two Papuans, three police and an army intelligence officer were killed on teh 16th March in Papua in protests demanding the closure of the giant Freeport gold and copper mine.

http://bit.ly/12Qk7d

Six killed in Freeport mine protests

1485

2009-08-31T12:19:37+01:00

USA: UN criticises government over Western Shoshone tribe

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2006-03-15T05:00:00+00:00

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A key UN committee has censured the US government over its treatment of the Western Shoshone tribe of Nevada. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) urged the American government to 'freeze' and 'stop' actions being taken against the Western Shoshone Indians.   The US government has for many years asserted its ownership of nearly 90% of Western Shoshone lands, covering approximately 60 million acres, stretching across the states of Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California.  Western Shoshone rights to the land - which they continue to use, care for, and occupy today - were recognized by the United States in 1863 through the Treaty of Ruby Valley.  The U.S. now claims these same lands as 'public' or federal lands, and is using parts of them for military testing, open-pit gold mining and nuclear waste disposal planning. Members of the Western Shoshone who use the lands for cattle grazing have repeatedly had their livestock confiscated and fines imposed. After the UN's verdict Joe Kennedy of the Western Shoshone said, 'We have rights to protect our homelands and stop the destruction of our land, water, and air by the abuses of the United States government and the multinational corporations. The situation is outrageous and we're glad the United Nations Committee agrees with us. Our people have suffered more nuclear testing than anywhere else in the world and they're continuing underground testing despite our protests.  We cannot stand for it - this earth, the air, the water are sacred.' In its decision the Committee urged the US government to: a)    Freeze any plan to privatize Western Shoshone ancestral lands for transfer to multinational extractive industries and energy developers; b)    Desist from all activities planned and/or conducted on the ancestral lands of Western Shoshone or in relation to their natural resources, which are being carried out without consultation with and despite protests of the Western Shoshone peoples; c)    Stop imposing grazing fees, trespass and collection notices, horse and livestock impoundments, restrictions on hunting, fishing and gathering, as well as arrests, and rescind all notices already made to that end, inflicted on Western Shoshone people while using their ancestral lands.

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2006-03-15T05:00:00+00:00

A key UN committee has censured the US government over its treatment of the Western Shoshone tribe of Nevada.

http://bit.ly/3JB1bi

UN criticises US government over Western Shoshone tribe

1478

-1

2009-08-31T12:19:32+01:00

British Baroness: Bushmen are 'primitive’ and ‘stone age’

112

2006-03-14T05:00:00+00:00

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In a debate in the UK House of Lords last night, Baroness Tonge called the Kalahari <a href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=11" target="_self">Bushmen</a>'s method of hunting with bows and arrows 'primitive' and their way of life 'stone age'. She dismissed the court case the Bushmen are taking against the Botswana government, and repeated claims about their way of life that have been proved false in the Botswana high court. Baroness Tonge is the former Lib Dem MP Jenny Tonge, fired from the front bench for saying she 'empathised' with suicide bombers. Tonge said that a few Bushmen, along with Survival, were 'holding the Government of Botswana to ransom' over the evictions from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. In fact, 240 Bushmen, who are among the country's poorest inhabitants, have taken the government to court for forcing them off their ancestral land. She claimed that the Bushmen hunt in the reserve using guns and 4x4 vehicles - but Director of Wildlife Joseph Matlhare, the government's own witness, testified in court he knew of no evidence that this had ever happened. She also claimed that the presence of the Bushmen's few domestic animals was harming the reserve's ecology - but the government's own figures show that wildlife numbers in the reserve doubled in the ten years before the evictions. Tonge, along with Lord Jones and other British parliamentarians, spent half a day visiting one of the Botswana government's Bushman resettlement camps in 2002, and was shown around by government officials. Lord Pearson, who was part of the same delegation, revealed last night that De Beers had paid for the parliamentarians' trip, including first-class air travel. De Beers is exploring for diamonds on the Bushmen's land. 'The idea was to convince me and the other members of the group not only what a great place Botswana was but that the Bushmen had not been mistreated...' said Lord Pearson. 'I took the precaution of hiring my own interpreter, so I was able to hear exactly what some of the 200 Bushmen and their families who had recently been forcibly resettled in a camp at New Xade were saying. I heard them describe it as a place of death, where they had nothing to do but drink, take drugs and catch AIDS.... I, for one, came home more convinced than ever that a great injustice was being done.' Lord Jones, who according to the Mail on Sunday newspaper is known by political rivals as 'Junket Jones', regularly defends the Botswana government's expulsion of the Bushmen. He has recently bought a luxury villa in Botswana owned by a company called 'Dolce Vita' - 'the good life'. It is built on land belonging to the son of a former Botswana cabinet minister. To read a transcript of the debate click <a href="http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199697/ldhansrd/pdvn/lds06/text/60313-23.htm#60313-23_unstar0" target="_blank">here</a> For more information call Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email <a href="mailto:mr@survival-international.org" target="_self">mr@survival-international.org</a>

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2006-03-14T05:00:00+00:00

In a debate in the UK House of Lords last night, Baroness Tonge called the Kalahari Bushmen’s method of hunting with bows and arrows ‘primitive’ and their way of life ‘stone age’.

http://bit.ly/fSjaT

British Baroness: Bushmen are 'primitive' and 'stone age'

1471

2009-08-31T12:19:27+01:00

Survival: Commonwealth must respect international law

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2006-03-13T05:00:00+00:00

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This Commonwealth Day (13 March) Survival International is calling for Commonwealth countries to put the genocide of tribal peoples behind them by signing up to international law. Only two Commonwealth countries - Fiji and Dominica - have ratified the key international law protecting tribal peoples' rights, International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 169.  Many Commonwealth countries have tribal or indigenous peoples living within their borders - for example Australia, Bangladesh, Botswana, Canada, Guyana, India and New Zealand. The policies of others such as the UK have a direct impact on tribal peoples through development aid and their work at the UN. Yet all but two have refused to ratify the convention. ILO Convention 169 states, ‘The rights of ownership and possession of the peoples concerned over the lands which they traditionally occupy shall be recognised.' It obliges government to identify the lands and protect these rights. Seventeen countries have ratified the convention, including Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway. Survival's director Stephen Corry said today, ‘Imperial Britain was responsible for the destruction of countless tribes, wiped from the face of the Earth forever. That's in the past and cannot be undone. Nowadays the situation of many tribal peoples in the former colonies is much better than it was, but the destruction continues nevertheless. Botswana, for example, is on its way to destroying the Gana and Gwi <a href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=11" target="_self">Bushmen</a>, and the British government looks on without a murmur of disapproval. ‘If the Commonwealth stands for human rights, as it's supposed to, then it's high time for all its members to respect the rights of the tribal peoples who have survived to the present. All members should ratify the international law on tribal peoples without waiting for more centuries to slip past carrying more tribes into eternal oblivion.' For more information call Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email <a href="mailto:mr@survival-international.org" target="_self">mr@survival-international.org</a>

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2006-03-13T05:00:00+00:00

This Commonwealth Day (13 March) Survival International is calling for Commonwealth countries to put the genocide of tribal peoples behind them by signing up to international law.

http://bit.ly/10sHg2

Survival: Commonwealth must respect international law

1455

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2009-08-31T12:19:16+01:00

UN condemns Botswana government over Bushman evictions

2006-03-13T05:00:00+00:00

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The UN's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has reprimanded the Botswana government over its eviction and harassment of the Gana and Gwi <a href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=11" target="_self">Bushmen</a>. In an unusually harsh report issued on Friday, the committee notes its concern at ‘persistent allegations that [Bushmen] were forcibly removed, through, in particular, such measures as the termination of basic and essential services inside the Reserve, the dismantling of existing infrastructures, the confiscation of livestock, harassment and ill-treatment of some residents by police and wildlife officers, as well as the prohibition of hunting and restrictions on freedom of movement inside the Reserve.' The UN committee urges the Botswana government to, ‘pay particular attention to the close cultural ties that bind the San/Basarwa [Bushmen] to their ancestral land; protect the economic activities of the San/Basarwa that are an essential element of their culture, such as hunting and gathering practices, whether conducted by traditional or modern means; study all possible alternatives to relocation; and seek the prior free and informed consent of the persons and groups concerned.' The committee also condemns the government's removal of Bushman rights from the Botswana Constitution, which it says ‘may impact on the on-going court case brought by some residents of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve against the Government to challenge their relocation from the Reserve.' For more information call Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email <a href="mailto:mr@survival-international.org" target="_self">mr@survival-international.org</a>

1142247016

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2006-03-13T05:00:00+00:00

The UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has reprimanded the Botswana government over its eviction and harassment of the Gana and Gwi Bushmen.

http://bit.ly/Rs3nQ

UN condemns Botswana government over Bushman evictions

1454

2009-08-31T12:19:16+01:00

Amazon tribe hit by soya makes British TV news headlines

2006-03-08T05:00:00+00:00

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The remote <a target="_self" href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=194">Enawene Nawe</a> tribe of the Brazilian Amazon made British national TV news headlines yesterday in a hard-hitting report on the clearance of their land for soya plantations. Click <a href="/sights.php?gallery_id=310" target="_self">here</a> to see an ITV report on soya farming threatening the Enawene Nawe. The report, on ITV's lunchtime, early evening and late evening news bulletins, came on the first day of President Lula's state visit to the UK. ‘It was only thirty years ago these Indians had their first contact with the outside world,' said ITV's science editor Lawrence McGinty, speaking from the Enawene Nawe's fishing camp. ‘This contact is now threatening their very existence.' For other remote <a target="_self" href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=25">Brazilian tribes</a>, it is already too late. In Rondônia state, the Akuntsu tribe are reduced to six people, while another lone man is thought to be the last surviving member of his tribe. Traumatised by his experiences, he lives in a hole in the ground and shoots arrows at anyone who comes near. The Enawene Nawe Indians' land in Mato Grosso state is being rapidly cleared for soya plantations and cattle ranching. Mato Grosso state governor and soya baron Blairo Maggi, one of the world's largest soya producers, is planning to build hydroelectric dams on their land to provide energy to the soya industry. Maggi is lobbying the federal government not to recognise any more Indian land in his state. Enawene Nawe leader Marikeroseene told ITV, ‘In the last two years, the felling has risen dramatically. It has doubled.... The situation is unbearable.' Survival's director Stephen Corry said today, ‘Deforestation in the Amazon is threatening some of Brazil's most vulnerable tribes, including many who are uncontacted. Full legal recognition of their land is the key to their future and must not be delayed any further.' Photos and footage available. For more information call Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email <a target="_self" href="mailto:mr@survival-international.org">mr@survival-international.org</a>

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2006-03-08T05:00:00+00:00

The remote Enawene Nawe tribe of the Brazilian Amazon made British national TV news headlines yesterday in a hard-hitting report on the clearance of their land for soya plantations.

http://bit.ly/YaqSR

Amazon tribe hit by soya makes British TV news headlines

1444

194

2009-08-31T12:19:08+01:00

Brazil: 'Soya is killing us' says Amazon tribe

2006-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

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As Brazil's President Lula makes a state visit to the UK this week, one of the Amazon's most unusual tribes is losing its land to plantations of soya that may be bound for the UK. The <a href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=194" target="_self">Enawene Nawe</a> Indians' land in Mato Grosso state is being rapidly cleared for soya plantations and cattle ranching. Mato Grosso state governor and soya baron Blairo Maggi, one of the world's largest soya producers, is planning to build hydroelectric dams on their land to provide energy to the soya industry. Maggi is lobbying the federal government not to recognise Indian land in his state. Three quarters of the UK's soya beans came from Brazil in 2004. There is no system to distinguish exported soya grown in the Amazon from that grown elsewhere in the country. The remote Enawene Nawe Indians were contacted in 1974 and number only 420 people. They are one of the very few tribes in the world who eat no red meat. Instead, they catch fish in intricate dams built across rivers, and collect honey from the forest. President Lula will stay at Buckingham Palace from 7 to 9 March. His manifesto made strong commitments on Indian rights. But <a href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=25" target="_self">Brazilian Indian</a> organisations say that under his government, demarcation of their land has almost ground to a halt, violence against Indians has increased and Indian health has seriously deteriorated with deaths of children from starvation reaching record levels. Enawene elder Kawari says, ‘All this land belongs to the yakiriti [ancestral spirits] who are the owners of the natural resources. If you finish off the earth and the fish, the yakiriti will take vengeance and kill all the Enawene Nawe.' Survival's director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The Enawene Nawe's vital fishing grounds have not been demarcated. If these disappear, their entire way of life will end and they will be destroyed as a people. Lula's government must honour its promises to indigenous peoples and recognise the land of the Enawene Nawe before it is too late.' Photos and footage available. For more information call Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email <a href="mailto:mr@survival-international.org" target="_self">mr@survival-international.org</a>

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2006-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

As Brazil’s President Lula makes a state visit to the UK this week, one of the Amazon’s most unusual tribes is losing its land to plantations of soya that may be bound for the UK.

http://bit.ly/i76ub

'Soya is killing us' says Amazon tribe

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2009-08-31T12:18:48+01:00

Botswana delegation faces tough questions from the UN

2006-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

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The Botswana government faced tough questions from members of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva on Friday over its eviction of the Gana and Gwi <a href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=11" target="_self">Bushmen</a> from their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The committee member from Burkina Faso referred to the Bushmen as ‘discriminated against and marginalised', while the committee member from the UK told the government, ‘What disturbs many people is the spectacle of one of the great cultures of Africa being placed under severe threat.' The committee member from India expressed his concern that members of the Bushman human rights organisation, First People of the Kalahari, had been unable to attend the committee session because their passports had been confiscated. The Special Rapporteur of the committee, Mr Sicilianos, stated his belief that the government should not ‘prejudge' the ongoing court case in which the Bushmen are fighting the government for the right to return to their lands. He stated that the government should not continue to relocate people from their homes while the decision in the case was pending. The committee members also expressed their concern about ill-treatment of Bushmen by police and about the recent amendment to the Botswana constitution that removed a section on Bushman rights. They called for the government to enter into real dialogue with the Bushmen about their concerns. The Botswana government was due to respond to the Committee's questions today. For more information call Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email <a target="_self" href="mailto:mr@survival-international.org">mr@survival-international.org</a>

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2006-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

http://bit.ly/3sjShU

Delegation faces tough questions from the UN

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2009-08-31T12:18:59+01:00

Botswana: government tries to subvert Bushmen’s fundraising

2006-03-03T00:00:00+00:00

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The Botswana government has attempted to subvert the Kalahari <a target="_self" href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=11">Bushmen</a>'s efforts to raise money for their costly legal case over their eviction from their land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The Botswana High Commission in London distributed a leaflet, containing many false claims about the circumstances surrounding the evictions, to people attending an event held by Survival to raise money for the Bushmen. The Gana and Gwi Bushmen's court case against the government is already the longest and most expensive in Botswana's history, despite being brought by the country's poorest inhabitants. On the death of Bushman woman Qoroxloo Duxee, the leaflet claims, ‘The unfortunate death of the Basarwa [Bushman] woman from starvation indicates their inability to provide for themselves in the traditional way.' In fact, Qoroxloo Duxee starved to death inside the reserve in November after wildlife guards, camped nearby, threatened to kill anyone who tried to hunt or gather. Police had fired teargas and bullets at Bushmen who tried to take food and water into the reserve in September, and then arrested them. The reserve has been sealed off since 1 September. Among other claims, the leaflet denies that Bushmen have been tortured, despite many existing testimonies from victims. It also claims that Bushmen remaining inside the reserve are free to access government services in the resettlement camps. In fact, Bushmen who have made trips out of the reserve to visit relatives have been refused re-entry. Survival's director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The Botswana government is well aware that the court case is an enormous drain on the Bushmen's resources. Its attempt to prevent them raising much-needed funds by repeating the lies we have been hearing for years simply will not work.' For more information call Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email <a target="_self" href="mailto:mr@survival-international.org">mr@survival-international.org</a>

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2006-03-03T00:00:00+00:00

The Botswana government has attempted to subvert the Kalahari Bushmen’s efforts to raise money for their costly legal case over their eviction from their land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.

http://bit.ly/Hi1ZA

Government tries to subvert Bushmen’s court case fundraising

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2009-08-31T12:18:53+01:00

Paraguay: Fundamentalist missionaries visit isolated Indians

2006-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

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The controversial American fundamentalist missionary organisation the New Tribes Mission (NTM) is making weekly visits to a group of isolated <a href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=16" target="_self">Ayoreo</a>-Totobiegosode Indians first contacted in 2004. The group of 17 men, women and children emerged from the scrubby forests of western Paraguay in 2004 in search of water. Colonists had penetrated their remote forest home and were using the permanent waterholes for their cattle, thus preventing the Indians from making use of them. The group are the close relatives of other Totobiegosode Indians forced out of the forest in two controversial incidents, in 1979 and 1986. On both occasions missionaries of the New Tribes Mission assisted in the contact expeditions; several Ayoreo died as a result of these encounters. Visits to the most recently-contacted group, who have now returned to the forest and are living with other Ayoreo in a newly-established community called Chaidi, are supposed to be closely regulated to avoid the Indians catching diseases to which they have no immunity. But the NTM recently confirmed that, 'Each week missionary John Keefe and two Ayore (sic) men go to Chaidi to teach evangelistic Bible lessons to a group of Ayores (sic) who emerged from the jungle in March 2004.' The NTM described a typical session: 'As John taught about the Ten Commandments he held up a mirror, showing the Ayores how he could look into it and see himself. Then he took mud and spread it all over his face. The people thought it was hilarious, but John brought out the seriousness of the lesson. He told them how, in the mirror, he could see the dirt all over his face and that God's Law was like a mirror. It showed people how they are dirty (sinful) before God.'

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2006-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

The controversial American fundamentalist missionary organisation New Tribes Mission is making weekly visits to a group of isolated Ayoreo-Totobiegosode Indians first contacted in 2004.

http://bit.ly/PKDIJ

Fundamentalist missionaries make regular visits to recently-contacted group

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2009-08-31T12:18:49+01:00

Botswana: 'Bushmen spread diseases, tourists don't'

2006-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

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The Botswana government's key 'expert witness' in the <a href="/tribes.php?tribe_id=11" target="_self">Bushmen</a>'s court case, American vet Kathy Alexander, has testified that Bushmen can spread diseases to wildlife, but tourists do not. In an extraordinary exchange with the Bushmen's lawyer Gordon Bennett, Dr Alexander maintained that the wildlife of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (the Bushmen's ancestral land) was at risk of catching diseases such as TB from the Bushmen who lived there before their eviction. Dr Alexander alleged that it was only the Bushmen who were putting the wildlife at risk, but that the numerous tourists who pass through the reserve pose no risk at all. When Mr Bennett suggested that there was absolutely no evidence that the Bushmen had ever transmitted TB to the wildlife in the reserve, Dr Alexander replied, 'No, but there is also no evidence they haven't.'

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2006-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Botswana government's key 'expert witness' in the Bushmen's court case, American vet Kathy Alexander, has testified that Bushmen can spread diseases to wildlife, but tourists don't.

http://bit.ly/37I9CQ

Government witness: 'Bushmen spread diseases, tourists don't'

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2009-08-31T12:18:51+01:00