Survival’s Andamans campaign focuses on the Jarawa, because their situation is the most precarious of the four tribes. Your support is vital for the Jarawa’s survival. There are lots of ways you can help. * "Donate to Survival's campaign":/donate for the Jarawa and other threatened tribal peoples * <a href="/actnow/writealetter/jarawa" onclick="new Effect.BlindDown('embedded_letter_jarawa'); new Effect.ScrollTo('embedded_letter_jarawa_container', {offset: -24}); return false;">Write to the Indian government</a> using Survival's online letter-writing tool * Write to your "MP or MEP":http://www.writetothem.com/ (UK) or "Senators and members of Congress":http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/ (US). * Write to your local Indian high commission or embassy * If you want to get more involved, "contact Survival":/about/contact

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Poachers threaten survival of Jarawa tribe

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The Jarawa chose to resist contact with all outsiders until 1998. Now, they are under serious threat. Poachers are camping for days at a time in their forest, and local authorities have defied an order from India's supreme court to close the road that cuts through the Jarawa's reserve. In 1999 and 2006, the Jarawa suffered outbreaks of measles – a disease that has wiped out many tribes worldwide following contact with outsiders.

The Jarawa chose to resist contact with all outsiders until 1998. Now, they are under serious threat. Poachers are camping for days at a time in their forest, and a road cuts through their reserve.

How do they live? The Jarawa are very different in appearance to their Indian neighbours, and DNA tests suggest that their closest relatives are African. Because of the Jarawa's voluntary isolation, and the fact that no one outside the tribe really spoke their language, little was known about them until recently. We do know that they live a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, hunting pig and monitor lizard, fishing with bows and arrows, and gathering seeds, berries and honey. They are nomadic, living in bands of 40-50 people. In 1998, some Jarawa started coming out of their forest to visit nearby towns and settlements. From what can now be understood of their language, it seems that pressure from poachers on the coast drove them inland. Although a few Jarawa still come out onto the road or into settlements to visit, they continue to live a self-sufficient life in the forest. What problems do they face? The principal threat to the Jarawa's existence comes from encroachment onto their land, which was sparked by the building of a highway through their forest in the 1970s. The road has increasingly brought settlers, poachers and loggers into Jarawa land, who steal the tribe's game and expose them to disease. There are also reports of sexual exploitation of Jarawa women. In 1990 the local authorities announced that they intended to forcibly settle the Jarawa. A local lawyer brought a court case in 1999 in an attempt to force the government to carry out its plan. Forced settlement was fatal for other tribes in the Andaman Islands, and has always been so for newly contacted tribal peoples worldwide: it introduces diseases; destroys all sense of identity and society; robs tribes of their self-sufficiency; and leaves them vulnerable to alcoholism and despair. In the wake of a vigorous campaign by local organisations and Survival, the authorities no longer intend to settle the Jarawa, but some of their interventions in the name of ‘welfare' still pose a serious threat How can I help? Click <a href="../../../../../how_to_help.php?howto_help_id=30" title="Help Jarawa vigil">here</a> to find out more about our vigils for the Jarawa Click <a href="../../../../../how_to_help.php?howto_help_id=1" target="_self">here</a> to donate to Survival. Click <a href="../../../../../related_material.php?id=397" target="_self">here</a> for a sample letter to send to the Indian government. Click <a href="http://www.writetothem.com/" target="_blank">here</a> to write to your MP or MEP (UK). Click <a href="http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/" target="_blank">here</a> to write to the President, your senators, congressmen or other elected officials (US). Write to your local Indian high commission or embassy, click <a href="http://www.embassiesabroad.com/" target="_blank">here</a> to find out the address. How does Survival help? Since 1993 Survival has been urging the Indian government to protect the Jarawa's land and allow them to make their own decisions about their future. The campaign has had significant victories: by 2001, the Indian government had abandoned its plans to resettle the Jarawa, and was claiming that it had never intended to do so. Survival gathered expert testimonies on the dangers of forced settlement for the 1999 court case; the court's interim judgement incorporated many of our recommendations. In 2004, the authorities announced a radical new policy, stating that the Jarawa would be allowed to choose their own future, and that outside intervention in their lives would be kept to a minimum. After the authorities' change of position on settlement, Survival focused on trying to get the highway through the Jarawa's land closed and the hundreds of illegal settlers removed. In May 2002, the Indian Supreme Court ordered the closure of the road, the removal of settlers, and a ban on all logging. Despite this, the road remains open, and exploitation of the Jarawa by outsiders, and poaching on their land, are posing increasingly serious dangers. Survival is now working to ensure that both the court's order and the policy of minimum intervention and maximum autonomy are implemented properly. We are continuing to lobby for recognition of the Jarawa's right to ownership of their land.

The Jarawa people of the Andaman Islands chose to resist contact with all outsiders until 1998. Now, they are under serious threat. Poachers are camping for days at a time in their forest, and a road cuts through their reserve.

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the Jarawa

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jarawa

Jarawa

2009-06-15T12:21:01+01:00