German NGO launches uncontacted tribes campaign

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A German NGO has launched a campaign to protect the rights and lives of some of the world’s last uncontacted tribes living in the remote Peruvian Amazon.

The campaign has been launched by Rettet den Regenwald after the revelations by Survival that an Anglo-French company, Perenco, intends to invade uncontacted Indians’ land with hundreds of workers. Perenco is believed to be sitting on Peru’s biggest oil discovery in thirty years.

‘Uncontacted tribes are the most vulnerable human beings on the planet,’ reads a statement from Rettet. ‘International treaties guarantee their rights. . . but the commercial interests of the Peruvian government and the oil industry are much more powerful.’

Rettet’s campaign urges people to lobby Perenco’s chairman Francois Perrodo, Peru’s president Garcia, Peru’s Mines and Energy minister, and Perupetro chairman Daniel Saba. ‘The rights of the uncontacted tribes should be respected and any kind of oil, logging or agricultural activity on their territories should be prohibited,’ says Rettet.

Survival’s director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘This is further proof that Peru’s uncontacted tribes are becoming an increasingly global issue. The government and companies like Perenco must understand that norms and standards are changing: it is absolutely unacceptable for these Indians’ territories to be invaded and destroyed, their rights violated, and their lives put in grave danger.’

Watch Survival's groundbreaking film Uncontacted Tribes