The Shompen, residents of a small island in the Indian Ocean, are among the world’s last isolated tribes. But that may soon change as the Indian government moves forward with plans for a massive port that could “wipe out” the tribe, a watchdog group says.
The government aims to build a shipping terminal, airport, military base, power plant, and city of some 650,000 people on Great Nicobar Island, which lies a thousand miles from mainland India near the Indonesian island of Sumatra. According to a new report from Survival International, the $9 billion project would eradicate much of the rainforest on which the Shompen depend, while outsiders would introduce infectious diseases to which the Shompen have little or no immunity.
In February, 39 genocide experts wrote to the Indian government, warning that if the port project proceeds, “it will be a death sentence for the Shompen, tantamount to the international crime of genocide.”
Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav has said the project “will not disturb or displace” the Shompen. But the Indian government has not sought the tribe’s free, prior, and informed consent, in violation of national and international law, according to the new report.
Only 300 Shompen live on the Great Nicobar Island, most of whom have no contact with the outside world. Great Nicobar is part of a chain of islands that is also home to the Sentinelese people, another isolated tribe. Earlier this month, an American influencer was arrested for attempting to make contact with the Sentinelese.
Caroline Pearce, head of Survival International, said that if Indian officials are going to prosecute an influencer for trying to reach the Sentinelese, “they cannot justify building a city of 650,000 people on the island of their uncontacted neighbors the Shompen.”
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