A new report by the NGO Survival International warns that New Delhi risks committing a “genocide” against an uncontacted tribe if it pursues its plan to develop the “Hong Kong of India” on Great Nicobar Island in the Indian Ocean, where around 300 nomadic hunter-gatherers live.
The megaproject — seen by experts as part of India’s strategy to counter China’s growing influence in the region — includes a port, airport, defense base, power station, industrial park, and is expected to accommodate a city of 650,000 residents within 30 years.
“The Shompen have the right to survive and just want to be left in peace. The government must allow them to do so by scrapping this project, rather than pressing ahead and condemning the Shompen to annihilation,” said Survival International Director Caroline Pearce, adding that her organization has submitted the report to several UN officials.
Survival International describes the Shompen as “one of the world’s most isolated tribes,” stating they have lived on the island “for up to 10,000 years” and that most members have repeatedly rejected “all contact with outsiders.”
In February 2024, thirty-nine genocide scholars urged India to suspend the project, warning that the indigenous group “will face genocide if the plan to turn their island into the ‘Hong Kong of India’ goes ahead.”
In April 2024, a group of Indian anthropologists and scientists echoed the concern, calling on the government to “halt this project before it’s too late.”
In August 2024, the BBC reported that Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said the project “will not disturb or displace” tribal communities and that it had received environmental clearances based on the “rigour of environmental scrutiny.”
TRT World
A new report by the NGO Survival International warns that New Delhi risks committing a “genocide” against an uncontacted tribe if it pursues its plan to develop the “Hong Kong of India” on Great Nicobar Island in the Indian Ocean, where around 300 nomadic hunter-gatherers live.
The megaproject — seen by experts as part of India’s strategy to counter China’s growing influence in the region — includes a port, airport, defense base, power station, industrial park, and is expected to accommodate a city of 650,000 residents within 30 years.
“The Shompen have the right to survive and just want to be left in peace. The government must allow them to do so by scrapping this project, rather than pressing ahead and condemning the Shompen to annihilation,” said Survival International Director Caroline Pearce, adding that her organization has submitted the report to several UN officials.
Survival International describes the Shompen as “one of the world’s most isolated tribes,” stating they have lived on the island “for up to 10,000 years” and that most members have repeatedly rejected “all contact with outsiders.”
In February 2024, thirty-nine genocide scholars urged India to suspend the project, warning that the indigenous group “will face genocide if the plan to turn their island into the ‘Hong Kong of India’ goes ahead.”
In April 2024, a group of Indian anthropologists and scientists echoed the concern, calling on the government to “halt this project before it’s too late.”
In August 2024, the BBC reported that Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said the project “will not disturb or displace” tribal communities and that it had received environmental clearances based on the “rigour of environmental scrutiny.”
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