Leave Amazon tribe alone, Brazil says
Posted Sat May 31, 2008
Survival International says the photos disprove Peruvian claims that the land is vacant
(
www.survival-international.org: Gleison Miranda/FUNAI)
Brazilian officials have taken photos of the isolated tribe living on the border between Brazil and Peru.
The Government says it released the photos to prove the existence of the tribe and to protect the tribe's land from illegal logging.
Fiona Watson from the indigenous rights group, Survival International, says the photos disprove Peruvian claims that the land is vacant.
The group says the discovery highlights the danger that encroaching civilisation poses to the Amazon.
"These people are very fearful, they've got their bows and arrows, they're shooting up at the plane," she said.
"They clearly want to be left alone. For these people to survive they must have their land rights recognised and protected."
One of the pictures can be seen on Survival International's website, which shows two Indian men covered in bright red pigment poised to fire arrows at the aircraft while another Indian looks on.
Another photo shows about 15 Indians near thatched huts, some of them also preparing to fire arrows at the aircraft.
"The world needs to wake up to this, and ensure that their territory is protected in accordance with international law. Otherwise, they will soon be made extinct," Survival International director Stephen Corry said.
Brazil's National Indian Foundation, which took the photographs, says illegal loggers from Peru are encroaching on the territory of remote tribes, and is hoping the publicity can help prevent invasions of their land.
Anthropologist Jose Carlos Meireles says any contact would be a last resort.
"Making contact with them would be our last alternative," he said.
"We'd only make contact with them if they're threatened, so, in that case it would no longer be considering contacting them - it would be rescuing them."
Of more than 100 un-contacted tribes worldwide, more than half live in either Brazil or Peru, Survival International says.
- BBC/Reuters
