Vigils As Jarawa Tribe Faces Extinction

SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE

9 October 2006

Vigils In London And Paris As Jarawa Tribe Faces Extinction

Survival will hold vigils tomorrow, 10 October, in London and Paris in support of the Jarawa tribe of the Andaman Islands, India. The Jarawa are in danger of being wiped out by settlers and poachers invading their land.

London: Indian High Commission, India House, Aldwych, 12.30pm - 2pm

Paris: Ambassade d'Inde, 15 rue Alfred Dehodencq, 12.30pm - 2pm

The 300 Jarawa are believed to have lived on the Andaman Islands for 60,000 years. They resisted all contact with Indian settlers on their islands until 1998. Now, settlers are invading their land, hunting the animals they depend on, and bringing disease, violence and exploitation.

Survival's director Stephen Corry said today, 'India has a stark choice. It can take this historic opportunity to secure the future of an isolated and vulnerable tribe. Or, it can let yet another tribe vanish from the face of the earth, forever.'

Survival is urging the Indian government to close the road running through the Jarawa's land, to keep outsiders off their land, and to allow the Jarawa to make their own decisions about their future.

The London vigil will be repeated every week at the same time. Last month Survival presented a petition with 50,000 signatures in support of the Jarawa to Sonia Gandhi in Delhi and to the Indian High Commission in London.

ENDS