Uncontacted Peoples
06
“the right of self-determination means that individuals and peoples should be in control of their destinies and should be able to live out their identities.”
Alfred de Zayas, the UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of Democratic and Equitable International Order, wrote in his report about the right to self-determination, “the right of self-determination means that individuals and peoples should be in control of their destinies and should be able to live out their identities.” The issue of protecting uncontacted peoples and secluded tribes directly focuses on these people’s right to self-determination, as well as touching on issues such as human rights, conservation and conflict of sovereignty.
Uncontacted tribes have become a source of captivation within ‘contacted’ society, with the prospect of people who have had no contact with commonplace aspects of daily life such as modern medicine, technology, and many materials. With over 100 uncontacted tribes in the Amazon alone, documentaries have been made looking in to uncontacted tribes. Examples include the controversial BBC Four documentary released in 2006, following an American tour operator offering tours to discover the uncontacted people in West Papua. This fascination is not recent, with the 1971 BBC documentary titled ‘A Blank on the Map.’ This was hosted by the highly creditable (national treasure) David Attenborough. In this documentary, he initiated the first contact ever to be made with the Biami people in Papua New Guinea.
One tribe that has remained virtually untouched by outside society is the Sentinelese, inhabited in the North Sentinel Island in the Andaman Islands of India. The Sentinelese are one of the last tribes in existence to remain absolutely separated from all outside influence. Their lack of contact can be shown by their language bearing no similarities to that of any neighbouring regions, Sentinelese remains an unclassified language. Due to the lack of contact with the tribe, data showing population, characteristics and culture are limited, however estimates show their population likely ranges from 15 to 500. The Sentinelese exist primarily as a hunter-gatherer society, sustaining themselves through hunting, farming, fishing and natural resources. A limited source of metal has been exposed to the tribe as items wash up on shore, some iron was retrieved from the remnants of two international container ships which ran aground on the islands external coral reefs in the late 1980’s.
Whether it is right to let the Sentinelese remain an uncontacted tribe is a difficult and complex topic. Some would argue that it is unethical allowing people to suffer or die of illness, or struggle in daily life, when there are objects existing in society that could fix these problems, such as medicine. Conversely, tribes are entitled to self-determination (“the process by which a country determines its own statehood and forms its own government” or “the process by which a person controls their own life”).
Maddie Alberg