On the South and Middle Andaman Islands in India's Andaman
and Nicobar Island territories, there is a small group of indigenous people
known as the Jarawa, who number within 240-400 in population. As
India’s economy has grown and a more active middle class has emerged, tourists have flocked to these islands to have a look at one the Earth’s last primitive tribes. Yet this tourism does not help the Jarawa in anyway, whatsoever.
Photographing and interacting with the Jarawa is punishable under Indian law,
but countless tour companies ferry visitors through the Jarawa reserve daily
with no interference from police, and sometimes even their cooperation. With
almost no communication between the Jarawa and Indian authorities, these
indigenous peoples have not been introduced to inoculations and are thus susceptible
to many diseases brought by encroaching tourists. As tourism continues to grow along with the Indian economy, what will happen
this tribe who are gawked at like animals at a zoo?
After watching the video, what human rights that are being
violated in respect to the Jarawa people?
What do you think can be done to solve these injustices?
How do you think the mindset of the police can be changed
in this situation and how does it relate to conscience?
The exploitation of this indigenous Indian tribe is very sad. Many of their rights are being violated and nobody is doing anything to protect them. To solve these injustices, the group needs someone to stand up for them and advocate for their rights. In respect to what we are learning in class, they need a Gandhi. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, nobody shall be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment. These “human safaris” are causing people to be treated like animals, which is a violation of their human rights. There are laws that protect them, yet nobody is standing up to enforce these laws, thus leaving this tribe to be exposed to the dangers of the increasing number of tourists disrupting their natural order.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The group definitely needs someone to stand up for them and their rights. They have never been exposed to mass civilizations and now trucks and buses are driving through their land. They have worked hard to preserve their culture through all these years and this tourist interaction might make their culture impure. These people are being treated more like tourist attractions than people. Rowan's title captures the mood perfectly when it says "Human Safari". Under basic human rights for people, this should not be allowed because it violates many of them. Pete should be treated like people rather than toys, and the tourists should not be allowed on the preserve.
ReplyDeleteThis inhuman treatment of the Jarawa people is degrading past the point at which a person can be considered human, like the rest of us. Many of their rights are being violated, as they are treated like individuals without thought, opinion, or a freedom to express themselves. The way of life of the Jarawa people has not changed in centuries, yet Indian citizens today feel the need to infringe upon their habitat and their most basic rights. The rights being violated as these middle-class citizens conduct a human safari are the rights to privacy and the right to no torture, cruel, or inhuman punishment. It is not only the people conducting these trips that are at fault, but also the police and lawmakers that turn a blind eye to the injustices done to the Jarawa people. Their are laws in place, yet there is no hope of their enforcement with the current mindset of the police. If people do not realize the harm being done to these people, imagine if you had hundreds of people looking over your shoulder; how would you feel? The Jarawa tribes have not been allowed to voice their opinion and are having many human rights violated in their exploitation for entertainment. This must stop immediately, or people run the risk of decimating one of the last remaining primitive tribes on the planet.
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ReplyDeleteI agree. These people need someone to see this injustice going on and need a member of the international community to stand up for them and stop these illegal acts. They have never been exposed to the outside world and probably don't understand what these busses full of people and these flashes of light out of someones camera are. Rowans title sums it up by showing that these people are like a human safari with no rights and no connections to the out side world. Tourists from other countries should respect these indigenous people and should know better than to go on their preserve and treat them like animals. They are humans and like all humans should have the united nations human rights rules. Tourism is disrupting the national habitat the people have there and it could have dangerous reproductions on these people in the future such as disease or widespread death.
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