Although it is illegal for outsiders to enter the Jarawa reserve, poachers are camping for days at a time in the tribe’s forest, hunting the animals they depend on and bringing disease, violence and exploitation.
Adding to the tribe’s problems, the islands’ main highway (known as the Andaman Trunk Road) cuts through their forest, bringing poachers, settlers and tourists. In 2002, India’s supreme court ordered that the road should be closed, but the local authorities have refused to comply.
In 1999 and 2006, the Jarawa suffered outbreaks of measles – a disease that has wiped out many tribes worldwide following contact with outsiders.
The government’s ‘Jarawa Policy’ states that medical treatment of the Jarawa should take place within their reserve, and that they should only be moved to hospitals when ‘intensive care’ is required. However, Jarawa have repeatedly been taken on potentially very dangerous trips to urban hospitals for minor ailments such as cuts or colds, significantly increasing their exposure to potentially deadly illnesses.
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