Published on June 15, 2024 at 16:24 GMT+1
The uncontacted Hongana Manyawa people have been “forced” into contact, begging for food from the miners in order to survive.
Survival International is calling for “urgent protection” from nickel mining after members of uncontacted tribes were “forced” to beg for food from miners.
The Hongana Manyawa people have lived in isolation for many years on Halmahera, the largest island in Indonesia's Maluku archipelago, but a nickel mining company has threatened their homes and land, and now the damage to their land is so great that they have been pushed out of what remains of the forest and are begging for food from the miners in order to survive.
Between 300 and 500 uncontacted Hongana Manyawa people are thought to live in the island's forests, but their lives are now at risk.
Survival International reports that vast swathes of rainforest have been “allocated to mining companies” and tribes have tried desperately to drive miners off their land and have been filmed “shockingly” standing up to bulldozers, but much of the forest has already been destroyed.
The situation has worsened since Survival International released footage showing tribesmen being driven out of the forest and turning to miners for food in a desperate attempt to survive.
Uncontacted people of the Hongana Manyawa tribe were “forcibly” contacted in order to survive (YouTube/Survival International)
The footage shows four members of the Hongana Manyawa tribe walking through an open field towards the miners.
The tribes generally “reject contact with outsiders and are completely dependent on the rainforest for their survival,” Survival International's website states.
But a video uploaded to YouTube by Survival International says: “Their land has been destroyed for mining so they cannot hunt, so they have come to beg for food from the miners.”
A second video shows four members of the tribe walking arm-in-arm through the miners' camp.
Survival International continues: “Situations such as these constitute forced contact and are a sign that the Hongana Manyawa people are at grave risk of extinction.”
“Contact with people from outside the country could lead to death from diseases for which you have no immunity,” the website warns.
The tribe is at “great risk” of becoming “extinct” (YouTube/Survival International)
Indonesia's Senate President AA Ranyara Mahmud Matariti, in a statement on Instagram, cited Indonesia's 1945 constitution, which recognises the protection of indigenous peoples, and called on the government to “immediately intervene to protect indigenous peoples.”
The Senate president also called on all companies operating in the region to ensure that development “in any form” does not “displace surrounding communities, particularly indigenous peoples who depend on the forests and live in the interior.”
Survival director Caroline Pearce commended the Senate President's call to action, noting that it provides a “lifeline” for the Hongana Manyawa people.
She stated her determination: “The solution is clear: their territories must be protected and freed from mining and other development. Eramet and other companies must comply with international law and stop mining in these territories without their explicit consent.”
“[…] “Time is running out for the uncontacted Hongana Manyawa people. Exclusion zones must be established and their territory urgently protected before it is too late.”
UNILAD has contacted Eramet for comment.
Featured image credit: YouTube/@survivalinternational
Topics: World News, Health, Food & Drink
