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“This was the conclusion of an ONIC report to mark the launch of its campaign to raise global awareness of the situation in Colombia and to save the threatened tribes from being wiped out.
ONIC’s own research found that 32 Colombian tribes face extinction, while the country’s Constitutional Court has stated that 34 tribes face a similar fate. Only two, the Nukak and the Guayabero, are considered to be at risk by both ONIC and the court, bringing the total number to 64.
According to ONIC, eighteen tribes number less than 200 people and ten less than 100. One, the Makaguaje, numbers fewer than five people.”
– Survival International, 60% of Colombian tribes at ‘risk of extinction’.
“Isolated tribes in Peru and Brazil are on the verge of being wiped out due to contact with western civilisation, according to a report in the journal Science.
The tribes are under threat from deforestation and the risk of violence. But a major problem is also illness and disease, including flu and whooping cough. Bacteria and viruses are transmitted by illegal loggers, drug traffickers and anthropologists. Ailments which are common in other cultures can be deadly for tribes people who lack immunity.
In one notorious case, a necklace left behind by a German researcher was implicated in spreading disease in a number of villages along Peru’s Curanja River. A sore throat and fever illness killed around 200 indigenous people. Meanwhile, in Brazil, 50-90% of tribes are believed to have been wiped out by disease during the 1970s-1980s.
But the Science report says the situation is most acute in Peru, where 8,000 indigenous people are believed to live in small groups in the rainforest. They include the Iskanawa tribe, who fled there when European settlers arrived in the country during the 16th century. The tribe has 300-400 members left and has moved deeper into the forest to escape illegal miners and loggers.
The risk of disease related fatalities might be rising due to recent increases in contacts with the outside world.
“A surge in sightings and raids in both Peru and Brazil may be a sign that some of the world’s last peoples living outside the global economy are emerging,” said the Science report.”
– International Business Times, South American tribes on verge of extinction due to contact with outside world.
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Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country.
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This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
