The Brazilian government has strongly criticized a call by two US anthropologists to force contact with South America’s most isolated tribes to ensure their survival. Sarah Shenker, Brazil campaigner for Survival, said the statement from FUNAI was significant because in the past the agency’s own policy had been to contact uncontacted tribes before changing tack after this led to deaths in the 1980s. The FUNAI experts said such a strategy did not respect uncontacted tribes’ wish to be left alone and was a “violation of these people’s rights to determine their own lives”. The Kawahiva tribe is thought to have halved to less than three dozen people over the past 30 years, Survival said. “There is never absolute control in contact situations,” according to the letter circulated to the media.

Source: The Guardian July 07, 2016 19:41 UTC