UK newspaper reports tourists still ‘flock’ to Andamans for ‘human safaris’
05 Sep 2012
The British newspaper whose coverage of the 'human safari' scandal on India's Andaman Islands prompted international outrage, has confirmed the practice still goes on, with thousands of tourists flocking to the island to spot the Jarawa people.
The Observer found it "was business as usual for the human safari industry", eight months after it published video footage showing half-naked Jarawa women being ordered to dance by a policeman.
The report on Saturday concludes, "Despite the international outrage, despite the anger of the government in Delhi, despite the rulings of the highest court in the land, despite the repeated interventions of Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi on behalf of the Jarawa, the human safaris go on."
Survival International first exposed human safaris in 2010, but video evidence of the abuse triggered calls for more to be done to protect the rights of the tribe.(See: Survival launches tourist boycott of Andaman's 'human safari park')
However, despite punishing those caught exploiting the Jarawa in the wake of the scandal, the Andaman authorities are refusing to take a tough stance on the practice, and have repeatedly ignored rulings by India's Supreme Court.
Ten years ago, the court ordered the closure of the Andaman Trunk Road (ATR), which facilitates tours to see the Jarawa by cutting straight through their reserve, but it remains open.
