[NYTr] Peru: Urgent appeal for ‘trapped’  uncontacted rainforest tribe endangered by oil exploration
 
Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:51:36 -0600 (CST)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Survival International - Dec 19, 2007
http://www.survival-international.org/news/2867

Urgent appeal for btrappedb uncontacted tribe in Latin America's 
Shrinking Rainforest

An urgent appeal to save an uncontacted tribe who are trapped in a
shrinking patch of rainforest will be made today to Latin Americabs top
human rights body.

The Cacataibo are the last uncontacted Indians in the central Peruvian
rainforest. They are surrounded by colonists and loggers who are
closing in from all sides, and a Canadian oil company, Petrolifera, is
set to penetrate their last refuge.

The uncontacted Cacataibobs plight is made even worse by the highway
that has split them into two groups. The highway connects the remote
Amazon to Perubs capital city, Lima, and since it was built in the
1940s it is believed that the two groups have not been able to meet
each other.  

The threat to the uncontacted Cacataibo is so serious that today an
urgent appeal is being made to the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights. The Commission is being urged to call on the Peruvian
government to suspend oil exploration on their land.

The appeal to the Commission will be made by the local indigenous
organisation FENACOCA, the Peruvian NGO Instituto del Bien ComC:n, and
the US-based Centre for International Environmental Law.

Survivalbs Director Stephen Corry said today, bThe desperate situation
in which the uncontacted Cacataibo now find themselves is tragically
emblematic of the plight of all uncontacted Indians in Peru. They are
literally being invaded from all sides, and contact is almost
inevitable. The Peruvian government must act now to stop the
uncontacted Cacataibo being wiped out.b

For more information contact Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or
email mr@survival-international.org

Carlos Soria at the Instituto del Bien ComC:n on carlossoria@ibcperu.org
or (+51)1 9130 0824/440 0006

Marcus Orellana at the Centre for International Environmental Law on
morellana@ciel.org and or (+1) 202 785 8700

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