The Crossbill News Desk
The international indigenous rights organisation Survival International has warned that the Indian government’s ambitious development plans for Great Nicobar Island could amount to genocide against the Shompen, a vulnerable and largely uncontacted Indigenous community.
In a detailed report submitted on April 15 to the United Nations, the organisation highlighted the grave environmental, ecological, and human rights implications of the Rs 72,000 crore megaproject, which includes a transshipment terminal, airport, township, and power plant.
The report, which will be presented to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and other relevant UN Special Rapporteurs, outlined that the Shompen community has not been consulted for their Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), a violation of international conventions.
The Shompen, categorized by the Indian government as a "Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group", are largely uncontacted and have repeatedly expressed opposition to outsider presence in their forests.
Quoting a Shompen woman, the report said, “Don’t come into our forests and cut them down. This is where we collect food for our children and ourselves. We don’t want outsiders in our forests.”
According to the report, the megaproject threatens nearly one-third of Great Nicobar Island, with half of the project area falling within the officially designated tribal reserve shared by the Shompen and Nicobarese. Forests within the reserve have already been denotified, preventing the Nicobarese from returning to ancestral villages destroyed during the 2004 tsunami. At least four Shompen settlements are close to the proposed development site, placing them at immediate risk.
The report warned of severe environmental damage, including the felling of millions of trees and the restriction of the Galathea River’s mouth by 90% due to the proposed port. This, Survival International argues, will alter the island’s upstream ecosystem, destroy pandanus trees vital to the Shompen diet, and may force inter-clan migrations, increasing conflict.
Population projections linked to the project suggest an 8,000% increase on the island, further threatening Shompen territories. Such an influx, the report stated, would raise the risk of disease among the Shompen, who have little immunity. It drew parallels with the experience of the Jarawa tribe, who faced health risks and exploitation following increased external contact.
“Through encouraging hundreds of thousands of tourists onto the island and building more roads and associated tourist infrastructure, there is also a considerable risk of “human safaris” taking place among the Shompen as has happened for years to the Ang (formerly known as Jarawa) people of the neighbouring Andaman Islands. Such exploitation is likely to increase the likelihood of epidemics, accidents, dependency of the Shompen on outsiders, and their exposure to alcoholism, sexual harassment and other traumatic experiences. All of these threats have been seen among other Indigenous peoples of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands who have had more sustained contact with outsiders,” the report said.
Survival International lists numerous legal violations associated with the project, including contraventions of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the ILO Convention, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Domestically, the project violates the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, and Article 338A(9) of the Indian Constitution, as no consultation was held with the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. It also breaches the 2015 Shompen Policy, which mandates the prioritisation of Shompen welfare in large-scale developments.
Highlighting the government’s double standards, the report noted that while Indian authorities rightly arrested an American tourist who illegally entered North Sentinel Island earlier this year, they are themselves imposing a “devastating” project on another uncontacted tribe.
Survival International has called on the Indian government to immediately abandon all current and future plans for the Great Nicobar project, re-notify denotified parts of the tribal reserve, and expand its boundaries to reflect the full extent of Shompen territory. It also urged that the Nicobarese be allowed to return to their pre-tsunami villages. The group has asked the United Nations to escalate the issue and requested that financial institutions and corporations withdraw from the project.
This latest report echoed earlier warnings. In February 2024, genocide scholars had written to President Droupadi Murmu, calling the project a "death sentence" for the Shompen. Most recently, in March 2025, the Association of Indian Primatologists flagged concerns about the Nicobar long-tailed macaque’s survival amid ongoing ecological degradation.
Despite repeated concerns from activists, scientists, and civil society, the Union government, including the Minister for Tribal Affairs, has maintained that the project will not adversely impact local people or the environment.
In a detailed report submitted on April 15 to the United Nations, the organisation highlighted the grave environmental, ecological, and human rights implications of the Rs 72,000 crore megaproject, which includes a transshipment terminal, airport, township, and power plant.
The report, which will be presented to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and other relevant UN Special Rapporteurs, outlined that the Shompen community has not been consulted for their Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), a violation of international conventions.
The Shompen, categorized by the Indian government as a "Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group", are largely uncontacted and have repeatedly expressed opposition to outsider presence in their forests.
Quoting a Shompen woman, the report said, “Don’t come into our forests and cut them down. This is where we collect food for our children and ourselves. We don’t want outsiders in our forests.”
According to the report, the megaproject threatens nearly one-third of Great Nicobar Island, with half of the project area falling within the officially designated tribal reserve shared by the Shompen and Nicobarese. Forests within the reserve have already been denotified, preventing the Nicobarese from returning to ancestral villages destroyed during the 2004 tsunami. At least four Shompen settlements are close to the proposed development site, placing them at immediate risk.
The report warned of severe environmental damage, including the felling of millions of trees and the restriction of the Galathea River’s mouth by 90% due to the proposed port. This, Survival International argues, will alter the island’s upstream ecosystem, destroy pandanus trees vital to the Shompen diet, and may force inter-clan migrations, increasing conflict.
Population projections linked to the project suggest an 8,000% increase on the island, further threatening Shompen territories. Such an influx, the report stated, would raise the risk of disease among the Shompen, who have little immunity. It drew parallels with the experience of the Jarawa tribe, who faced health risks and exploitation following increased external contact.
“Through encouraging hundreds of thousands of tourists onto the island and building more roads and associated tourist infrastructure, there is also a considerable risk of “human safaris” taking place among the Shompen as has happened for years to the Ang (formerly known as Jarawa) people of the neighbouring Andaman Islands. Such exploitation is likely to increase the likelihood of epidemics, accidents, dependency of the Shompen on outsiders, and their exposure to alcoholism, sexual harassment and other traumatic experiences. All of these threats have been seen among other Indigenous peoples of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands who have had more sustained contact with outsiders,” the report said.
Survival International lists numerous legal violations associated with the project, including contraventions of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the ILO Convention, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Domestically, the project violates the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, and Article 338A(9) of the Indian Constitution, as no consultation was held with the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. It also breaches the 2015 Shompen Policy, which mandates the prioritisation of Shompen welfare in large-scale developments.
Highlighting the government’s double standards, the report noted that while Indian authorities rightly arrested an American tourist who illegally entered North Sentinel Island earlier this year, they are themselves imposing a “devastating” project on another uncontacted tribe.
Survival International has called on the Indian government to immediately abandon all current and future plans for the Great Nicobar project, re-notify denotified parts of the tribal reserve, and expand its boundaries to reflect the full extent of Shompen territory. It also urged that the Nicobarese be allowed to return to their pre-tsunami villages. The group has asked the United Nations to escalate the issue and requested that financial institutions and corporations withdraw from the project.
This latest report echoed earlier warnings. In February 2024, genocide scholars had written to President Droupadi Murmu, calling the project a "death sentence" for the Shompen. Most recently, in March 2025, the Association of Indian Primatologists flagged concerns about the Nicobar long-tailed macaque’s survival amid ongoing ecological degradation.
Despite repeated concerns from activists, scientists, and civil society, the Union government, including the Minister for Tribal Affairs, has maintained that the project will not adversely impact local people or the environment.
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