Social media influencers pose a “new and increasing risk” for uncontacted indigenous folks, a generosity has warned after the imprisonment of a US holiday who travelled to a restricted Indian Ocean area.
Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, reportedly landed on North Sentinel Island in an obvious attempt to make contact with the isolated Sentinelese community, filming his attend and leaving a can of soda and a palm on the beach.
Survival International, a group that advocates for the right of cultural people, said the alleged action endangered the man’s personal life and the lives of the community, calling it “deeply disturbing”.
The US said it was conscious and “monitoring the position”.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands ‘ police chief HGS Dhaliwal told news agency Agency that” an British member” had been presented before the local court and was remanded for three weeks for “further questioning”.
AFP, citing Mr Dhaliwal, said Mr Polyakov blew a bell off the shore of the island in a bid to attract the attention of the community for about an hour.
He finally landed for about five days, leaving his services, collecting samples and recording a picture.
The police captain told AFP:” A review of his GoPro cameras images showed his access and getting into the limited North Sentinel Island”.
It is illegal for foreigners or Indians to travel within 5km ( three miles ) of the islands in order to protect the people living there.
According to police, Mr Polyakov has visited the place half before- including using an inflatable kayak in October last season before he was stopped by hotel personnel.
On his arrest earlier this year, the gentleman told officers he was a” fun seeker”, Indian media reported.
Survival International said the Sentinelese have made their wish to avoid outsiders clear over many years and underlined that such visits pose a threat to a community which has no immunity to outside diseases.
Jonathan Mazower, director for Survival International, told the BBC they feared cultural press was adding to the list of challenges for tribal tribal people. Some media studies have linked Mr Polyakov to a YouTube account, which features video of a recent excursion to Afghanistan.
” As well as all the significantly more established threats to like peoples- from things like checking and mine in the Amazon where most tribal peoples live- there are now an increasing amount of… influencers who are trying to do this kind of point for followers”, Mr Mazower said.
” There’s a growing social media fascination with this whole idea”.
Survival International describes the Sentinelese as” the most secluded Aboriginal people in the world” living on an island around the size of Manhattan.
Mr Mazower told the BBC an estimated 200 folks belong to the community, before adding it was “impossible” to understand its real number.
Some details are known about the team, other than they are a hunter-gatherer society who live in smaller towns and are “extremely healthy”, he said.
He added that the event highlighted why federal protections for areas such as the Sentinelese are but essential.
The UN’s Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention sets out obligations for governments to protect the rights. India’s government has an initiative focusing on tribal welfare, but the country has come under criticism in recent years for failing to protect against evictions.