Anisha Sheth | The News Minute | November 8, 2014 | 2.15 pm IST
Researchers and experts have taken objection to the statement issued by Reporters Without Borders defending the actions of the two French filmmakers who made a documentary on the Jarawa tribe.
On November 4, international journalists' group Reporters Without Borders issued a statement, expressing outrage at 'Indian authorities’ brutal search, aimed at members of the Karen community in the Andaman Islands, for those who helped two French documentarians gain access to the prohibited lands of the Jarawa tribe.”
The French filmmakers Alexandre Dereims and Claire Beilvert filmed inside the Jarawa Reserve for around three years. They released a trailer of the documentary in October, which caught the attention of Andaman journalists. Consequent to media reports, the Andaman administration took legal action against the duo.
North and Middle Andaman SP Santosh Kumar Meena told PTI that the police had issued a lookout notice against them “for breaking the law of the land”. He said that once arrested, they would face trial according to law. “We have gathered evidence and witnesses against them which proves the case," he said yesterday.
Benjamin Ismaïl, head of the Reporters Without Borders Asia-Pacific desk said in the statement: “It is unacceptable for police to launch a witch-hunt to punish those who assist the media. The police are taking all measures, including use of violence, to find the guilty parties and obtain confessions. Officials have to recognize journalists’ rights not to reveal their sources.”
The statement has generated much debate in India, with many people questioning the position taken by the France-based international journalists’ group.
One of questions raised by many people, is whether or not Dereims and Beilvert are journalists. In the first paragraph, the statement refers to the duo as "documentarians", and throughout the rest, as journalists. According to her website, Claire Beilvert is a photojournalist who works on human rights issues in Myanmar, China, Japan and South Korea. No such information could be found on Alexandre Dereims.
Another point that has got many people talking is the manner in which RWB deals with the violation of the laws regarding the Jarawas.
RWB says: “Though it is true that they broke the law on protection of aboriginal tribes, the human rights issues raised by their documentary make it a work of public interest. Consequently, their actions may be justified under international law.”
Researcher and journalist Pankaj Sekhsaria says the RWB’s position is puzzling. "One does not understand how RWB can openly condone what it itself admits is an illegality on the part of the French film makers when they entered the Jarawa Tribal Reserve without the necessary permission. Further, how are we to know or assess the range of activities that the frenchmen indulged when they were in the restricted area and what short or long term impacts it might have on the Jarawa community.”
There is an irony in the statement made by Virginie Dangles, RWB programme director, who asks that the “officials respect the rule of law” in dealing with the Karen men, and in the same sentence asks for the charges to be dropped against the two journalists. However, it does not make the same demand for the Karen men for having helped the filmmakers to gain access to the restricted areas.
On the rights violations and alleged assault of the Karen men implicated in the case (and mentioned by the RWB statement), Sekhsaria says these need to be investigated: “If the Echo of India report is right about the police treatment of the Karen men in the case, it needs to be investigated, but the fact of the matter remains that they have violated the law if they have indeed entered the reserve illegally and taken the film makers in.”
Echo of India is an Andaman-based news publication, and first reported on all aspects of the issue.
The law establishing exclusive rights for the Jarawas over certain forests is premised on the understanding of the Jarawa community, which has been completely hostile to interaction with the settlers in the Andamans. Things only began to change in the last two decades.
Explaining the rationale behind the law, Sekhsaria says: “The Jarawa Reserve was created in 1957 in the belief that the community needed protection and complete access to the resources that they need and one might argue, have owned traditionally. Large parts of the Andamans and Nicobars have in fact been protected as tribal reserves in this manner and one can see why. The idea was that no unauthorised person should gain access to the land and the resources in the belief (one might argue rightly so) that this will endanger the rights and survival of the people.” This whole dimension Sekhsaria says, is a part of a novel he wrote recently, called The Last Wave.
However, among people who have followed developments regarding the Jarawas, the Andaman ecology, environment, tribal societies, the question of the Jarawa’s isolation is far from settled. There is much debate about how the government and other settlers should deal with the Jarawas and whether or not the government should attempt to bring them in contact with the rest of the world.
