In focus: Survival International warns tribal peoples face extinction across the world

The survival of hundreds of thousands of tribal peoples around the world is at risk due to government policies that result in eviction from tribe land and the destruction of their ways of living in the name of progress.

IBTimes UK spoke with Fiona Watson, head of research at Survival International - an NGO that advocates for tribes' rights - on the importance of guaranteeing tribes' safety and how the international community can stop governments from negatively impacting their lives.

Tribal peoples are often considered backwards and primitive, but Survival explained that they are modern people who are part of our society and have chosen to live differently.

The NGO warned that racism against tribes is a threat to their survival and is the reason why dozens of tribal peoples are evicted from their lands and forced to live in relocation camps where they contract diseases and, often, die.

In a previous interview with IBTimes UK, Africa campaigner at Survival Mike Hurran warned that tribes such as the Kwegu in Ethiopia are at risk of starvation as governments' plans to build on their lands are destroying the habitat they depend on.

Hurran said that tribes are rarely consulted on plans to build on their lands and by ignoring their rights, governments violate both domestic and international laws, such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO's) Convention No. 169, which aims to protect tribal people.

Survival also condemned attempts to engage with uncontacted tribes, such as those in the Amazon forests, as this can cause the death of tribal peoples whose immune system cannot fight certain diseases such as flu, a leading cause of death among tribes in the past.

As part of their work of advocacy, Survival attended a major conference on 25 March on the illegal wildlife trade. The conference called for the recognition of tribal peoples' right to hunt for their survival.