Unncontacted Hongana Manyawa at a mining camp in Indonesia. (Image: Survival International )
Labour is under fire from a charity that has warned a new deal signed to mine nickel for electric car batteries could drive Indigenous people to extinction.
The Government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indonesia, giving it access to the nation’s vast reserves under a critical mineral agreement.
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But Survival International, a charity defending Indigenous peoples’ rights, said the deal is a death warrant for a group known as the Hongana Manyawa.
Many of the Hongana Manyawa have no contact with the outside world and live entirely in the rainforest on remote islands in Indonesia.
Express.co.uk has learned mining companies are destroying their forest home to get to the nickel deposits, and disease spread by workers is killing the Hongana Manyawa because they have no immunity.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the climate conference COP29 that Labour would fight for the rights of “wonderful Indigenous peoples”, and he said Indonesia had a "social forestry programme" to protect them.
But Callum Russell, Asia Research and Advocacy Officer at Survival International said the programme wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.
“Indonesia’s social forestry programme is not at all a benchmark for Indigenous rights whatsoever; the Indonesian government sometimes try to refute the presence of Indigenous people,” he told Express.co.uk
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Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy (left) at COP29 in Baku. (Image: AP)
“Our report shows the Hongana Manyawa are dying. We’ve got statements from genocide experts around the world saying they will be wiped out by the mining for electric cars on their territory.”
Survival International's report - Driven to the edge: How the demand for electric cars is destroying uncontacted Indigenous people’s lives and lands in Indonesia - highlights devastating mining operations for nickel in Indonesia are pushing uncontacted people like the Hongana Manyawa to extinction.
Indigenous peoples who have no contact with the outside world are vulnerable to mining operations because it often destroys their forest home and brings with it workers carrying diseases they have no immunity to.
When approached by the Sunday Express, the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) would not comment on the plight of the Hongan Manyawa but said the UK places a "high priority" on any critical mineral mining being carried out to "high standards of environmental, social, and governance (ESG)."
The FCDO added that the MoU between the UK and Indonesia, signed by UK Development Minister Anneliese Dodds for critical mineral mining, supported the development of a policy to promote ESG practices.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy made a speech at COP29 In November trumpeting how Labour would protect the plight of "wonderful Indigenous peoples".
The Cabinet Minister mentioned how his Windrush generation father loved Kew Gardens as it reminded him of the tropical forests of his native Guyana, and Mr Lammy revealed how he and his wife work alongside "groups of Amerindian people" in Guyana today helping to preserve "their rainforest".
However, Mr Lammy’s noble words seem at odds with the experience of the Indigenous people in Indonesia.
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Hongana Manyawa people with weapons spotted filmed by miners in Indonesia. (Image: Supplied )
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Ngigoro, a contacted Hongana Manyawa man, told Survival International: “If you want to buy nickel from a mining company, please first ask where it’s from. If it comes from Ake Jira in Halmahera, then please don’t buy it.
“Because the company…has stolen the Hongana Manyawa’s rainforest and home”
Another member of the forest-dwelling community said he still had family living in the rainforest. He said: “If we don’t support the fight for their rainforest, my uncontacted relatives will just die. The rainforest is everything, it is their heart and life.
“My parents and siblings are in the rainforest and without support they will die. Everything in the rainforest is getting destroyed now - the river, the animals, they are gone.”
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From her visit to Indonesia in September, Anneliese Dodds, Minister of State for Development and Minister of State for Women and Equalities, said: "I’ll be working with key figures in the Indonesian government to make progress towards those goals, securing key agreements between our two countries on development and critical minerals.
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Deforestation around mining in Indonesia (Image: mongabay.co.id/ Survival International )
"I will also learn how grassroots projects in Indonesia are empowering women and girls while encouraging sustainable stewardship of its abundant biodiversity and natural resources."
During his speech at COP29, Mr Lammy said: "I recognise you have been speaking up for decades. Fighting to be heard with your own heritage, and thanks to the many Indigenous communities that I have met over the last few years, I am all too aware that there can be a powerful sense that the system is rigged against you.
"But I hope that, as quickly as possible, we can turn things around. Ensure that your rights are protected under the law.
"And that you have the tools you need to make the right choices for you, for your communities and for your environment."
The FCDO added that a joint statement from Sir Keir Starmer and Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto had reiterated a commitment to the "promotion and protection of human rights"