In exercising their sovereignty, states have absolute autonomy over their territory and internal affairs as well as permanent sovereignty over their natural resources.<sup>41</sup> According to Varese, indigenous sovereignty involves “the recognition that there is no external supreme and absolute power over the indigenous community but that it is in the community, in the body politic that sovereignty resides.”<sup>42</sup> Shrinkhal writes that indigenous sovereignty grants indigenous people the right to self-governance and self-regulation and “and challenges the political and moral authority of states controlling indigenous population within their territory.”<sup>43</sup> Arguments against non-intervention on the basis of indigenous sovereignty assume that the imposition of “foreign” development policies on the indigenous tribes without regard for their own desires is tantamount to coercion and undermines their sovereignty. This argument is predicated on the understanding that indigenous tribes have some level of political autonomy and that by interfering with how they organize their community, the state apparatus undermines this autonomy.

# _Right to Health_

Another compelling justification for nonintervention is the respect for the right to health. Exposure of uncontacted tribes to other communities poses significant health risks for indigenous tribes.<sup>44</sup> Arguments against non-intervention for health reasons appear to have rationally considered the threat of exposure to pathogens and diseases which indigenous tribes cannot fend off. The recognition of the right to health under the Declaration reinforces this reasoning. Historically, members of isolated (and many not so isolated) tribes have taken ill when they came into contact with modern communities, causing mass deaths.<sup>45</sup> In 1880, following Britain’s declaration of Sentinel Island as a British colonial holding, two elderly people and four children were captured and sent to Port Blair.<sup>46</sup> All six captives fell ill shortly thereafter, resulting in the death of the elderly couple.<sup>47</sup> More recently, in 1996, after a group from the Jarawa tribe, one of the Andaman tribes, came into contact with the surrounding community, their tribe was ravaged by measles and other diseases they are suspected to have been exposed to when they came into contact with the modern community.<sup>48</sup> A more drastic example of the dangers of contact with indigenous people with the foreigners can be found in the instance of the Nukak. Between 1988 and 1998, following their contact with outsiders, more than half

> 41 Shaw, _supra_ .

> 42 Stefano Varese (2006), ‘Witness to Sovereignty: Essays on the Indian Movement in Latin America' (IWGIA - - - International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs), https://iwgia.org/en/resources/publications/305 <u>books/2645 witness-to-sovereignty-essays-on-the-indian-movement-in-latin-america.html</u> (last visited Jan 15, 2024).

> 43 Rashwet Shrinkhal (2021), ‘“Indigenous Sovereignty” and Right to Self-Determination in International Law: A Critical Appraisal’, 17 _AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples_ 71.

> 44 Survival International (n.d.), 'Uncontacted Tribes: The Threats' _Survival International_ ,

> <u>https://www.survivalinternational.org/articles/3106-uncontacted-tribes-the-threats</u> (last visited Dec 20, 2023). 45 Researchers estimate that the population of indigenous people in 1492 declined by 90% over the subsequent century. See <mark>Alexander Koch, Chris Brierley, Mark M. Maslin, and Simon L. Lewis (2019). ‘Earth system impacts of the European arrival and Great Dying in the Americas after 1492.</mark> ’ _<mark>Quaternary Science Reviews</mark>_ <mark>207: 13-36.</mark> 46 Kiona N. Smith (2018), ‘Everything We Know About The Isolated Sentinelese People Of North Sentinel Island’, _Forbes_ , https://www.forbes.com/sites/kionasmith/2018/11/30/everything-we-know-about-the-isolated-sentinelese- <u>people-of-north-sentinel-island/?sh=2cbb590c35a0 (last visited May 5, 2023).</u>

> 47 _Id._

> 48 Michael Safi (2018) ‘Sentinel Island’s 'Peace-Loving' Tribe Had Centuries of Reasons to Fear Missionary’, _The Guardian_ , Nov. 30, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/nov/30/sentinelese-tribe-who-killed- <u>american-are-peace-loving-say-anthropologists (last visited May 4, 2023).</u>

8