UN Demands Halt to Great Nicobar Megaproject Over Human Rights Concerns

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has issued a formal call for the Indian government to immediately suspend its massive $10 billion development project on Great Nicobar Island. The UN body warned that the project threatens the survival of the island’s Indigenous population and demanded that the government pause all implementation until independent, comprehensive impact assessments are completed.

A Project of Unprecedented Scale

The proposed development plan for Great Nicobar is vast, encompassing a mega-port, a new international airport, a sprawling urban center, a power station, a military base, and an industrial park. The project aims to facilitate the arrival of up to 650,000 new settlers to the island—a move that would fundamentally transform the landscape and, according to critics, spell catastrophe for the Shompen, an Indigenous group living in voluntary isolation.

In its response to the committee, the Indian government acknowledged a significant legal and ethical hurdle: because the Shompen remain uncontacted, it is impossible to consult them or secure the “Free, Prior and Informed Consent” mandated by international law.

A Growing Consensus of Opposition

The UN’s intervention adds significant weight to a growing chorus of international criticism. Earlier this year, a coalition of 39 international genocide experts issued a chilling warning that the execution of this project could lead to the genocide of the Shompen people.

Caroline Pearce, Director of Survival International, welcomed the UN’s stance. “The UN has now joined the powerful chorus of voices raised against the Great Nicobar project,” Pearce stated. “All the independent experts who have looked at this have warned that it will be disastrous for the Shompen. No argument about potential economic benefits can justify inflicting a genocide. The Indian government, and interested corporations like the Adani Group, must listen and abandon this devastating scheme.”

Beyond Great Nicobar: A Pattern of Displacement

The CERD committee’s concerns extended beyond the specific threats to the Shompen. The committee also flagged the broader, long-standing practice in India of forcibly evicting Indigenous communities from their ancestral lands under the guise of creating tiger reserves.

The UN has urged New Delhi to halt these forced evictions immediately. Instead, the committee recommended a “human rights-based approach to conservation” that recognizes Indigenous and Tribal peoples as the rightful custodians of biodiversity, rather than obstacles to it.

As the pressure mounts from international observers and human rights advocates, the future of the Great Nicobar development remains in the spotlight, with the lives and cultural survival of one of the world’s most vulnerable groups hanging in the balance.