Nukak women and children in a resettlement camp in the Colombian Amazon. © Survival

Dear Jack,

The hunter-gatherer Nukak in Colombia, who have only been in regular contact with people outside their tribe since the late 1980s, have been driven out of their rainforest home, and desperately want to return.

Their lands are being violently occupied by various armed groups; by outsiders using the Nukak’s forest to grow coca for the cocaine trade; and by cattle ranchers who have deforested large areas. As if that were not enough, much of their territory is littered with anti-personnel mines.

This invasion of their forest has forced most Nukak out of their territory. They have been living in dire conditions on the outskirts of nearby towns, where a combination of malnutrition and diseases such as malaria have killed around half of their people. Many of their young people have become the victims of sexual exploitation, and drug addiction is an increasing problem.

They want to return to their territory so they can thrive once more as self-sufficient people  - but, given the dangers, will need the support of the authorities to do so. There is a new government in Colombia, offering a huge opportunity for change. The more those in power can see that the world is watching what happens, the greater the chances that this appalling injustice can be rectified.