FTSE100 company Vedanta Resources faced vocal protests from Survival International and other groups telling the company to give up on their notorious Niyamgiri Mine in Orissa, India.
Vedanta was denied permission to mine in the Niyamgiri Hills, home of the Dongria Kondh tribe, who have been vigorously protesting against the mine. Now the issue has returned to India’s Supreme Court. At the company’s AGM (Annual General Meeting) on July 27, the company was told by protesters inside and outside the meeting to respect the stance of both the government and the Dongria Kondh and to give up on the Niyamgiri Mine.
Actor and Survival International supporter Michael Palin, who has visited the Dongria Kondh, said on July 27, “I am very disappointed that the decision to stop Vedanta’s mine by India’s Environment Minister is now being challenged in the Courts. Vedanta needs, once and for all, to abandon this ill-conceived project and respect the rights of the Dongria Kondh people.”
Several shareholders have disinvested a total of over US $ 40 million from Vedanta in protest over the Niyamgiri Mine Project and other concerns over the company’s human rights and environmental record. Asset manager Aviva Investors declared in advance of July 27 meeting that it would not support key AGM resolutions due to concerns over the company’s behaviour.
Stephen Corry, Director of Survival International, said, “When shareholders are disinvesting, and expressing serious concerns about company conduct, it’s time to reconsider policy. Vedanta should respect the resounding ‘NO’ from the Indian government and abandon the Niyamgiri Mine: it might go some way to righting its appalling human rights record.”
About Survival International
Survival International is a human rights’ organization formed in 1969 that campaigns for the rights of indigenous people and uncontacted tribes, seeking to help them to determine their own future. Their campaigns generally focus on tribal peoples’ fight to keep their ancestral lands, culture and their own way of living. Survival works for the people who they call “some of the most vulnerable on earth”. A part of their mission is to educate people from misconceptions that help justify violations of human rights against indigenous people, and the risks that they face from the advancement of corporations, governments and also good intentions based on an idea of “development” that is forced upon them. Survival believes that in fact their alternative way of living is not lacking, they represent a model of sustainability in the environment that they are a part of and they possess a rich culture from which we could learn. For more information, visit www.survivalinternational.org.
Source: Survival International.
