Undermining human rights

An Indian settlement built on mineral deposits is at risk from a mining company. As consumers, it is up to us to protect it

Bianca Jagger
guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 July 2009 09.00 BST

Today, shareholders of UK-listed mining company Vedanta will meet at its AGM in London to hear of the company's successes and look forward to the coming year. Things are looking good – despite the economic downturn last year's post-tax profits totalled £2.7bn and new projects are on the horizon. One of these, a new bauxite mine in India, has led Sitaram Kulisika, a member of India's Kondh tribe, to travel to London to address Vedanta's shareholders in an urgent attempt to save his tribal home and protect the livelihoods of his community. I'm appealing to them to listen to Mr Kulisika – before it's too late.
In May, a subsidiary of Vedanta received the green light to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri Hills, Orissa. The hills are home to the Kondh, an already vulnerable indigenous group who have lived there for generations. They rely on local mountain forests and streams to graze livestock and gather food, medicines and vital drinking water. The lush forests of Niyamgiri mountain are a pristine ecosystem of great conservation significance. So important is the local environment to the Kondh that they consider the mountain to be a living God and claim that their spiritual, cultural and economic wellbeing are embedded deep within it. They say that if the mine goes ahead, it will undermine their collective identity and way of life. In other words, it will strip them of their basic human rights, enshrined in national and international law. These are fundamental rights, which we would all fight for. Oppressed people around the world know this all too well.
Permission was granted for the mine after a four-year battle in India's supreme court. The recommendation of the court committee was that the project be halted. Their findings were highly critical of Vedanta's plan to mine in Niyamgiri. Despite this, Vedanta will begin mining within weeks.
This is not the first time members of the Kondh have come face to face with Vedanta's board. Supported by organisations such as ActionAid, the Kondh have continued their campaign locally and internationally. Last year, they were given an assurance by the chief executive of Vedanta that mining would not go ahead if their people opposed it. Since then, protests in the area have grown, yet the mining is going ahead.
The Kondh's message is clear – no amount of financial reward or relocation packages can compensate for the loss of their livelihood and their sacred land. As one villager said, "We will not leave Niyamgiri. Without our mountain, our god, there is no life for us." Sitaram Kulisika is here to remind Vedanta that the Kondh do not want the mine. His only hope is that Vedanta will respect their livelihood, their culture and their human rights and prevent the irreversible destruction of Niyamgiri. This struggle of indigenous people vs corporations and states, over ancestral land teeming with natural resources, is a significant global issue. Recently in Peru, hundreds of Amazonian Indians were wounded or arrested in clashes over oil and timber. Similar stories can be found across the world. I have campaigned on these issues for nearly three decades, so I speak from experience when I say that the Kondh tribe's battle to save their livelihoods illustrates the struggle for survival that indigenous people are facing in many parts of the world.
Vedanta's modus operandi is, unfortunately, not an isolated case. Many corporations operating in the developing world engage in serious human rights abuses, with total impunity. According to the UN, companies have a responsibility to respect human rights wherever they do business. It is absolutely scandalous that the local inhabitants should have to implore and appeal to the better nature of shareholders and company executives to protect their human rights, their homes and their livelihoods. Companies who violate this responsibility should be held accountable in a court of law. We urgently need an environmental court of justice to make these companies adhere to responsible corporate ethics. Plans for such a court are under way.
Currently the UK government does little to ensure that companies respect human rights overseas, leaving people such as Sitaram Kulisika and the Kondh of Niyamgiri ever more vulnerable. Until governments worldwide force companies to respect human rights, it is up to shareholders, consumers and ordinary individuals to hold corporations to account for their action. This may be our last chance to help the Kondh stop their way of life from disappearing altogether.