Rowntree trust sells shares in Vedanta over human rights fears

• Rowntree Trust sells its entire £1.9m holding in Vedanta• Bianca Jagger urges other Vednata shareholders to reconsider
Kathryn Hopkins
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 18 February 2010
Controversial mining company Vedanta Resources suffered another embarrassment today when the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust became the latest organisation to disinvest from the business.
Weeks after the Church of England sold its shares and Amnesty International wrote a damning report, the trust sold its £1.9m stake over concerns about Vedanta's approach to human rights and the environment.
Other investors which follow the trust's ethical policy, including the Marlborough Ethical Fund and Millfield House Foundation, have also sold their shares, taking the total amount divested to £2.2m.
Vedanta has come under fire over its plans to construct an open-cast mine on Niyamgiri mountain in Orissa, India. Activists believe it will destroy the area's ecosystem and threaten the future of the 8,000-strong Dongria Kondh tribe, who depend on the hills for their crops and water and who believe the mountain and surrounding forest to be sacred.
"The company has built a refinery at the foot of the mountain and the bauxite project is reported to be causing severe environmental damage at the expense of the local people," said the trust.
Susan Seymour, chair of the investment committee at the trust, said: "As a responsible shareholder we have serious concerns about Vedanta. We have heard first-hand about Vedanta's environmental and human rights abuses in Orissa and believe Vedanta is pushing industrialisation to the detriment of the lives and lands of local people. This behaviour may be legal but is morally indefensible. We have therefore decided to sell our entire stock in Vedanta."
The trust and the church follow other organisations which have disinvested. The Norwegian government sold its $13m (£8m) stake in 2007, Martin Currie Investment Management sold its £2.3m stake last year and BP's pension fund also reduced its holdings in Vedanta.
Meredith Alexander, head of trade and corporates at ActionAid, said: "The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust's welcome decision to sell its shares in Vedanta is a principled stand against a company under fire for its ethics. The bad news for Vedanta just keeps coming as more investors realise the truth behind the company's plans to mine Niyamgiri."
Human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger said: "The Kondh people's battle to save their livelihood illustrates the struggle for survival that indigenous peoples are facing in many parts of the world. The ecosystems on which they rely are being plundered by the reckless exploitation of many of the oil, gas, logging and mining companies. Their rights are being violated with impunity by some multinational corporations.
"While the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust's recognition of these abuses is a hopeful sign, The matter is not over yet. I appeal to the remaining shareholders to consider the human rights and environmental consequences, and reconsider their investment."
Vedanta had no immediate comment on the trust's decision.