UK government condemns British mining company Vedanta
Stop Vedanta in India | 12.10.2009 13:48 | Climate Chaos | Ecology | Social Struggles | Birmingham | South Coast
In an unprecedented attack on a major British company, the government ruled that Vedanta, ‘did not respect the rights of the Dongria Kondh’; ‘did not consider the impact of the construction of the mine on the [tribe’s] rights’; and ‘failed to put in place an adequate and timely consultation mechanism’. Devastatingly, it concluded, ‘A change in the company’s behaviour’ is ‘essential’.
The UK government today blasted FTSE-100 company Vedanta Resources over its treatment of the Dongria Kondh tribe in Orissa, India.
The damning verdict came after a nine month investigation into a complaint submitted by Survival International against Vedanta’s proposed bauxite mine on the Dongria Kondh’s sacred mountain. The complaint, upheld by the government, was brought under the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises – the key principles for ethical corporate behaviour.
Astonishingly, despite repeated requests from the UK government, the company ‘failed to provide any evidence during the examination’. This is the only time a company has refused to participate in an OECD investigation.
Info from www.survivalinternational.org/news/4980 who made the complaint.
To find out more about the campaign, come along to the public meeting this
Saturday 17th Oct 2-4pm LSE
Corporate murder, environmental crimes:
Vedanta plc, DfID and the Indian State
PUBLIC MEETING AND FILM SCREENING
Rm 302 Clement House, London School of Economics, The Aldwych, London WC2
(Map of LSE at
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/mapsAndDirections/findingYourWayAroundLSE.aspx)
Samarendra Das activist, film-maker and researcher will discuss these and related issues at a screening of extracts from his remarkable film Wira Pdika (Earthworm and Company Man) in which people from the Adivasi Dongria Kondh and Majhi Kondh communities, activists, singers and dancers, forest dwellers and fisher people speak about their lives and their struggles against Vedanta. If Vedanta are not stopped, the mine will destroy the Niyamgiri hills - known as the most beautiful mountains in India - wiping out the ancient civilization of the Dongria Kondh adivasi community who regard the Niyam Dongar mountain and forests of the area as their Gods. It will also lead to unprecedented environmental disasters, water pollution and mass unemployment.
The damning verdict came after a nine month investigation into a complaint submitted by Survival International against Vedanta’s proposed bauxite mine on the Dongria Kondh’s sacred mountain. The complaint, upheld by the government, was brought under the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises – the key principles for ethical corporate behaviour.
Astonishingly, despite repeated requests from the UK government, the company ‘failed to provide any evidence during the examination’. This is the only time a company has refused to participate in an OECD investigation.
Info from www.survivalinternational.org/news/4980 who made the complaint.
To find out more about the campaign, come along to the public meeting this
Saturday 17th Oct 2-4pm LSE
Corporate murder, environmental crimes:
Vedanta plc, DfID and the Indian State
PUBLIC MEETING AND FILM SCREENING
Rm 302 Clement House, London School of Economics, The Aldwych, London WC2
(Map of LSE at
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/mapsAndDirections/findingYourWayAroundLSE.aspx) Samarendra Das activist, film-maker and researcher will discuss these and related issues at a screening of extracts from his remarkable film Wira Pdika (Earthworm and Company Man) in which people from the Adivasi Dongria Kondh and Majhi Kondh communities, activists, singers and dancers, forest dwellers and fisher people speak about their lives and their struggles against Vedanta. If Vedanta are not stopped, the mine will destroy the Niyamgiri hills - known as the most beautiful mountains in India - wiping out the ancient civilization of the Dongria Kondh adivasi community who regard the Niyam Dongar mountain and forests of the area as their Gods. It will also lead to unprecedented environmental disasters, water pollution and mass unemployment.
Stop Vedanta in India