Joseph Rowntree trust pulls out of Vedanta investment over human rights worries

The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust has sold its £1.9 million stake in Vedanta, saying it was seriously concerned about the Indian mining firm's human rights and environmental records.

The trust today announced it had sold its 77,600 shares in Vedanta, saying the firm was "destroying people's lives and creating irreversible damage to the environment".

Susan Seymour, chairman of the investment committee at the Joseph Rowntree Charitable 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 and believe Vedanta is pushing industrialisation to the detriment of the lives and lands of local people and at great risk to its own reputation.

"The company must realise that unless it makes significant changes soon, shareholders will continue to lose confidence in the company."

Joseph Rowntree acquired the shares in October 2008 and wrote to the company last May expressing concern over its treatment of tribal communities living in the Indian state of Orissa.

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."