A company in which the Church of England has a £29m shareholding will face allegations of human rights abuses and widespread environmental destruction as campaigners publish an ‘alternative report’ into its activities today.

On the anniversary of a historic piece of environmental legislation, the National Council of Churches USA hosted a candlelight vigil to recall the destruction caused by mountaintop removal mining.

An activist from the Yanomami people in the Amazon is to tell MPs at the Houses of Parliament that the world’s rainforests cannot be put under further pressure from multinational companies or illegal loggers and miners.

Civil wars in countries such as Angola, Sierra Leone and the Congo have often been funded by the sale of ‘conflict diamonds’.

Catholic aid agencies CAFOD in the UK and Development & Peace in Canada are calling on multi-million pound mining giant Goldcorp to ensure their San Martin mine in Honduras does not leave a toxic legacy when it closes at the end of 2009.

Representatives of communities in Colombia, West Papua and the USA are in London to challenge the claims of two of Britain’s biggest mining companies that their operations are sustainable and fair.

The Catholic Church in the Philippines is having significant success in its campaign against mining as the Church of England seeks to profit from the companies who operate there.

A report launched today in the UK will call for a moratorium on new mining in the Philippines. The Church of England however has a substantial investment in the companies which the report challenges.

British mining corporations supported by the UK government, such as Vedanta Resources, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, are complicit in human rights abuse while making huge profits in developing countries.