Investors Helping Stop the Genocide in Sudan
April 19, 2007, 1:58 pm |
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By Andrew L. Jaffee
Conflict Securities found that 86 public pension funds collectively had $91 billion invested in 93 companies active in Sudan.
Arab paramilitary groups, backed by the Sudanese government, have been carrying out horrific atrocities against Black Africans in Sudan’s western region of Darfur. While all the high-paid diplomats at the UN sit around giving speeches and wringing their hands about the genocide in Sudan, the private sector has taken the lead. Today, one of the UK’s top companies took action:
Rolls-Royce Group PLC said that it will withdraw from Sudan, citing ‘increasing international humanitarian concerns’ in the violence-scarred region of Darfur.
In January:
Europe’s largest electronics and electrical engineering company [Siemens], will pull all business operations out of Sudan by mid-summer in light of the humanitarian conditions in the war-torn country, the company said Monday.
In 2005:
On Apr. 4, Harvard University said it would sell a stake estimated by The Harvard Crimson at $4.4 million in Beijing-based PetroChina Co. (PTR ), whose parent company is the leading player in Sudanese oil development. But more far-reaching moves are under way in state capitals. A bill that bars Illinois’ five pension systems from investing in companies with Sudan links sailed through the state senate on Apr. 14 on a 59-0 vote. Observers think it has a good chance of becoming law. That would light a fire under similar legislation showing up in states from New Jersey to California. “This is an issue that has real political legs,” says Jan Fetter-Degges, senior research analyst at the Investor Responsibility Research Center Inc., which analyzes shareholder issues.
Still, much needs to be done to reign in the Khartoum regime. If you want something done right, do it yourself. Read up on the great resource at the Sudan Divestment Task Force and write a letter to your elected representatives. You have a say. If your money is in a pension fund, stock, or mutual fund (use interactive map), then find out if it’s invested in Sudan. Tell management what you think. Tell your elected officials what you think.
Related: Sudan Monitor, Economy, United Nations (UN)