4 dec 2019
An advisory committee, in place to monitor and recommend the investment policies of Brown University in Rhode Island voted, on Monday, to divest from companies participating in the continued subjugation of Palestinians, the Middle East Eye reported.
The successful passing of the resolution by the university’s Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Policies (ACCRIP) paves the way for activists to pressure the university to withdraw support for companies “facilitating the [Israeli] occupation and its human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza”.
Brown Divest, a coalition of undergraduate students at the forefront of the push to withdraw investments from companies operating in the occupied territories released a statement;
“Today, ACCRIP made Brown the first Ivy League University to officially call for divestment from companies that are facilitating the occupation and its human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza. We look forward to other universities joining the movement for dignity and human rights for Palestinians,”
According to the statement, the advisory committee – made up of faculty, students, staff and alumni of the University – voted on the following motion:
“We recommend that the Brown Corporation exclude from Brown’s direct investments, and require Brown’s separate account investment managers to exclude from their direct investments, companies identified as facilitating human rights violations in Palestine,” the resolution read.
“In addition, the Investment Office will share with all investment managers the University’s desire to adhere to this investment philosophy. We recommend that the Corporation and Brown’s separate account investment managers maintain the withdrawal of investments from said companies until they cease to engage in social harm … ”
A Divest Brown spokesperson said that given that the ACCRIP recommendation is the official channel for divestment, for the recommendation to be implemented, Brown Corporation – which is how the university’s governing body is referred to – has to approve it.
“We will continue to hold the University and the Brown Corporation accountable to the will of the students and the ACCRIP committee to divest from these holdings. In the past, ACCRIP has recommended divestment from genocide in Sudan and the tobacco industry, following which the Corporation divested from complicit companies,” the spokesperson said.
Non-Binding Resolution
Brian E. Clark, a university spokesperson, clarified that the resolution was not binding.
“The committee is an advisory body. It was a vote to submit to the Brown University president a recommendation on divestment. There has been no Brown University decision or action to divest from companies ‘facilitating human rights violations in Palestine’,” said Clarke.
A student at Brown associated with the activist group Social Justice with Palestine (SJP), said that although the development was significant, it was anticipated that it would be harder to get the resolution passed by the university’s governing body than previous resolutions targeting companies complicit in human rights abuses in Sudan.
In a tweet, Monday, the Brown University Divest group said, “We expect the Brown University Corporation to divest from these companies (including Caterpillar, Motorola, Boeing, Raytheon, and more). In March, 69% of undergraduate student voters voted for divestment, and now Brown’s corporate responsibility in investments committee has too.”
News of the vote was immediately lauded by activists and academics who have long argued for a Boycott Divestment and Sanction (BDS) campaign against Israel on US campuses.
Student activists associated with Students for Justice in Palestine at Harvard University and Columbia University in New Yorkeach stated that the move was significant because it would set the tone for similar resolutions at other universities around the country.
Palestine Legal, an organisation that provides support and advocacy for Palestinian rights activists in the US, passed on their congratulations and said they were “committed to supporting students around the country in their pursuit of justice for Palestine.”
Moreover, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), the Jewish-American organisation that works for an end to the Israeli occupation, said they found the student activism inspiring.
‘Decisive Stance’
A spokesperson for Divest Brown said that ACCRIP would now work towards implementing the resolution.
“We already provided the list of companies, with additional information, that ACCRIP will review, which include Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, Oaktree Capital Management, AB Volvo, Motorola, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, United Technologies, and G4S,” the spokesperson said.
“This referendum not only represents a decisive stance on this issue, but a years-long mobilisation and unification of a diverse coalition of student groups around this campus,” Divest Brown said.
At the time, Brown joined Swarthmore, NYU, UCLA, George Washington University and others who have had similar successful campaigns.
While a number of university student bodies have passed resolutions calling for divestment, only Hampshire College has so far implemented the said resolutions.
The successful passing of the resolution by the university’s Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Policies (ACCRIP) paves the way for activists to pressure the university to withdraw support for companies “facilitating the [Israeli] occupation and its human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza”.
Brown Divest, a coalition of undergraduate students at the forefront of the push to withdraw investments from companies operating in the occupied territories released a statement;
“Today, ACCRIP made Brown the first Ivy League University to officially call for divestment from companies that are facilitating the occupation and its human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza. We look forward to other universities joining the movement for dignity and human rights for Palestinians,”
According to the statement, the advisory committee – made up of faculty, students, staff and alumni of the University – voted on the following motion:
“We recommend that the Brown Corporation exclude from Brown’s direct investments, and require Brown’s separate account investment managers to exclude from their direct investments, companies identified as facilitating human rights violations in Palestine,” the resolution read.
“In addition, the Investment Office will share with all investment managers the University’s desire to adhere to this investment philosophy. We recommend that the Corporation and Brown’s separate account investment managers maintain the withdrawal of investments from said companies until they cease to engage in social harm … ”
A Divest Brown spokesperson said that given that the ACCRIP recommendation is the official channel for divestment, for the recommendation to be implemented, Brown Corporation – which is how the university’s governing body is referred to – has to approve it.
“We will continue to hold the University and the Brown Corporation accountable to the will of the students and the ACCRIP committee to divest from these holdings. In the past, ACCRIP has recommended divestment from genocide in Sudan and the tobacco industry, following which the Corporation divested from complicit companies,” the spokesperson said.
Non-Binding Resolution
Brian E. Clark, a university spokesperson, clarified that the resolution was not binding.
“The committee is an advisory body. It was a vote to submit to the Brown University president a recommendation on divestment. There has been no Brown University decision or action to divest from companies ‘facilitating human rights violations in Palestine’,” said Clarke.
A student at Brown associated with the activist group Social Justice with Palestine (SJP), said that although the development was significant, it was anticipated that it would be harder to get the resolution passed by the university’s governing body than previous resolutions targeting companies complicit in human rights abuses in Sudan.
In a tweet, Monday, the Brown University Divest group said, “We expect the Brown University Corporation to divest from these companies (including Caterpillar, Motorola, Boeing, Raytheon, and more). In March, 69% of undergraduate student voters voted for divestment, and now Brown’s corporate responsibility in investments committee has too.”
News of the vote was immediately lauded by activists and academics who have long argued for a Boycott Divestment and Sanction (BDS) campaign against Israel on US campuses.
Student activists associated with Students for Justice in Palestine at Harvard University and Columbia University in New Yorkeach stated that the move was significant because it would set the tone for similar resolutions at other universities around the country.
Palestine Legal, an organisation that provides support and advocacy for Palestinian rights activists in the US, passed on their congratulations and said they were “committed to supporting students around the country in their pursuit of justice for Palestine.”
Moreover, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), the Jewish-American organisation that works for an end to the Israeli occupation, said they found the student activism inspiring.
‘Decisive Stance’
A spokesperson for Divest Brown said that ACCRIP would now work towards implementing the resolution.
“We already provided the list of companies, with additional information, that ACCRIP will review, which include Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, Oaktree Capital Management, AB Volvo, Motorola, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, United Technologies, and G4S,” the spokesperson said.
“This referendum not only represents a decisive stance on this issue, but a years-long mobilisation and unification of a diverse coalition of student groups around this campus,” Divest Brown said.
At the time, Brown joined Swarthmore, NYU, UCLA, George Washington University and others who have had similar successful campaigns.
While a number of university student bodies have passed resolutions calling for divestment, only Hampshire College has so far implemented the said resolutions.
29 nov 2019
Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) / France
AXA invests hundreds of millions of dollars in fossil fuels, insures polluting businesses, and invests $91 million in Israel’s weapons and its expanding settlements, which destroy the environment.
The 4th global Climate Strike today falls on the same day as the UN Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People. This coincidence reflects an important reality – Palestine is also a climate justice issue.
Today, groups worldwide are joining mobilisations challenging the climate crisis, demanding an end to fossil fuel use and climate justice for all. Many are also demanding an end to Israel’s climate apartheid.
Both the climate crisis and Israeli apartheid are fueled by governments and corporations that put profit before people and planet. The French insurance giant AXA is one example.
Tell AXA: Divest from Israel’s colonial regime and from fossil fuels destroying the planet
Though AXA has just pledged new commitments and policies on coal, it still invests hundreds of millions of dollars in fossil fuels and insures polluting businesses. AXA claims to respect human rights but invests $91 million [pdf] in Israel’s largest private arms company, Elbit Systems, and in five Israeli banks which finance Israel’s illegal settlements. Israel’s weapons and its expanding settlements destroy the environment.
Indigenous Palestinians, living under Israeli occupation and apartheid, have no control over our land or natural resources. Israel’s illegal settlements consume six times more water than Palestinians, and since 1967, Israel has uprooted 800,000 olive trees.
Remind AXA: We won’t stop mobilising until it fully divests from Israeli apartheid and fossil fuels
Israeli apartheid is not green. 97.7% of Israel’s electricity comes from fossil fuels. Warfare, a pillar of Israel’s economy, is one of the world’s most polluting industries.
The struggles against racism and militarization, and for climate, economic and social justice are profoundly interconnected. Join mobilisations on November 29th to call for respect of Palestinian rights and an end to fossil fuel use.
Human Interest 11/28/19 Visit to Al Fawwar Refugee Camp, Hebron, Palestine, June 2019
AXA invests hundreds of millions of dollars in fossil fuels, insures polluting businesses, and invests $91 million in Israel’s weapons and its expanding settlements, which destroy the environment.
The 4th global Climate Strike today falls on the same day as the UN Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People. This coincidence reflects an important reality – Palestine is also a climate justice issue.
Today, groups worldwide are joining mobilisations challenging the climate crisis, demanding an end to fossil fuel use and climate justice for all. Many are also demanding an end to Israel’s climate apartheid.
Both the climate crisis and Israeli apartheid are fueled by governments and corporations that put profit before people and planet. The French insurance giant AXA is one example.
Tell AXA: Divest from Israel’s colonial regime and from fossil fuels destroying the planet
Though AXA has just pledged new commitments and policies on coal, it still invests hundreds of millions of dollars in fossil fuels and insures polluting businesses. AXA claims to respect human rights but invests $91 million [pdf] in Israel’s largest private arms company, Elbit Systems, and in five Israeli banks which finance Israel’s illegal settlements. Israel’s weapons and its expanding settlements destroy the environment.
Indigenous Palestinians, living under Israeli occupation and apartheid, have no control over our land or natural resources. Israel’s illegal settlements consume six times more water than Palestinians, and since 1967, Israel has uprooted 800,000 olive trees.
Remind AXA: We won’t stop mobilising until it fully divests from Israeli apartheid and fossil fuels
Israeli apartheid is not green. 97.7% of Israel’s electricity comes from fossil fuels. Warfare, a pillar of Israel’s economy, is one of the world’s most polluting industries.
The struggles against racism and militarization, and for climate, economic and social justice are profoundly interconnected. Join mobilisations on November 29th to call for respect of Palestinian rights and an end to fossil fuel use.
Human Interest 11/28/19 Visit to Al Fawwar Refugee Camp, Hebron, Palestine, June 2019
28 nov 2019
Research released by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign on the week of the United Nations ‘Day of Solidarity’ with The Palestinian people, has estimated that universities in the United Kingdom invest over £450,000,000 in companies complicit in Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights, including through supplying weapons and technology to the Israeli military, and investing in Israel’s illegal settlement economy.
The research has been released as a database available to students and members of the public, the Palestine News Network reported.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) conducted the research by sending Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to all 151 UK universities, asking about the market value of their direct investments, as well as their investments in funds.
With this information, alongside data from Bloomberg International’s database containing the holdings of major investment funds, PSC has established the investments of 44 UK Universities in complicit companies, which totals at least £129,239,973.60.
From this information PSC has calculated an average “complicity percentage” for the sector and applied it to the 53 universities who refused to hand over information on their investments to create an overall projection for the entire sector.
The release of the exclusive research comes as students across the country hold protests and rallies as part of a national ‘Apartheid Off Campus’ day of action, seeking to highlight how universities’ investment and partnership policies tacitly support and enable Israel’s ongoing violations of international law and human rights.
One example highlighted by students is the University of Manchester’s ongoing investment in the company Caterpillar, which supplies the armoured bulldozers for the Israeli army to demolish Palestinian homes, schools, olive groves and communities.
Campaigns Officer at PSC, Huda Ammori said: “Israel’s well-documented oppression of the Palestinian people, amounting to the crime of apartheid under international law, can only be maintained because companies continue to provide weapons and other support to the Israeli military, and invest in Israel’s illegal settlement industry.”
“It is shocking that UK Universities fuel Israel’s human rights abuses by investing in such companies, despite the majority holding so-called ethical investment policies. We will continue to support students across the UK in taking action to demand that their institutions divest from complicit companies, and get apartheid off campus.”
Mohammed Ali, President of Kings College London Action Palestine, said: “As a Palestinian student, I am disgusted to find out that my institution has complicit links with Israeli apartheid. We will continue to campaign with students across the country to demand our universities abide by their ethical policies, and remove all links with companies and institutions complicit in human rights abuses.”
The research has been released as a database available to students and members of the public, the Palestine News Network reported.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) conducted the research by sending Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to all 151 UK universities, asking about the market value of their direct investments, as well as their investments in funds.
With this information, alongside data from Bloomberg International’s database containing the holdings of major investment funds, PSC has established the investments of 44 UK Universities in complicit companies, which totals at least £129,239,973.60.
From this information PSC has calculated an average “complicity percentage” for the sector and applied it to the 53 universities who refused to hand over information on their investments to create an overall projection for the entire sector.
The release of the exclusive research comes as students across the country hold protests and rallies as part of a national ‘Apartheid Off Campus’ day of action, seeking to highlight how universities’ investment and partnership policies tacitly support and enable Israel’s ongoing violations of international law and human rights.
One example highlighted by students is the University of Manchester’s ongoing investment in the company Caterpillar, which supplies the armoured bulldozers for the Israeli army to demolish Palestinian homes, schools, olive groves and communities.
Campaigns Officer at PSC, Huda Ammori said: “Israel’s well-documented oppression of the Palestinian people, amounting to the crime of apartheid under international law, can only be maintained because companies continue to provide weapons and other support to the Israeli military, and invest in Israel’s illegal settlement industry.”
“It is shocking that UK Universities fuel Israel’s human rights abuses by investing in such companies, despite the majority holding so-called ethical investment policies. We will continue to support students across the UK in taking action to demand that their institutions divest from complicit companies, and get apartheid off campus.”
Mohammed Ali, President of Kings College London Action Palestine, said: “As a Palestinian student, I am disgusted to find out that my institution has complicit links with Israeli apartheid. We will continue to campaign with students across the country to demand our universities abide by their ethical policies, and remove all links with companies and institutions complicit in human rights abuses.”
26 nov 2019
Human Rights Watch will keep documenting abuses despite the Israeli government’s expulsion of the Israel and Palestine director of Human Rights Watch on November 25, 2019.
The deportation reflects the authorities’ intensifying assault on human rights. The director, Omar Shakir, will depart tonight after Israel’s Supreme Court upheld the government’s deportation order on November 5 and gave him until November 25 to leave.
Human Rights Watch’s work on human rights abuses committed by Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas will continue under Shakir’s direction. He will be based in another Human Rights Watch office in the region, PNN reports.
“Israel today joins the likes of Venezuela, Iran, and Egypt in barring Human Rights Watch researchers, but it, too, will not succeed in hiding its human rights abuses,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, who will accompany Shakir as he leaves Israel.
“This decision shows why the international community must reboot its approach to Israel’s deteriorating human rights record. A government that expels a leading human rights investigator is not likely to stop its systematic oppression of Palestinians under occupation without much greater international pressure.”
Israel revoked the work visa of Shakir, a United States citizen, in May 2018 on the asserted grounds that his advocacy violated a 2017 law that bars entry to people who advocate a boycott of Israel or its settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Neither Human Rights Watch nor Shakir as its representative has ever called for a boycott of Israel.
Human Rights Watch has urged businesses to stop operating in illegal settlements as part of their global duty to avoid complicity in human rights abuses – just as it calls on businesses to comply with this duty in many other countries.
A district court in April, and then the Israeli Supreme Court, found that this position constitutes grounds for deportation under an expansive reading of the 2017 law.
The Supreme Court did not address Human Rights Watch’s challenge to the constitutionality of that law, including the implications that it will chill the speech of those who disagree with government policies.
Recently, Israeli authorities have sought to undermine the work of human rights activists, including denying entry to a number of other international rights defenders, maligning Israeli rights advocates, imposing burdensome financial reporting requirements on them, and raiding the offices of and arresting Palestinian rights defenders.
In October, Israeli authorities prevented an Amnesty International staff member from traveling out of the occupied West Bank for undisclosed “security reasons.”
This is the first time the government has used the 2017 law to try to deport someone who is lawfully inside Israel and the first time it has ordered a Human Rights Watch staff member to leave in the organization’s 30 years of working in the country.
“Today, Israel deports Shakir because Human Rights Watch urges businesses to shun illegal settlements,” said Roth. “Who’s next – someone who calls for the International Criminal Court to examine possible crimes in Israel and Palestine or correctly calls the West Bank ‘occupied’ rather than ‘disputed’?”
The deportation reflects the authorities’ intensifying assault on human rights. The director, Omar Shakir, will depart tonight after Israel’s Supreme Court upheld the government’s deportation order on November 5 and gave him until November 25 to leave.
Human Rights Watch’s work on human rights abuses committed by Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas will continue under Shakir’s direction. He will be based in another Human Rights Watch office in the region, PNN reports.
“Israel today joins the likes of Venezuela, Iran, and Egypt in barring Human Rights Watch researchers, but it, too, will not succeed in hiding its human rights abuses,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, who will accompany Shakir as he leaves Israel.
“This decision shows why the international community must reboot its approach to Israel’s deteriorating human rights record. A government that expels a leading human rights investigator is not likely to stop its systematic oppression of Palestinians under occupation without much greater international pressure.”
Israel revoked the work visa of Shakir, a United States citizen, in May 2018 on the asserted grounds that his advocacy violated a 2017 law that bars entry to people who advocate a boycott of Israel or its settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Neither Human Rights Watch nor Shakir as its representative has ever called for a boycott of Israel.
Human Rights Watch has urged businesses to stop operating in illegal settlements as part of their global duty to avoid complicity in human rights abuses – just as it calls on businesses to comply with this duty in many other countries.
A district court in April, and then the Israeli Supreme Court, found that this position constitutes grounds for deportation under an expansive reading of the 2017 law.
The Supreme Court did not address Human Rights Watch’s challenge to the constitutionality of that law, including the implications that it will chill the speech of those who disagree with government policies.
Recently, Israeli authorities have sought to undermine the work of human rights activists, including denying entry to a number of other international rights defenders, maligning Israeli rights advocates, imposing burdensome financial reporting requirements on them, and raiding the offices of and arresting Palestinian rights defenders.
In October, Israeli authorities prevented an Amnesty International staff member from traveling out of the occupied West Bank for undisclosed “security reasons.”
This is the first time the government has used the 2017 law to try to deport someone who is lawfully inside Israel and the first time it has ordered a Human Rights Watch staff member to leave in the organization’s 30 years of working in the country.
“Today, Israel deports Shakir because Human Rights Watch urges businesses to shun illegal settlements,” said Roth. “Who’s next – someone who calls for the International Criminal Court to examine possible crimes in Israel and Palestine or correctly calls the West Bank ‘occupied’ rather than ‘disputed’?”
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