I am a member of Save Darfur Anchorage. We initiated the state divestment campaign. Janet laid out the basics wonderfully. Here are a few more details to supplement her informative letter:
If the targeted divestment legislation is signed into law. The Permanent Fund would have 90 days to create a list of "scrutinized companies." The PF managers can use existing FREE lists from the Sudan Divestment Task Force (SDTF) or any of the other 24 states that have already implemented Sudan divestment policies, or the PF can create its own.
The PF managers would then review our existing investments. Identify our holdings in companies on the list and, when found, submit letters of engagement to these companies. Templates for these letters and all mailing information can be obtained for free from the SDTF. The letters simply notify the company that the holdings will be sold because of their complicity in the Darfur Genocide unless the company stops its active business operations in Sudan.
If 90 days pass and these companies don't stop their operations, Alaska fund managers must begin the divestment of certain types of funds immediately. Depending on the type of fund and who manages it, the Permanent Fund Corporation will have 18 months (from the day the law is signed) to divest our holdings in these targeted companies. This allows the PF managers plenty of time to find a decent market so that profits will not have to be sacrificed.
Genocide is costly. The GOS, because of its external debt of almost $26 billion, is too broke to develop its own resources and is also ineligible to get additional loans from entities such as the World Bank until they pay off what they owe in arrears. The GOS, therefore, has to rely on foreign direst investment for money. About 70% of the export revenue provided by companies in the oil, power, and mining sectors is funneled into the government's military and janjaweed militia. These sectors provide at least 90% of the country's total export revenue.
The goal is to get these companies to stop providing money to the GOS, or at the very least, to get them to demand that the GOS return stability to the Darfur region.
Our links to the genocide are more straight forward than some realize. Two of the targeted companies that we have holdings in are Sinopec and CNPC Hong Kong. The Government of China is the majority shareholder in both of these companies. China is also, according to a recent report by Human Rights First, the leading small arms dealer to the Government of Sudan. China has provided approximately 90 percent of the Sudanese government’s assault rifles, machine guns, and the like since 2004. Between 2003 and 2006 China sold $55 million dollars worth of small arms to the government of Sudan.
Posted on March 23 at 9:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I am a member of Save Darfur Anchorage. We initiated the state divestment campaign. Janet laid out the basics wonderfully. Here are a few more details to supplement her informative letter:
If the targeted divestment legislation is signed into law. The Permanent Fund would have 90 days to create a list of "scrutinized companies." The PF managers can use existing FREE lists from the Sudan Divestment Task Force (SDTF) or any of the other 24 states that have already implemented Sudan divestment policies, or the PF can create its own.
The PF managers would then review our existing investments. Identify our holdings in companies on the list and, when found, submit letters of engagement to these companies. Templates for these letters and all mailing information can be obtained for free from the SDTF. The letters simply notify the company that the holdings will be sold because of their complicity in the Darfur Genocide unless the company stops its active business operations in Sudan.
If 90 days pass and these companies don't stop their operations, Alaska fund managers must begin the divestment of certain types of funds immediately. Depending on the type of fund and who manages it, the Permanent Fund Corporation will have 18 months (from the day the law is signed) to divest our holdings in these targeted companies. This allows the PF managers plenty of time to find a decent market so that profits will not have to be sacrificed.
Genocide is costly. The GOS, because of its external debt of almost $26 billion, is too broke to develop its own resources and is also ineligible to get additional loans from entities such as the World Bank until they pay off what they owe in arrears. The GOS, therefore, has to rely on foreign direst investment for money. About 70% of the export revenue provided by companies in the oil, power, and mining sectors is funneled into the government's military and janjaweed militia. These sectors provide at least 90% of the country's total export revenue.
The goal is to get these companies to stop providing money to the GOS, or at the very least, to get them to demand that the GOS return stability to the Darfur region.
Our links to the genocide are more straight forward than some realize. Two of the targeted companies that we have holdings in are Sinopec and CNPC Hong Kong. The Government of China is the majority shareholder in both of these companies. China is also, according to a recent report by Human Rights First, the leading small arms dealer to the Government of Sudan. China has provided approximately 90 percent of the Sudanese government’s assault rifles, machine guns, and the like since 2004. Between 2003 and 2006 China sold $55 million dollars worth of small arms to the government of Sudan.
Check out http://savedarfur-ak.blogspot.com for more information about the legislation and the Save Darfur campaign in Alaska.
On Profit from genocide