Targeted Divestment From Sudan
The Sudanese government depends on foreign investment to fund its genocidal campaign in Darfur. Revenue from Sudan's booming oil industry, for example, has been used to purchase or produce the military equipment Sudan uses against its own citizens.
Since 1997, U.S. sanctions have prevented U.S.-owned companies from doing business in Sudan, but many U.S. companies, mutual funds and individuals are invested in foreign companies who operate there. Targeted divestment focuses on the worst offending companies (generally in the oil, energy, mineral extraction or weapons industries) conducting business with Sudan.
Divest Yourself
Ensure that your personal investments are not inadvertently helping to fund the government of Sudan's war against the people of Darfur.
- Consult AJWS's personal divestment guide.
- Urge your company or organization to divest. Download a sample divestment policy.
- Submit a shareholder proposal for genocide-free investing to your financial institution. A proposal is easy to submit, allows shareholders to formally request a change in their company's investment policy, and forces the firms to ask for its customers' opinion. Our partners at Investors Against Genocide have made it easy for you to submit a shareholder proposal on genocide-free investing to your mutual fund or investment firm: http://investorsagainstgenocide.net/shareholderhelp2
- You don't have to be an investor to join the national campaign calling on mutual fund companies to make their investments genocide-free.
- If your college or university doesn't have a Sudan divestment policy, start or join a divestment campaign on your campus.
Sudan Divestment Resources
- Sudan Divestment Task Force
- Save Darfur Coalition
- PetroChina, CNPC, and Sudan: Perpetuating Genocide
- Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate
- InvestorsAgainstGenocide
- From Amnesty International, "Arming the Perpetrators of Grave Abuses in Darfur"
- From Human Rights Watch, "Sudan, Oil and Human Rights"
