Ask UWO to Divest so the Killings End
- av: STAND UWO
- mottagare: University of Western Ontario Administration
In February 2003, the Sudanese government and their proxy militias, the Arab Janjaweed, began widespread attacks on non-Arab populations in the Darfur region of western Sudan.
The government is restricting humanitarian access, bombing villages, and working with the Janjaweed who poison wells, murder civilians, and rape women and young girls as a weapon of war. Since the atrocities began, up to 400 000 Darfurian civilians have died, 2.5 million have been displaced, and nearly 4 million people are reliant on humanitarian aid.
Despite international attention, violence continues in Darfur and the Sudanese government has been stalling the deployment of a peacekeeping force which could protect the most vulnerable. Since the Sudanese government relies very heavily on foreign investments, divestment, which is the selling of particular investments for moral or political reasons, is an effective means of pressuring the government to end the violence.
Targeted divestment does not call for divestment from educational, agricultural, religious, medical, or consumer goods related corporations, and therefore limits harm to innocent civilians while making it harder for the Sudanese government to fund their military campaign. By targeting only the worst offending companies that are not benefiting the Sudanese people, but rather the government, targeted divestment is our tool for change.
We, the students of STAND UWO, want the University of Western Ontario to officially ensure that they will no longer invest in companies contributing to the killings. We do not want to pay for or profit from this atrocity.
We, the undersigned call on the Board of Governors at the University of Western Ontario (UWO) to immediately divest from, and/or officially refrain from investing in, highest offender companies currently operating in Sudan which do not benefit the common good. Shares owned by the schools Operating and Endowment Fund in such companies have inadvertently funded crimes against humanity in Darfur. We also call on the Board of Governors to issue a statement stating the school refusal to invest in companies doing business in Sudan so long as the crisis in Darfur persists.
The Sudanese government depends on revenues from such corporations to fund the military expenditures of its corrupt leaders. Therefore, UWOs investments in these companies have assisted the Sudanese governments genocidal campaign against its own population in Darfur. This war has killed up to 400,000 Sudanese, displaced over 2 million, and now threatens regional stability as violence spills into the neighboring country of Chad.
As an academic institution that values human rights, UWO cannot ignore its own contribution to the crisis in Darfur. Divesting from holdings in companies listed as worst offenders by the Sudan Divestment Task Force will help to end the crisis. Let us neither pay for, nor profit from genocide.
Thank you for considering our request and we trust that you will make the right life-saving decision.
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