Shareholders and NGOs unite to press the Big 4 to encourage implementation of UNAMID

In August 2007, Amnesty International USA, the Genocide Intervention Network (GI-Net), and Calvert Group, Ltd. invited institutional investors -- including socially responsible investment companies (SRIs); religious investors who are members of the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR); large pension managers; and a few progressive mainstream investment companies - to come together and discuss how they could use their collective influence to push for change in Darfur through engagement and shareholder activism.

The result was a joint letter, sent September 24^th, 2007 and signed by institutional investors and NGOs, calling on the top 20 investment firms with holdings in the publicly traded subsidiaries and spin offs of the Big 4 companies with operations in Sudan: China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China Chemical and Petroleum Corporation (Sinopec Corp), Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India-Videsh (OVL); to exercise their shareholder rights to engage these companies in an effort to increase pressure on the Government of Sudan.

Each letter was accompanied by three enclosures: Enclosure 1 described the estimated holdings of the firm in the Big 4 companies, as reported to Bloomberg; Enclosure 2 provided a listing of other Sudan-linked companies, as identified by the Genocide Intervention Network; and Enclosure 3 provided a summary of possible engagement points that the firm could use to encourage the companies in which they are stockholders to be more responsive to the human rights crisis in Darfur.

»Download the full list of investment firms that received the letter

»Read an example* of the joint sign-on letter:
Cover letter to Citigroup | Enclosure 1|Enclosure 2|Enclosure 3

*Each letter was personalized based on the firm’s estimated holdings in the Big 4, as reported on Bloomberg. For more information about a particular firm, please contact us at corpaction@aiusa.org.

» List of signatories

Next Steps and Tracking Progress

The letter to investors was only a first step. To further reinforce our call for engagement, the coalition has been following up our letters with requests for meetings, and filing shareholder resolutions with targeted firms (dependent on stock ownership in those firms), requesting that firms establish policies to dictate how they will address investments in companies that operate in zones of conflict where egregious human rights abuses are occurring.

Check out our Progress Report to learn more about a particular firm and join Amnesty’s SHARE POWER Campaign to stay apprised of our Sudan shareholder activism campaign and find out how you can help lobby for support of these important shareholder resolutions.

Take Action

Take action now: send a message to the top 10 firms to make sure they know we mean business.

» Next: Previous attempts at shareholder activism