500 signatures reached
To: Suffolk County Council Local Government Pension Scheme
Suffolk County Council LGPS – stop supporting war crimes
We, the undersigned, petition the Suffolk County Council (SCC) to develop a concrete plan to divest its Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) assets from any companies / investments which are included in or participate in, the following:
1. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) list of companies linked to Illegal Settlement in the Occupied West Bank.
2. The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee Sanctions List.
3. The manufacture /supply of weapons and military technology to the Israeli government for violations of international law.
4. The failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet net-zero targets.
We demand that the Pensions Committee and the Pension Board immediately draft and implement a concrete plan to divest from all the complicit companies, be it military, technical or financial, that have profited from the suffering of the Palestinian people.
Why is this important?
The recent humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza caused by the Israeli state’s relentless bombardment and the ever-growing climate emergency has thrown a spotlight on how local authorities invest their pension funds. Across the UK, campaigns are pressuring councils to divest from companies that promote and/or profit from these crises. Several councils have already made concrete divestment commitments - demonstrating that where there is the will, there is a way.
We believe that the SCC LGPS funds (comprising public money and the deferred wages of public sector workers) should not be used to fund, prop up or profit from human rights abuses, occupation, death and destruction. Properly planned ethical investment can ensure that a scheme is financially healthy and meets its moral obligations. The Suffolk Pension Fund works collaboratively with ten other pension funds, known as the ACCESS group. According to ACCESS Responsible Investment Guidelines ‘The Councils remain sovereign on all matters (particularly in relation to setting investment strategy)’. Therefore, funds being pooled should not be used as an excuse for inaction. Indeed, the Waltham Forest Pension Fund, part of the CIV pool, has committed to ‘work with other partners in divesting from the arms trade’.
Suffolk County Council invests pension funds in over 150 complicit companies with a total investment amounting to £241,034,350.98. Examples include:
· £2,292,600 in Airbus – a Dutch arms company linked to Israel.
· £262,330 in BAE Systems – a large British arms producer used by Israel.
· £1,081,840 in Barclays Bank – a prime dealer of Israeli government bonds that holds over £2 billion in shares in, and provides financial services (worth £6.1 billion) to nine companies supplying Israel with weapons and military technology used against Palestinians.
· £2,684,152 in Caterpillar – a US company that supplies the Israeli military with D9 bulldozers to clear roads and demolish Palestinian homes and infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza.
Anyone who lives, works or studies in Suffolk can sign the petition. You must be aged 16 or over to sign.
Anyone who lives, works or studies in Suffolk can sign the petition. You must be aged 16 or over to sign.
