Lee, CA Reps Call on CalSTRS and CalPERS to Help End Genocide in Darfur with Sudan Divestment Plan
(Washington, DC) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), Ranking Member of the House International Relations Committee Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo) and 11 other members of the California Congressional delegation today sent letters to the CEOs and boards of the California Public Employees Retirement System(CalPERS) and the California State Teacher’s Retirement System calling on the public pension programs to develop a plan to divest from companies whose business in Sudan is supporting the Khartoum government’s campaign of genocide in Darfur.
“CalSTRS has failed to acknowledge the financial and moral risk in Sudan-related investments,” said the letter, citing CalSTRS refusal to divest holdings in the Chinese petroleum company, PetroChina, and the fact that over the past 6 months the fund has three times declined to take action to move in the direction of divestment. “The time has come now for CalSTRS to pull its considerable investments from companies with ties to the genocidal Khartoum regime. In doing so, CalSTRS will not only affect the pocketbooks of this brutal regime, but also will send a powerful message to corporations around the world that investors care about their ethics as well as the bottom line.”
According to the web site www.divestsudan.org, CalSTRS holds more than $5.8 billion in investments in 48 companies doing business in Sudan and CalPERS holds more than $7.5 billion in 44 companies.
Divestment of state pension funds and university endowments is considered by many to have played a critical role in ending apartheid in South Africa. In 1986, California passed legislation to divest CalPERS from South Africa. By 1994, when the first free elections took place, 114 states, counties and cities had adopted partial or total divestment policies.
Lee, Pelosi and Lantos were joined in sending the letter by Representatives George Miller (D-Richmond), Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), Howard Berman (D-Los Angeles), Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles), Linda Sanchez (D-Los Angeles), Sam Farr (D-Monterey), Adam Schiff (D-Pasadena), Hilda Solis (D-Los Angeles), Mike Honda (D-San Jose) and Pete Stark (D-San Leandro).
The letter comes on the same day that students and activists from the UC Divestment Task Force held a press conference and rally outside of a meeting of the CalSTRS Investment Committee in Sacramento, urging the fund to take action on divestment.
Earlier this month, the University of California Regents voted to divest the university endowment from companies doing business in Sudan, joining Harvard and Stanford and states like Illinois, New Jersey and Oregon that are divesting their endowments and public pension funds in response to the genocide.
Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, legislation to impose sanctions on Sudan that included an amendment authored by Lee articulating support for the growing divestment movement in the United States.
Lee is the most senior Democratic woman on the House International Relations committee, where she serves on the Africa Subcommittee, and has been a leading voice in the growing divestment movement. She has traveled twice to Darfur, first with Congressional colleagues and academy award nominated actor Don Cheadle in January, 2005 and most recently on a delegation led by Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi in February.
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April 6, 2006
Mr. Jack Ehnes
Chief Executive Officer
California Public Teachers’ Retirement System
7919 Folsom Boulevard
Sacramento, CA 95826
Dear Mr. Ehnes:
We are writing to request that you follow the lead of the University of California, several other university endowments, and state pension plans to develop a plan for Sudan divestment.
The numbers from Darfur are staggering: over 400,000 Darfurians have been murdered, over 2.5 million have been displaced, and nearly 70 percent of Darfur’s villages have been razed. The Khartoum government’s systematic policies of rape and denial of humanitarian aid serve as gruesomely effective tools in this genocidal campaign. Unfortunately, the situation in Darfur is not improving. The violence and killing continues unabated.
As you know, over a year and a half ago, on July 22, 2004, Congress first declared that the atrocities occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan constitute genocide. Several months later, the White House followed Congress' lead. In September of 2004, President Bush affirmed the position when he stated in an address before the United Nations General Assembly, `[a]t this hour, the world is witnessing terrible suffering and horrible crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan, crimes my government has concluded are genocide'.
In response to the recognized government-sponsored genocide, several respected universities, including the University of California, Harvard, Stanford, and Dartmouth and several states, including New Jersey, Oregon, and Illinois, have imposed varying restrictions on Sudan-related investments; numerous universities and more states have taken divestment under consideration. The state of Illinois’ recent implementation of its comprehensive divestment legislation, carried out in partnership with at least a hundred asset management companies, serves as a clear reminder that substantive divestment from Sudan is possible.
CalSTRS has failed to acknowledge the financial and moral risk in Sudan-related investments, refusing to sell the fund’s investment in the Chinese petroleum company, PetroChina, which has ties to the Sudanese government. Over the past 6 months, as the crisis in Darfur has escalated, the nation’s largest teachers’ pension fund has been presented with a number of opportunities to emerge as the nation’s most powerful voice for fiscal and moral investor responsibility, three times considering actions that would move the fund closer to Sudan divestment. The time has come now for CalSTRS to pull its considerable investments from companies with ties to the genocidal Khartoum regime. In doing so, CalSTRS will not only affect the pocketbooks of this brutal regime, but also will send a powerful message to corporations around the world that investors care about their ethics as well as the bottom line.
We fully recognize your obligation to sound investment of state pension funds and believe that California’s pensioners want and deserve genocide-free pension plans. In November 2004, several of us (Reps. Lee, Waters, Watson, Millender-McDonald, Lofgren) wrote to CalPERS requesting identification of companies doing business in Sudan and encouraging divestment from those companies. Since then, over 120,000 people have died of famine alone. We can not stand by any longer and allow Khartoum to continue to act with impunity.
We therefore urge you to take immediate action to develop and implement a plan to substantially divest from holdings in Sudan.
We look forward to your response and to working with you to ensure California’s pension plans are not passively supporting the genocide in Sudan.
Sincerely,
Barbara Lee Nancy Pelosi
Tom Lantos George Miller
Maxine Waters Zoe Lofgren
Howard Berman Diane Watson
Linda Sanchez Sam Farr
Adam Schiff Hilda Solis
Mike Honda Pete Stark
cc: CalSTRS board members
April 6, 2006
Mr. Fred Buenrostro
Chief Executive Officer
California Public Employees’ Retirement System
Lincoln Plaza North
400 Q Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Mr. Buenrostro:
We are writing to request that you follow the lead