For a genocide-free investing

By Jirair Ratevosian and Eric Cohen

"The Armenian Weekly", Volume 74, No. 13, April 5, 2007

Many would suppose that today, 93 years after the start of the Armenian genocide and 63 years after the end of the Holocaust, no company that values the public trust would attempt to profit from connections to genocide. Looking back, who would support the idea of investing in firms that sought to profit by selling Zyklon-B gas to the Nazis or machetes to the Ottoman Turks? Looking forward, who wants their savings invested in companies that help fund genocide?

Sadly, as we mark the beginning of the sixth year of the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, we are faced with the problem of ordinary investors having their hard-earned savings invested by mutual fund managers in companies that fund genocide. For example, Fidelity has been one of the largest holders of PetroChina, which, through its closely related parent China National Petroleum Company, is providing funding that the government of Sudan uses to conduct genocide in Darfur.

Thus, ordinary individuals, through their investments in Fidelity mutual funds, inadvertently invest in companies funding genocide. Since no policy prevents these investments, holdings in these problem companies may increase or involve additional funds in the future. Mutual fund investors cannot practically avoid investing in genocide, unless the fund makes a commitment to genocide-free investing.

Few of us are in a position to set foreign policy, and fewer yet are individually positioned to stop a genocide. Yet, each of us is responsible for doing that which we are able. Each of us can and must speak out. We can and must recognize genocide as the horror that it is and as a grave affront to humanity. Each of us can and must take responsibility for how we invest our family savings.

Can we influence mutual fund companies such as Fidelity to make a commitment to genocide-free investing? Yes, we can, through shareholder action. The Boston-based non-profit group, Investors Against Genocide, has submitted shareholder proposals to 56 mutual funds, giving hundreds of thousands of mutual fund shareholders the opportunity to cast a vote for genocide-free investing. Once the proposal passes, the mutual fund industry can become a bulwark against genocide, rather than one of its major financial supporters.

Fidelity shareholders now have the opportunity to vote on this unprecedented shareholder proposal concerning “oversight procedures to screen out investments in companies that substantially contribute to genocide.” Fidelity is recommending that shareholders vote against the proposal. However, we know that ordinary Americans, once they learn the facts, will vote to make their mutual funds genocide-free.

We cannot advance our interests by compromising our values. The true danger to our interests comes from failing to stand up for our values. Therefore, we must stand against genocide.

If you own mutual funds in your retirement plan or your savings account, you have a vote in the way your money is managed, just as you have a vote in a presidential race. Votes are being cast now for eight Fidelity funds with a shareholder meeting on April 16 and eleven more funds that will meet on May 14.

If you are a Fidelity shareholder, don’t discard your proxy ballot without checking it carefully. If there is a proposal referencing genocide, read the detail and vote “FOR” the proposal to make your mutual fund genocide-free. If you have discarded the proxy materials, or have already voted and want to change your vote, you can. You can revise your vote until the day of the meeting.

Votes with additional Fidelity funds and other major fund companies, including Vanguard, Franklin Templeton, and Barclays, will follow.

Even if you are not a mutual fund shareholder, you can help support genocide-free investing. You can help spread the word by telling your family, friends, and co-workers, writing letters to the editor, and helping leaflet at upcoming events in the Armenian community. If your employer has a Fidelity 401K or 403B plan you can help spread the word at your office about the opportunity for shareholders to vote.

Ethical investing may mean different things to different people. However, surely there is a minimum standard upon which nearly everyone agrees. We draw the line at investing in genocide. The shareholder proposal on genocide-free investing sets this minimum standard for all mutual funds.

Fidelity sought to prevent this proposal from coming to a vote, but its efforts to block the issue failed. Fidelity continues to oppose the proposal, and its opposition will also ultimately fail. As shareholders become increasingly aware, we are confident that the proposal will pass in the future. The reason Fidelity will fail is simple: Fidelity’s customers do not want their family savings and pension funds invested in companies that help to fund genocide, whether that genocide is occurring today in Darfur or somewhere else in the future.

Armenians, Jews, and unfortunately now Darfurians know the horrors of genocide well. From the first genocide of the 20th century to the first genocide of the 21st, we are obligated to act, lest we stand with the deniers. By voting for genocide-free investing, we can take a principled stand against genocide and genocide deniers to help ensure that such a human tragedy is never repeated.

Whether you own one share, no shares, or thousands, we hope you will become a voice for genocide-free investing. For more information on ways to help, visit www.InvestorsAgainst Genocide.org.

Jirair Ratevosian is the director of event planning at the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur. Eric Cohen is the chairperson of Investors Against Genocide.

Investors Against Genocide is a non-profit organization dedicated to convincing mutual fund and other investment firms to change their investing strategy to avoid complicity in genocide. The organization works with individuals, companies, organizations, financial institutions, the press, and government agencies to build awareness and to create financial, public relations, and regulatory pressure for investment firms to change. Investors Against Genocide is a project of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur, an alliance of organizations from across Massachusetts working to stop the genocide and protect civilians in Sudan.

For more information, visit www.InvestorsAgainstGenocide.org. For more information on the Massachusetts Coalition, visit www.SaveDarfurMA.org.