Southwark Council to Divest from Companies Linked to Occupation of Palestine
Southwark Council has today (15th September) announced that the council’s pension fund will take steps to divest from companies profiteering from activities within conflict zones and countries linked to genocide.
The Liberal Democrats wrote to the Leader of the Council earlier in September, demanding that the council ensured that it had no part to play in the ongoing “humanitarian catastrophe” unfolding in Gaza. This follows similar steps taken by Liberal Democrat-run Kingston to assess its own pension funds.
Southwark Council will now embed the United Nations Genocide Convention into its investment framework, which will allow it to remove any investments from companies associated with genocide, as defined by the International Court of Justice.
The council will also divest from companies on the UN’s list of companies active in the occupied territories and complicit in human rights abuses, and call on the London Collective Investment Vehicle to take similar measures – both of which the Liberal Democrats had called for.
Commenting, Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Victor Chamberlain said:
“This is a welcome, if overdue, step from the council. It’s absolutely right that all avenues are explored to make sure that the council’s investments are consistent with our shared values of human rights.
We’ll be monitoring this closely to make sure that today’s commitments are followed through, and will continue to support the work of Liberal Democrats in Parliament who are fighting hard to ensure that the United Kingdom is taking as much action as possible to bring this humanitarian crisis to an end, a return of the hostages, and bring about a lasting peace."