Europa & Palestine News « Europa & Middle East News
Norway Excludes Israel from its Pension Fund
blogs.cfainstitute.org
The Norwegian Ministry of Finance has decided to exclude the companies Sesa Sterlite, Africa Israel Investments and Danya Cebus from the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), one of the world’s largest funds.
On the 13th of September 2013, the Ministry of Finance received a recommendation from the Council of Ethics to exclude the company Sesa Sterlite from the GPFG. The recommendation builds on an earlier recommendation to exclude the company Vedanta Resources Ltd. (Vedanta ) and two of its subsidiaries, which operate in India. The Ministry followed the Council’s recommendation to exclude Vedanta and its two subsidiaries in 2007.
Sesa Sterlite is a newly established subsidiary of Vedanta. The Council’s assessment is that the relevant operations in India, which are currently run through the company Sesa Sterlite, present an unacceptable risk of environmental damage and serious violations of human rights. The Council has regularly updated its assessment of Vedanta and the basis for exclusion is still considered to be present. The Ministry of Finance, in accordance with the Council’s recommendation, has decided to exclude Sesa Sterlite from the Fund’s investment universe, as well as to maintain the exclusion of Vedanta.
Both the establishment of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and the annexation of East Jerusalem are illegal under international law. This has been confirmed by numerous United Nations resolutions and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its 2004 Advisory Opinion on the Wall.The settlements violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the transfer of the Occupying Power’s own civilian population into the territory it occupies and the destruction of property in occupied territory.
Israel’s settlement activities breach cardinal rules of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), and may amount to war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, to which Norway is a State Party (and the provisions of which have been transposed into Norwegian domestic law). Moreover, by transforming the demographic composition of the West Bank, Israel’s settlement policy and its ensuing institutional practices of dispossession and displacement have led to the long-term denial of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people.
“Any firm involved in the construction of settlements is clearly contributing towards the expansion and maintenance of the settlement enterprise, while privately profiting from their activities” said Shawan Jabarin, General-Director of Al-Haq.
He added: “As a result, they are aiding and assisting in activities that support Israel’s violations of international law”. He concluded: “The Norwegian Ministry of Finance has recognised this and acted accordingly.”
In taking this decision, the Norwegian Ministry of Finance has acted upon the State of Norway’s obligation under Common Article 1 of the Geneva Conventions to ensure respect for international humanitarian law. All High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions are obligated not to recognise Israel’s internationally-unlawful settlement enterprise and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the illegal situation.
The move by the Norwegian Ministry of Finance follows a decision in January by the second-largest pension fund manager in the Netherlands, PGGM. PGGM withdrew its investments from five Israeli banks involved in financing activities related to the settlements located in the OPT. In making its decision, PGGM relied on the 2004 ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Wall, which confirmed that Israeli settlements in the OPT are illegal and constitute a blatant breach of international law.
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