| Activists seeking
a ban on antipersonnel landmines have employed many tactics over
the years including engaging companies that produce landmines.
During the 1990s, campaigners in the U.S. were successful in compelling
many arms manufacturers to stop producing landmines. Recently,
activists in Europe have joined the efforts of U.S. organizations
and sought to force banks and other organizations with financial
assets in landmine producers to sell their stakes.
Under the specter of new landmine production in the United States,
campaigners in Norway and Belgium have begun divestment campaigns
to stop companies from developing and producing components for
new landmines. Two landmines currently in development, Spider and
the Intelligent Munitions System (IMS), have the ability to detonate
by human contact and thus may indiscriminately harm civilians,
threatening countless innocent lives.
Use, possession of, or assistance in producing antipersonnel landmines
is a violation of the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty for its 149 signatories.
It is widely thought that holding assets in a company that produces
or develops indiscriminate antipersonnel landmines is in fact assisting
in the production of antipersonnel landmines, and thus in violation
of the Mine Ban Treaty. The Norwegian Government Pension Fund,
with many billions in assets, has funds invested with organizations
that support landmine producers. When asked to assess the legality
of the Pension Fund’s investments in lieu of Norway’s
obligations under the Mine Ban Treaty, the Council on Ethics of
the Pension Fund in 2005 ruled that investment in producers of
indiscriminate antipersonnel landmines would indeed be a violation
of the treaty.
Another divestment campaign, not directly based on a signatory’s
treaty obligations, is the Belgian NGO Netwerk Vlaanderen’s “My
Money. Clear Conscience?” campaign. Netwerk Vlaanderen began
its campaign by publishing a report in 2003 on the Belgian financial
institutions that hold shares in companies that produce components
for antipersonnel landmines and other controversial weapons such
as cluster and depleted uranium munitions. Its efforts have included
working with local political and governmental organs, national
parties, and banks to publicly state or clarify their positions
on landmines and investments in landmine producers.
In its policy related efforts, Netwerk Vlaanderen works to solidify
public consensus against landmines and encourages government officials
to speak out against anti-personnel landmines and landmine producers.
Hoping to force banks to renounce any existing and future investment
in landmine producers, the campaign has consisted of such public
actions as “demining” the bank AXA’s headquarters
and distributing a video of the demining.
Bowing to public concern on the issue, Belgium government banned
the financing of landmine production through investment funds in
2004. Subsequent legislation in Belgium partially banned investment
in landmine producers and obligated transparency on companies’ social,
ethical, and environmental investment criteria.
Find out more
Netwerk Vlaanderen
and its campaign
‘Campaign "My Money. Clear Conscience?" has
disarmed four large banks
The original report – “Clusterbombs,
Landmines, Nuclear Weapons and Depleted Uranium Weapons”
AXA invests heavily in new US landmine producers
Short Film "Demining AXA"
The Norwegian Government Pension
Fund
Council on Ethics of the Norwegian Government Pension
Fund’s
ruling on the legality of investments in antipersonnel landmine
producers
Spider and Intelligent Munitions System (IMS)
Spider information at the Pentagon’s Project
Manager Close Combat Systems site
Fact sheet on IMS from landmine producer General
Dynamics
Datasheet on IMS from landmine producer Textron Systems
Human Rights Watch report “Back in Business?” on
U.S. landmine production
Previous actions against landmine producers
Human Rights Watch report on U.S. mine producers |
