We all know that the corporate world is not a compassionate beast and it will try to squeeze a profit out of anything, including wars, death and destruction. However there must be limits and making investments in cluster bombs when over 100 countries have banned them, is surely the bottom of the barrel, even for the greed merchants in the corporate world.
The following appeal is from Amnesty International.
Cluster bombs kill and maim
indiscriminately – 98 per cent of victims are civilians and a third of those are
children. This is why over 100 countries – including the UK – have signed up
to an international treaty banning their manufacture and use.
Yet over a year after this
treaty came into force, and despite the fact that cluster bombs are now banned
in the UK, some UK-based banks continue to invest in companies which make
them.
The worst of these is the
Royal Bank of Scotland – which, don’t forget, is now over 80 per cent owned
by UK taxpayers. RBS is known to have invested $80 million in companies which
manufacture cluster bombs in the past year1.
Cluster bombs can remain deadly
for years, much like landmines. So civilians in places like Georgia,
Kosovo, Lebanon and Laos are at risk long after the fighting has ended. As a
member of the global Cluster Munition Coalition2, we’re working to
end the suffering cluster bombs cause. But we need organisations like RBS to
take responsibility for the part they play.
Should a taxpayer-funded bank
be investing in companies making weapons which are banned by this
country? Should any bank invest in companies which make these
appalling weapons?
If you think not, please take action now
Thank you.
1. Worldwide investment in Cluster Munitions: a shared responsibility – May 2011 update [IKV Pax Christi (the Netherlands) and Netwerk Vlaanderen (Belgium)]
2. The Cluster Munition Coalition is an international civil society campaign working to eradicate cluster munitions, prevent further casualties from these weapons and put an end for all time to the suffering they cause. The Coalition works through its members in around 100 countries to change the policy and practice of governments and organisations towards these aims and raise awareness of the problem amongst the public.
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