GSA Council Meeting # 5, AY 08-09 - February 8, 2009

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Petitions
Rutgers Against The War - Annual Report

WHEREAS there is no established way for members of the university
   community or the public to obtain information about how Rutgers
   University's endowment is invested; and

   WHEREAS  it is a common practice for other universities to make
   such information publicly available;

   BE IT RESOLVED that the Graduate Student Association recommends
   that the Board of Governors mandate the publication of a annual
   report on the university endowment, including details on the
   nature and amount of investments.

Rutgers Against The War - Divestment

WHEREAS:
The United Nations has affirmed the following standards in document [1]:

•    “Transnational corporations and other business enterprises shall not engage in nor benefit from.. violations of humanitarian law and other international crimes against the human person as defined by international law, in particular human rights and humanitarian law” (2003, § C.3).

WHEREAS:
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) has affirmed the following standards in various documents, particularly documents [2], [3], and [5]:

•    “It is prohibited to employ weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering” (1977, Art. 35).
•    “It is prohibited to employ methods or means of warfare which are intended, or may be expected, to cause widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment” (1977, Art. 35).
•    ban on the use, production, acquisition, retainment, or transfer of weapons with the most impact on civilians, such as land mines and cluster bombs (1997, Art. 1; 2008, Art. 1).

WHEREAS:
The Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE) and the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms offer standards by which to define seven categories of conventional armed forces necessary to waging an offensive campaign: battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, artillery, combat aircraft, combat helicopters, warships, and missiles.

WHEREAS:
In 2003, 20 out of the 25 developing countries that received the largest amounts of American-made weapons were classified by the State Department as either undemocratic or human rights abusers.

WHEREAS:
There exist companies, e.g. Calvert Group, that already easily and successfully use similar criteria and standards  to screen companies and have decided not to invest in: Boeing, Caterpillar, DynCorp, ExxonMobil, Foster Wheeler, General Electric, Halliburton, Honeywell International, L-3 Communications, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon.

BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

Rutgers University Graduate Student Association calls upon Rutgers University to
1.    permanently divest from any weapons contractors, military contractors, and other companies and/or businesses that
1.    manufacture, design, or sell weapons, or the critical components of weapons, that violate International Humanitarian Law (IHL), as discussed above; or
2.    manufacture, design, or sell inherently offensive weapons, as defined by the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) and the UN Register on Conventional Arms, as discussed above, or the munitions designed for use in such weapons; or
3.    have been implicated in war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, torture, forced disappearance, forced or compulsory labor, hostage-taking, extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, or other violations of humanitarian law and other international crimes against the human person as defined by international law, as discussed above; or
4.    have been specifically named above, i.e., Boeing, Caterpillar, DynCorp, ExxonMobil, Foster Wheeler, General Electric, Halliburton, Honeywell International, L-3 Communications, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon.

NOTES:
The United Nations’ document [1] states:

“Transnational corporations and other business enterprises shall not engage in nor benefit from war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, torture, forced disappearance, forced or compulsory labour, hostage-taking, extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, other violations of humanitarian law and other international crimes against the human person as defined by international law, in particular human rights and humanitarian law.  …  Transnational corporations and other business enterprises shall carry out their activities.. with regard to.. human rights, public health and safety,..” (2003, § C.3, G.14).

REFERENCES:
[1] “Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights,” U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/12/Rev.2. 2003. University of Minnesota Human Rights Library. (http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/links/norms-Aug2003.html). Accessed: Jan 2009.

[2] “Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977.” 1977. (http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/9cfe510c4d401a8341256739003e636f/d9e6b6264d7723c3c12563cd002d6ce4!OpenDocument). Accessed: Jan 2009.

[3] “Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, 18 September 1997.” 1997. (http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/INTRO/580) Accessed: Jan 2009.

[4] “Protocol on Explosive Remnants of War (Protocol V to the 1980 Convention), 28 November 2003.” 2003. (http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/c110d2926d08a892c1256e280056b275). Accessed: Jan 2009.

[5] “Convention on Cluster Munitions, 30 May 2008.” 2008. (http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/FULL/620). Accessed: Jan 2009.

[6] “CFE : Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty.” 1989. (http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/cfe/text/cfe_t.htm). Accessed: Jan 2009.

[7] “United Nations Register of Conventional Arms.” (http://disarmament.un.org/cab/register.html). Accessed: Jan 2009.