Divesting from Darfur

I. Why Divest from Genocide?

The new millennium's first genocide rages unabated into its fourth year in the Darfur region of Sudan. For the first time in history, governments, along with numerous other political and non-profit entities, have declared that an ongoing massacre amounts to genocide. While humanitarian groups have courageously assisted the millions displaced in Darfur, international action has been shamefully underwhelming. The magnitude of the crimes in Darfur, combined with the failure of the international community to stem these horrors, has given institutions around the world impetus to act. Harkening back to the days of apartheid South Africa, fiduciaries have explored the option of divesting from companies that either do business in Sudan or with the government of Sudan. Indeed, numerous nations, states, cities, and universities around the world have either divested or are currently considering this option. Addressing a question on this burgeoning divestment movement at a March 2006 press conference, US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton noted:

"[When American individuals and institutions] look at the government of Sudan, they find it inexplicable that the government of Sudan won't prevent the killing of their own citizens and indeed may be contributing to it, and ask themselves, is there nothing we can do? So I think people across the political spectrum and all geographic locations in the United States are not going to have infinite patience with the international community, and they will take action [including divestment] on their own."2

Critics, however, charge that Sudan divestment is a short-term, "feel-good" action. Over the long-term, these critics argue that divestment from such an impoverished country will hurt the very people that divesting institutions are trying to help. Instead, they contend that focus should be geared towards political and diplomatic solutions to the Darfur crisis. The following paper is meant to address these criticisms.

*All information provided by the Sudan Divestment Taskforce, www.sudandivestment.org

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