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Amnesty
Canada has asked its members across Canada to take part in Share
Power – a national campaign to unlock the investor power of
ordinary citizens to support human rights action at five
multinational companies.
The
campaign asks Amnesty members and members of the public to contact
their mutual funds, and pension funds to support shareholder
proposals at five multinational corporations identified as key
targets for human rights and development issues in 2006.
“By approaching
companies indirectly, through our connection to other people and
institutions that hold shares in those companies, we have a great
potential for impact,” states Amnesty in their website launching
the campaign.
The five
companies targeted for action are:
- Alcan (UTKAL bauxite and alumina project in India)
- Chevron Corp. (oil development and toxic waste in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador)
- Dow Chemical (report on health, social and environmental impacts of Bhopal disaster)
- Enbridge (report on aboriginal rights and pipelinedevelopment)
- Ivanhoe Mines (report on security arrangements and human rights policies in Myanmar)
Amnesty is asking
its members to write to mutual funds and pension funds invested in
these companies to support these shareholder proposals, which will
be heard at these companies’ annual meetings this year.
It is also
suggesting that students at universities with endowment funds with
shares in these companies support the resolutions. Amnesty is also
suggesting private investors in these companies vote in favour of
the proposals.
“From
January to May 2006, Amnesty International members from across
Canada will write letters to selected Canadian companies, to raise
human rights concerns associated with their operations,” states
the Amnesty website.
“Alongside
this, Amnesty International members will also encourage big
shareholders to use their power to press for change. When big
shareholders speak, companies listen!”
For
more information, visit http://www.amnesty.ca/campaigns/sharepower/.
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