Year: 2022

Ayed Abu Eqtaish, Accountability Program director at Defence for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P) is visting UK . He will be in Birmingham July 26th and will be speaking at the Public meeting about the Palestinian children. DCI-P is one of the six leading Palestinian human rights organisations that Israel criminalised earlier this year, and are specialists in defending children’s rights including those of child prisoners.

This is a call to all supporters of Human Rights who are members of the local authority West Midlands Pension Fund (WMPF). We are asking you to write to the LGPS Central Joint Committee hosted by Cheshire West and Chester Council before the deadline for questions by next Wednesday 12th January as no progress has been made.

If you are not a member of the local government pension fund, but wish to help in the campaign elsewhere, please go to:
https://lgpsdivest.org/
WMPF is a member of a collective investment body called the ‘Central Pool’ of pension funds who have combined to pool their investments. This is a vehicle to seek greater returns for members of local government pension funds. WMPF is one of 8 local authority funds in across central England who make up the fund. The central Pool invests in companies who trade with settlements in the West Bank.
If you are a member of Local Government Pension Fund Please copy and past the following letter below to the email (Before the 12th January 2022) chris.bujac@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk (please add your name to the email before sending)

Chris Bujac
Clerk to LGPS Central Joint Committee
Cheshire West and Chester Council
4 Civic Way, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire CH65 OBE

Dear Chris Bujac
I am writing to request the following question be put to the Central Joint Committee for 14th January committee.
As a member of a Pension Fund belonging to the Central Pool Ltd, I welcome that LGPS Central Joint Committee shares my concerns in regard to the Human Rights violations in the Palestinian Territories of a number of companies with whom the Central Pool Ltd holds investments.
I also welcome the attempts by the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum to correspond with these companies to seek change.
It is increasingly apparent however that the current approach has not made any meaningful or actual progress since the United Nations placed these companies on its database in February 2020. Indeed, as reported in a recent LAPFF newsletter, some have even ‘pushed back’. It would therefore be fair and reasonable to say that there is no evidence that the ‘engagement’ strategy has made any impact or has influenced any of the complicit companies behaviour.

I note recent reports in the media that the Special Rapporteur for Human Right in Palestine Professor Michael Lynk has recently written to Local Government Pension Committee’s highlighting the UN’s concerns whilst making the request that Local Government Pension Funds should now seriously consider divestment from any complicit companies on the UN data base.

I remain concerned that my pension is being invested in companies that breach the Human Rights of Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

My question therefore to the Committee is:

a) does the Central Joint Committee agree that that none of the companies have responded any meaningful fashion since the UN published its data base almost two years ago and

b) will the Central Joint Committee now escalate matters to divest in the companies identified on the UN database?
Yours Sincerely
[insert your name and address]