Petition at a glance: Divesting for Human Rights
Which companies are involved?
UBC invests in at least 30 companies complicit in human rights violations. 17 weapons and military technology companies, and 13 companies on the UN Settlements List.
Why divest from these companies?
Weapons manufacturers profit from the killing and displacement of millions globally, including in Palestine, Yemen, Syria, and beyond.
Surveillance companies enforce apartheid systems in Occupied Palestine through technologies like facial recognition at checkpoints and AI targeting tools used for assassinations.
Settlement companies operate on stolen Palestinian land, profiting from illegal land grabs and human rights abuses.
What’s the impact?
In Palestine and Lebanon: Over 44,000 Palestinians and 3,500 Lebanese people killed since October 2023. Thousands face starvation and disease due to blockades and attacks. Globally, these companies enable wars, family separations at the US-Mexico border, and other atrocities affecting millions around the globe.
How does this conflict with UBC’s values?
UBC’s investments contradict its commitments to:
- Sustainability and justice: UBC claims to “advance a sustainable and just society.” There is no justice in genocide and occupation.
- Indigenous rights: By investing in companies on the UN Settlements List, UBC actively supports systems of colonialism abroad and contradicts its commitments to uphold the rights of Indigenous peoples both locally and globally.
- Climate action: Weapons manufacturing and use heavily pollute and harm ecosystems.
- Responsible investing: UBC is a signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, yet continues to fund companies violating human rights.
Who do we cite in the petition?
The petition references trusted sources, including:
- United Nations Reports (e.g., OHCHR Settlement List)
- Human Rights Organizations (e.g., Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch)
- UBC’s Own Reports (e.g., Holdings Disclosure Report, Responsible Investment Policy)
- Media Outlets (e.g., Al Jazeera, +972 Magazine)
What can UBC do?
- Divest from all 30 companies to uphold its stated values and commitments.
- Join other universities like Trinity College Dublin and the University of Manchester in leading ethical investment practices.
- Redirect funds toward Indigenous-led knowledge production and sustainable initiatives.
Jump to the Petition Signature Form
To UBC Board of Governors and UBCIM Board of Directors,
We, the undersigned members of the UBC community, call on the University of British Columbia to divest from corporations complicit in weapons manufacturing and in enabling illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
According to UBC’s latest Holdings Disclosure Report[1] UBC invests in at least 17 companies involved in weapons manufacturing, surveillance, and military technologies as well as 13 companies identified by the United Nations for their complicity in illegal settlements[2]. These investments make UBC an indirect participant in egregious human rights violations, war crimes, and environmental destruction. Weapons, surveillance technologies, and services provided by these companies are integral to enforcing the illegal blockade of Gaza, maintaining and expanding illegal settlements, and sustaining the apartheid[3] system throughout Occupied Palestine.
Weapons Manufacturing and Military Technologies (17 companies): Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Elbit Systems, Rheinmetall, RTX (formerly Raytheon), Textron, L3Harris Technologies, Thales, General Dynamics, Rolls-Royce Holdings, General Electric, Caterpillar, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Airbus, Safran, Cisco Systems Inc.
UN Settlements List Companies (13 companies): Bezeq Israeli Telecommunications Corp Ltd., Motorola Solutions Inc., Bank Hapoalim BM, Booking Holdings, Airbnb, Bank Leumi Le-Israel BM, First International Bank of Israel, Expedia Group, eDreams ODEIGEO SA, Israel Discount Bank, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, Alstom SA, Rami Levi Chain Stores Hashikma Marketing.
These investments make UBC an indirect participant in egregious human rights violations, war crimes, and environmental destruction.
The immediate motivation for this letter is the unrelenting Israeli assault on Palestine and Lebanon. Since October 2023, at least 44,000 Palestinians, including over 17,500 children[4], and 3,500 Lebanese people, including over 200 children[5], have been killed. The actual death toll will be significantly higher as thousands of Palestinians remain trapped under rubble while hundreds of thousands more face deliberate starvation[6] and the rapid spread of diseases amid Israeli attacks on healthcare facilities[7].
Beyond Palestine, the companies UBC invests in have enabled the killing, maiming, and displacement of millions of people from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, the Philippines, and beyond. For instance, thirteen of the companies that UBC invests in supplied Saudi Arabia and the UAE with weapons during their catastrophic assault on Yemen[8][9], at least seven of the companies have profited from surveillance technologies used in family separation policies at the US-Mexico border[10][11], and Elbit Systems has supplied the authoritarian Duterte government with drones and tanks despite its mass killings of Filipino people[12][13].
These investments are incompatible with several of UBC’s stated institutional values, academic mission, and commitments. They conflict with:
- UBC’s purpose to “advance a sustainable and just society across British Columbia, Canada and the world.”[14]
- UBC’s commitment to the Indigenous Strategic Plan: namely, “becoming a leading voice in the implementation of Indigenous peoples’ human rights, as articulated in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other international human rights law.”[15]
- UBC’s commitments to acting on the climate emergency. In 2019, UBC committed to full divestment of over $144 million from companies with fossil fuel reserves by 2030[16]. However, the production, transportation, and use of weapons results in lasting toxicities and heavy greenhouse gas emissions[17][18].
- UBC’s commitment to the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRIs), which requires that it actively uphold environmental, social, and corporate governance priorities in its investing. This includes ensuring that endowment investment managers integrate ongoing analysis and human rights reporting to fulfill PRI obligations [19][20].
We therefore expect UBC to follow through on all of its commitments by divesting from weapons and surveillance companies, and companies complicit in illegal settlements.
As UBC community members on ancestral Musqueam and Sylix lands, we recognise that our shared responsibility to defend our Palestinian kin is intertwined with our duty to Indigenous land defenders across Turtle Island. Therefore, our demands to divest from life-taking military companies and firms that fuel settlements in Palestine are simultaneously calls to invest in life-saving, Indigenous-led knowledge production here.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Database of enterprises contributing to the maintenance of illegal settlements ↩︎
UNICEF: Over 200 Children Killed in Lebanon Amid Israel’s Assault ↩︎
UN Special Committee finds Israel’s warfare methods in Gaza consistent with genocide, including use of starvation as weapon of war ↩︎
Gaza: Unlawful Israeli Hospital Strikes Worsen Health Crisis ↩︎
A National Shame: The Trump Administration’s Separation and Detention of Migrant Families ↩︎
Intersections between Migration, Racism, and Business and Human Rights ↩︎
Philippines: UN must intensify pressure to end killings as impunity reigns ↩︎
President’s Community Update on Divestment and Climate Action ↩︎
Emissions Within the Military Industrial Complex: Arms Manufacturers ↩︎
We must not ignore explosive weapons’ environmental impact ↩︎
How to identify human rights risks: A practical guide in due diligence ↩︎