Danish pension funds divest from Israeli companies
Danske Bank, the biggest financial group in Denmark, has excluded Elbit Systems and Africa Israel from its investment portfolio because of their involvement in providing equipment for the wall and in settlement construction.
Thomas H. Kjaergaard, responsible for socially responsible investment in the Danish Bank Group commented: "We handle clients' interests, and we do not want to put customers' money in companies that violate international standards."
PKA Ltd., one of the largest funds administrating workers' pension funds in Denmark, announced it would no longer consider investments in Elbit Systems, and US companies Megal Security Systems and Detection Systems." All three are supplying equipment for the Wall. PKA has sold shares in Elbit worth almost one million dollars," Stop the Wall wrote.
"The ICJ [International Court of Justice, the Hague] stated that the barrier only serves military purposes and violates Palestinian human rights. Therefore we have looked at whether companies produce custom-designed products to the wall and thus has a particular involvement in repressive activities. We cannot rule out the inclusion of other companies in our blacklist for their role in this area," said Michael Nellemann, investment director of PKA, in the statement.
Jan. 29, 2010
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