Divestment from the Economy of Genocide

Subject:
Divestment from the Economy of Genocide
Eligibility:
Residents of ACT
Sponsoring member:
Mr Andrew Braddock
No. of Signatures:
801
Posting Date:
4/9/2025
Closing Date:
4/10/2025
 
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Information about the Principal Petitioner is available through the sponsoring Member of the Legislative Assembly's office
TO: The Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly
Reason for this Petition

The following residents of the ACT draw the attention of the Assembly to the ACT’s obligations under international law. 

Under the Genocide Convention, States have an obligation to prevent genocide. On 19 July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) also determined that Israel’s occupation of Palestine is illegal, and affirmed that states must not support or be complicit in such illegal acts. As the ICJ declared, “For States, this implies not only mere diplomatic protests, but also refraining from any unconditional financial, economic, military or technological aid to the State of Israel…” our obligations under international law are also written in ACT legislation. 

Section 31 of the ACT Human Rights Act 2004 states that “international law and the judgments of foreign and international courts and tribunals relevant to a human right may be considered in interpreting a human right”. In addition to the companies listed by the United Nations OHCHR as being complicit in human rights violations, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has documented over 60 multinational companies—including Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Allianz, Hewlett Packard, Airbnb, Booking.com, and others—as complicit in supporting Israel’s military occupation, settlement expansion, and what she terms genocide in Gaza.

 It is clear that under both international law and ACT legislation, we are obligated to divest from such companies. The difficulty of doing so does not make that obligation disappear.

Requested Actions

Your petitioners therefore request that the Assembly call on the ACT Government to: 

  1. Implement without delay the divestment motion passed on 7 February 2024, and provide a public report to the Assembly within 90 days outlining the actions taken.
  2. Introduce legislation to ban the sale and procurement of goods and services derived from illegal Israeli settlements.
  3. Commission an independent inquiry within six months into ACT Government investments, procurement contracts, and partnerships with companies implicated in human rights violations in Palestine, and terminate any such arrangements immediately.
  4. Amend the Responsible Investment Policy to explicitly incorporate the UN OHCHR database, the Albanese report findings, and ICJ rulings, with an annual compliance report to the Assembly.
  5. Fully divest from financial institutions, and technology firms identified by the United Nations (June 2024 and June 2025) as complicit in such violations

Sign this Petition