The ten largest Dutch pension funds would invest in “companies involved in land grabbing”, reports the Fair Pension Guide of Oxfam Novib, Amnesty International, PAX and World Animal Protection. A total of 8.2 billion euros would flow to 46 companies that are guilty of the practices.
The organizations learned from a long list of public sources that local communities in Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Congo, Ecuador, India, Iraq, Nigeria, Peru and Sierra Leone, among others, have been negatively impacted by land grabbing by these companies. The report cites the French oil company Total and two miners – Rio Tinto from Australia and Vale from Brazil – as an example. They allegedly bought up land and expropriated residents to develop their own activities.
According to the Fair Pension Guide, ABP, the pension fund for the government and education, would invest the most in those companies. It would pump 3.7 billion euros into 22 companies. In second place comes the PFZW care fund, which flows 2 billion to 29 companies.
The Fair Pension Guide points out that none of the funds could demonstrate that they are pressuring companies to change. BPL, PFZW and PMT impose requirements on companies to prevent conflicts with indigenous peoples over land rights and six funds (ABP, Bpf Bouw, BPL, Retail, PfZW, Horeca and Catering) engage in a dialogue with the companies about their involvement in land rights violations . But they wouldn’t go very far in that.
Hardly any pension fund would monitor whether the situation is improving for the victims of land violation.
Pensioenwijzer wants pressure from the Dutch government
“Pension funds invest billions in miners, farms and oil companies that are guilty of land grabbing. They hardly, if at all, stand up for the rights of victims of this,” said spokesman Peter Ras.
“The Fair Pension Guide calls on the Dutch government to put pressure on pension funds to actively apply international guidelines such as those of the UN and the OECD. Pension funds must help eradicate land grabbing by companies in which they invest and otherwise exclude these companies.”
The Fair Pension Guide is a partnership of Amnesty International, Milieudefensie, Oxfam Novib, PAX and World Animal Protection that examines pension funds and their investments.
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