Proposed Connecticut Sudan
Divestment Legislation won’t stop Darfur Genocide, only federal action
will said Boycott Watch representative in Hartford Capitol Hill Hearing
“We cannot rely on the ineffective divestment
“weapon” in HB 5632 to aid in ending the genocide in Darfur. Instead
we need to use the enormous power of our national government to turn the
economic resources of the Sudan towards the immediate aid, assistance and
protection of the hundreds of thousands of Darfur and other Sudan
refugees,” said Gordon, Vice President of Boycott Watch.
Gordon spoke at a hearing in Hartford held by the
General & Elections Committee on a proposed Act (HB5632) Concerning
Divestment of State Funds Invested in Companies Doing business in Sudan. He
noted the following reasons for the Boycott Watch position.
“Because there are existing federal sanctions
against investment and trade in Sudan which is listed by our US Treasury
Department as a “terrorist" state. The proposed legislation conflicts with
existing federal Anti-Boycott compliance laws and regulations.
The "success” of the federal government
brokering in 2005 the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Islamist
Sudanese central government in Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement (SPLM) ending two decades of horrendous civil war between the northern
Muslim and southern Christian Animist regions that resulting in over 2 million
dead.”
Boycott Watch suggests the U.S.
government can avail itself of economic suasion via its funding and leadership
of both the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reduce the debt
of $24 Billion owed by Sudan and in return create an oil revenue trust. The
proposed oil revenue trust would divert funds to repay the lower debt owed and
fund food, humanitarian, public health aid and peacekeeping efforts in Darfur
and other regions in the Sudan threatened by the Islamist central government in
Khartoum.
In 2005, over 500,000 barrels of crude oil
were pumped every day in Sudan produced revenues of over $3.0 billion.
Boycott Watch: (see:
www.boycottwatch.org) is an
organization dedicated to uncovering and exposing false information in boycott
calls and to expose boycotts used as “economic warfare” to harm free
trade among nations. We believe that boycotts among nations do not foster
peaceful resolutions of conflicts, – but economic cooperation does.
Boycott Watch President Fred Taub has been quoted in
The Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor and several other
newspapers; and has appeared in radio and television news programs as an expert
in boycotts. Boycott Watch has also been mentioned in at least two filings
before the United States Supreme Court. |
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read Mr. Gordon's testimony |
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