Azzad commends Chevron’s work on Myanmar

Activist investors withdraw human rights shareholder resolution following ‘constructive dialogue’ Falls Church, Virginia, April 11, 2019 — A coalition of socially responsible investors led by Azzad Asset Management announced today that it has withdrawn a shareholder resolution filed with Chevron Corporation. The proposal pushed the energy giant to evaluate its business with governments engaged in conflict areas. This announcement follows a years-long dialogue between concerned stakeholders and the oil and gas company, which has operations globally, including in regions experiencing internal strife. The resolution, which was filed by Azzad for a third time last year, asks Chevron to evaluate a policy of cutting ties with governments engaged in genocide or crimes against humanity. It cites specifically the nation of Myanmar (Burma), whose military stands accused of committing atrocities against the Rohingya ethnic minority. Preferring instead a policy of engagement with local government and civil society, Chevron responded to shareholders with a set of initiatives and specific actions the company has undertaken or planned to undertake aimed at addressing the humanitarian crisis. Among other things, these include engaging with political leaders on U.S.-Myanmar policy, training representatives of private security companies on what Chevron expects of them by way of a commitment to respecting

April 11, 2019 No Comments

Chevron shareholders vote on cutting business ties with genocide-complicit governments

Chevron shareholders voted today on a resolution to evaluate a policy of cutting business ties with governments engaged in genocide or crimes against humanity. Filed by seven socially responsible investing organizations, the proposal cites specifically the nation of Myanmar, whose military stands accused of committing atrocities against the Rohingya ethnic minority. Chevron is the largest U.S. corporate investor in Myanmar (Burma). In partnership with Total of France and the government-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), Chevron owns the Yadana gas field and pipeline that generates billions of dollars in revenue for the government of Myanmar. In March 2015, Chevron entered into an additional production sharing contract with MOGE to explore in the Rakhine Basin off the coast of Rakhine state, the historic home of the Rohingya people. The vote comes amid reports of a worsening campaign by the Myanmar military to kill or drive out ethnic minorities. The U.S. State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report, released yesterday, finds that an estimated 688,000 Muslim Rohingya have fled the country and that an unknown number are internally displaced. See: International Religious Freedom Report for 2017 (U.S. Department of State) The State Department report also describes a new campaign of state-sanctioned violence against the

May 30, 2018 No Comments

Shareholders press Chevron to assess feasibility of policy change in light of Rohingya crisis

Burma-focused proposal asks Chevron to evaluate a policy of not doing business with governments engaging in genocide or crimes against humanity Falls Church, Va., Dec 18, 2017 – A group of investors has filed for the second time a shareholder resolution with Chevron Corporation focused on the persecuted Rohingya minority in Burma (Myanmar). The proposal asks the energy giant to report on the feasibility of enacting a policy of not doing business with governments engaged in genocide or crimes against humanity. Azzad Asset Management filed the resolution, and at least four other socially responsible investment institutions co-filed. Azzad and the Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk filed a version of this resolution last year. For 2018, it was updated to take into account the heightened atrocities and the resulting mass exodus of Rohingya from Myanmar over the summer and fall. To date, this is the only shareholder resolution focused on the Rohingya submitted to a U.S. corporation. Through its subsidiary Unocal Myanmar Offshore Co., Ltd., Chevron entered into a production sharing contract with the state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in 2015 to explore for oil and gas in the Rakhine Basin. Rakhine state was until recently the home of most of Burma’s

December 18, 2017 No Comments

Investor coalition asks Chevron to press Myanmar government for resolution to Rohingya crisis

Groups representing more than $30 billion in assets say ‘business as usual’ must end following government escalation of violence against minority population Falls Church, Va., 8/31/17 — Shareholders and other investor organizations delivered a letter to energy giant Chevron Corporation today, asking the company to use its leverage with the Myanmar government to end military violence against its Rohingya population. Chevron partners with a government entity in the country’s troubled western region where the military recently escalated a longstanding campaign against the minority group. The letter reads in part: “We believe that Chevron’s production sharing contract with the government-sponsored Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise to explore for oil and gas in the Rakhine Basin creates a special obligation for Chevron to both express its concern over recent events and to reassess its relationship with the government in light of recent developments. We cannot maintain ‘business as usual’ in a country where allegations of crimes against humanity and genocide persist.” See: Chevron investor letter (August, 31, 2017) Rakhine state is home to Myanmar’s 1.1 million Rohingya people, an ethnic minority that has for decades faced a government-sanctioned campaign of forced relocation, violence, and persecution. Although they have lived in Myanmar (Burma)

August 31, 2017 No Comments

Chevron shareholders vote on business with genocide-complicit governments

Falls Church, Va., 5/31/17 — Shareholders of energy giant Chevron voted today on a proposal for the company to evaluate a policy of no longer doing business with countries believed to be complicit in genocide. The proposal focuses on the nation of Myanmar/Burma, whose military is accused of committing atrocities against the Rohingya ethnic minority. Because the vote tally was greater than three percent in favor, U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC) rules allow the resolution to be resubmitted next year. Preliminary estimates showed that six percent of shareholders voted for the resolution, according to International Campaign for the Rohingya Executive Director Simon Billenness, who moved the resolution at the Chevron annual general meeting today on behalf of lead filers Azzad Asset Management and the Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk, U.S. Province. According to SEC requirements, to resubmit resolutions in subsequent years after an initial filing, the proposal must win the support of at least three percent of the shares voted in its first year, six percent in its second, and 10 percent in its third year and all years thereafter. “We are encouraged by the results of today’s vote, but more work remains,” said Azzad President and CEO Bashar Qasem. “It

May 31, 2017 No Comments

Buy stock. Save the world.

We’ve been talking a lot about shareholder advocacy at Azzad recently–and about how it’s a largely untapped way for concerned citizens to take action on issues we care about. For those who aren’t familiar with it, shareholder advocacy refers to actions taken by stock investors (shareholders) to ask the companies whose stock they own to improve or change behavior for the public good. Think of asking an energy company to use more renewables or a technology company to end purchases of conflict minerals. If you invest in stocks, you can participate in shareholder advocacy. We recently used shareholder advocacy to take action on an issue many people feel isn’t getting the attention it should – the human rights abuses faced by the Rohingya minority in Burma at the hands of its government. In November 2016, the United Nations said that abuses perpetrated against the Rohingya by the Burmese military may amount to crimes against humanity. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has reported that the Rohingya are “at grave risk of additional mass atrocities and even genocide.” During the fall filing season, Azzad partnered with a Catholic religious organization, the Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk, to file the first shareholder resolution submitted

December 30, 2016 No Comments