N.Y. and Sudan

Editorial from Democrat and Chronicle

Economic pressure can help alleviate human rights crisis

(August 31, 2005) — New York state invests around $14 billion in companies that do business in Sudan, a country whose government has permitted, and by many accounts supported, militias that terrorize the black population in its Darfur region.

The U.S. Congress has called the situation genocide. Yet next to nothing has been done on a federal or international level.

New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi can and should help fight these human rights abuses by using his influence with these Sudan-active companies to bring about change. If that doesn't work, the state should divest its holdings in these companies.

Louisiana, Illinois, Arizona and New Jersey have already passed legislation that makes it illegal for their governments to invest in companies that do business with Sudan. Several universities, including Harvard and Stanford, have also divested.

Their actions will result in the loss of billions of dollars of investment for companies that enrich the Sudanese government. That sends a strong message.

State Senate Minority Leader David Paterson has proposed legislation that calls for New York to take similar action. Hevesi, who is responsible for managing the state investment funds, says that divestment ought to be a last resort because it would cost New York leverage in the companies it is trying to influence.

As a first step, Hevesi should immediately start pressuring Sudan-active companies to tell the Sudanese government that human rights abuses are unacceptable. And that if changes aren't made, there will be serious financial consequences.

An estimated 2.5 million black Sudanese, who were chased from their homes by militias, now live in squalid refugee camps where they lack basic necessities and are constantly threatened with torture or death. The World Health Organization estimates that about 7,000 people die in Darfur each month. This crisis must be resolved.

International economic pressure helped force the South African government to do away with apartheid in the early '90s.

Similar pressure can help alleviate suffering in Sudan. New York should get involved.