Gates Foundation Sells Stake in U.K. Prison Operator G4S - Bloomberg - 0 views
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The Gates Foundation Asset Trust, the entity that manages the investments for the $40.2 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has liquidated its entire stake in G4S Plc (GFS), the world’s biggest security-services provider. “Like other large foundations, the foundation trust evaluates its holdings regularly, both for performance and fit,” John Pinette, a spokesman for the Gates family, said in a statement. “As a result of this, the foundation trust no longer holds an investment in G4S.” The Crawley, England-based company has attracted criticism for its contracts with the Israel prison system. The U.K.’s Guardian newspaper said in an editorial on June 4 that G4S should “end the corporation’s participation in Israel’s brutal occupation” in the West Bank. Since 2011, G4S has conducted a series of reviews in relation to its business in Israel, according to the company’s website. Its latest investigation concluded there was “no plausible case against G4S on the ground of alleged war crimes commited by Israel.”
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The Gates Foundation Asset Trust, the entity that manages the investments for the $40.2 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has liquidated its entire stake in G4S Plc (GFS), the world’s biggest security-services provider. “Like other large foundations, the foundation trust evaluates its holdings regularly, both for performance and fit,” John Pinette, a spokesman for the Gates family, said in a statement. “As a result of this, the foundation trust no longer holds an investment in G4S.” The Crawley, England-based company has attracted criticism for its contracts with the Israel prison system. The U.K.’s Guardian newspaper said in an editorial on June 4 that G4S should “end the corporation’s participation in Israel’s brutal occupation” in the West Bank. Since 2011, G4S has conducted a series of reviews in relation to its business in Israel, according to the company’s website. Its latest investigation concluded there was “no plausible case against G4S on the ground of alleged war crimes commited by Israel.”
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A very high profile win for the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions ("BSD") movement as the Gates Foundation divests. Despite the bravado in this article, G4S announced today that it will not renew any of its contracts to provide security services not only in Palestine but also in Israel. http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/g4s-end-israel-prison-contracts-pressure-mounts-over-torture-complicity After the Gates Foundation announced its divestment, the UK government announced that it was launching an investigation of G4S activities in Israel. The BSD movement, modeled on the BSD campaign that brought down the apartheid government of South Africa, has been racking up more and more wins lately, in each week. BSD activists are in guarded optimism mode because, they say, G4S has previously lied about its plans in regard to Palestine. In addition to providing prison security services, G4S also operates a series of border checkpoints between Israel, Israel settlements in Palestine, and areas of Palestine still occupied by indigenous Palestinians, including checkpoints along the border of the largest open air prison in the world, the Gaza Strip. The BSD movement has also targeted American companies that profit from Israel's illegal occupation and colonization of Palestine, including Caterpillar Corp. The ultra-high profile divestment by the Gates Foundation just might have been a watershed moment that unleashes a torrent of related actions by other investors around the world.