Handicap International [to 18 June 2016]
http://www.handicap-international.us/press_releases

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Posted on June 16, 2016 7:09 AM
Dozens of American banks still investing in cluster munitions
Silver Spring, MD—Handicap International is alarmed by the findings in the latest report by Dutch non-governmental organization, PAX, which calls out 158 financial institutions, 74 of which are in the U.S., for providing $28 billion in loans and financial services to seven cluster munition producers. Among the seven weapons makers are U.S.-based Orbital ATK, and Textron.

This 7th report, “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions: A Shared Responsibility,” studied how institutions worldwide were financing the production of these banned weapons between 2012 and 2016. The report’s Hall of Shame lists the institutions that still invest in companies making cluster munitions. American financial institutions topping the investments list include T Rowe Price, Vanguard, and JP Morgan Chase. The Hall of Shame is also dominated by financial institutions in China (29) and South Korea (26).

Financing the production of these weapons is a serious violation of the spirit of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (Oslo Treaty), which bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions. Twenty of the financial institutions come from States Parties to the Cluster Munition Convention: Germany, Canada, Spain, France, Japan, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Only ten States parties have adopted legislation that prohibits investments in cluster munitions, including Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The U.S. has yet to join the Convention.

“It is too easy for producers of cluster munitions to access loans and financial services,” explains Marion Libertucci, head of advocacy at Handicap International. “Allowing financial institutions to finance the production of cluster munitions is a violation of the spirit of the Oslo Treaty.”…