07 LC 21
9272
House
Resolution 273
By:
Representatives Brooks of the
63rd,
Mills of the
25th,
Williams of the
165th,
Coan of the
101st,
Benfield of the
85th,
and others
A
RESOLUTION
Urging
the Congress of the United States to continue to press for strong measures to
end the violence in Sudan and urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to
provide guidance to public pension fund managers in order to avoid investments
which may be supporting nations involved in the support of terrorism or human
rights violations; and for other purposes.
WHEREAS,
Sudan´s government and southern rebels have come to an historic,
long-awaited agreement that ends Africa´s longest civil war and brings hope
to millions of exiled Sudanese yearning to return home; and
WHEREAS,
continued violence in the troubled region of Darfur, Sudan, previously described
by the Bush administration as genocide, casts a shadow over the agreement that
does not cover the Darfur conflict; and
WHEREAS,
the government of Sudan appears to have sponsored a militia composed of a loose
collection of fighters, apparently of Arab background, known as the "Janjaweed";
and with the active support of the regular army, the Janjaweed have attacked
villages and committed numerous human rights violations; and
WHEREAS,
the humanitarian consequences of the situation in Darfur are grave, with an
estimated over 100,000 innocent civilians brutally murdered; and according to
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 2004 statistics,
662,302 people have been internally displaced and 730,650 people have been
forced from their homes to flee to neighboring countries; and
WHEREAS,
the citizens of the State of Georgia abhor this violence and desire that their
tax dollars neither directly nor indirectly support these human rights
violations through investment in companies aiding the government of Sudan in
these acts of terror; and
WHEREAS,
the United States Congress established the Office of Global Security Risk in the
Securities and Exchange Commission to provide information to United States
investors, including public pension plans, to ascertain whether their funds are
invested in corporations with ties to governments that support terrorism;
and
WHEREAS,
the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Association of State
Retirement Administrators, the National Association of State Auditors,
Comptrollers and Treasurers, and the National Council on Teacher Retirement have
joined in urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to assist investors by
requiring companies to disclose business conducted in states designated by the
State Department as sponsoring terrorism.
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES that the President,
the United States Congress, the United Nations, and the African Union are urged
to continue to work with the international community to press the government of
Sudan to halt these ongoing human rights violations.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Securities and Exchange Commission is urged to
issue guidance to public pension fund managers so that the state may be assured
that its funds are not invested in companies that are not in compliance with
relevant U.S. laws and are not contributing to terrorism.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized
and directed to transmit appropriate copies of this resolution to the Clerk of
the House of Representatives of the United States, the Clerk of the Senate of
the United States, each member of the Georgia delegation to the Congress of the
United States, Christopher Cox, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission,
the Secretary General of the United Nations, and the President of the African
Union.