Bennett Freeman – investors and human rights

This post was contributed by Bennett Freeman, Senior Vice President for Sustainability Research and Policy for Calvert Investments and a Trustee of the Institute for Human Rights and Business. Bennett also served as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor under President Clinton. Human rights have been a concern to certain investors – especially socially responsible and faith-based investors – for over three decades. The recent death of Nelson Mandela reminded us that South Africa divestment was the cause that crystallized – and galvanized – not only the power of investment to change the world but also the contribution that investors could make to the liberation of a people and nation from apartheid. That divestment movement had its echo in the face of another morally compelling human rights challenge on the same continent ten years ago, when the genocide in Darfur spurred divestment from companies supporting the government of Sudan.