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A report released today shows that billions of dollars are still being invested in companies that produce cluster bombs, weapons banned by most of the world.
The report from IKV Pax Christi and FairFin, The “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions, a shared responsibility,” shows that banks and other financial institutions have invested more than $43billion (USD) in companies making cluster bombs since 2009.
The report includes a “Hall of Shame” that lists the financial institutions investing in producers of cluster bombs.
Among the U.S.-based institutions in the Hall of Shame are AIG, Wells Fargo Bank, JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.
Reacting to the report, Laura Cheeseman, Director of the Cluster Munition Coalition, stated, “Most of the world has banned cluster bombs because of the severe and long-lasting impact they have, but even some countries that have joined the Convention are still allowing money to be invested in their production. The best way to prevent this is to explicitly legislate against it.”
* * *
From “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions, a shared responsibility” report:
* * *
Cluster Munition Coalition: Stop funding cluster bomb producers
Global report shows progress made but billions still invested in companies producing weapons banned by most of the world
(London, 14 June 2012): The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) is calling on governments to ban investments in companies producing cluster bombs, following news that billions of dollars are still being invested in producers of these weapons. The CMC believes that countries that have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions have a legal obligation to halt such investments.
The “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions, a shared responsibility” report by CMC members IKV Pax Christi and FairFin, launched today in Berlin, shows that since 2009 banks and other financial institutions from 16 countries have invested more than $43billion (USD) in companies making cluster bombs.
The bulk of these investments come from states that have not yet joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), the global ban that prohibits the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster bombs, as well as assistance in any of these acts.
“It is encouraging that an increasing number of banks are pulling funds from cluster bomb producers, and that countries are legislating to prevent this practice, but this report clearly shows that more needs to be done,” said Laura Cheeseman, Director of the CMC.
“Most of the world has banned cluster bombs because of the severe and long-lasting impact they have, but even some countries that have joined the Convention are still allowing money to be invested in their production. The best way to prevent this is to explicitly legislate against it,” Cheeseman added.
Today CMC campaigners in Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, South Africa, Switzerland, the UK and elsewhere are urging their governments to take this step. They are also urging banks and financial institutions to recognize that their customers do not want their money being invested in deadly, indiscriminate weapons that have been banned by most of the world because of the devastation they cause.
Under the legal obligations of the Convention, states that have joined are not only legally bound to cease making cluster bombs themselves but also never to assist, encourage or induce anyone else to do so. While some States Parties to the Convention have enacted national laws that prohibit public or private financial institutions from providing such assistance, many others have not yet taken this step.
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A report released today shows that billions of dollars are still being invested in companies that produce cluster bombs, weapons banned by most of the world.
The report from IKV Pax Christi and FairFin, The “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions, a shared responsibility,” shows that banks and other financial institutions have invested more than $43billion (USD) in companies making cluster bombs since 2009.
The report includes a “Hall of Shame” that lists the financial institutions investing in producers of cluster bombs.
Among the U.S.-based institutions in the Hall of Shame are AIG, Wells Fargo Bank, JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.
Reacting to the report, Laura Cheeseman, Director of the Cluster Munition Coalition, stated, “Most of the world has banned cluster bombs because of the severe and long-lasting impact they have, but even some countries that have joined the Convention are still allowing money to be invested in their production. The best way to prevent this is to explicitly legislate against it.”
* * *
From “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions, a shared responsibility” report:
* * *
Cluster Munition Coalition: Stop funding cluster bomb producers
Global report shows progress made but billions still invested in companies producing weapons banned by most of the world
(London, 14 June 2012): The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) is calling on governments to ban investments in companies producing cluster bombs, following news that billions of dollars are still being invested in producers of these weapons. The CMC believes that countries that have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions have a legal obligation to halt such investments.
The “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions, a shared responsibility” report by CMC members IKV Pax Christi and FairFin, launched today in Berlin, shows that since 2009 banks and other financial institutions from 16 countries have invested more than $43billion (USD) in companies making cluster bombs.
The bulk of these investments come from states that have not yet joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), the global ban that prohibits the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster bombs, as well as assistance in any of these acts.
“It is encouraging that an increasing number of banks are pulling funds from cluster bomb producers, and that countries are legislating to prevent this practice, but this report clearly shows that more needs to be done,” said Laura Cheeseman, Director of the CMC.
“Most of the world has banned cluster bombs because of the severe and long-lasting impact they have, but even some countries that have joined the Convention are still allowing money to be invested in their production. The best way to prevent this is to explicitly legislate against it,” Cheeseman added.
Today CMC campaigners in Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, South Africa, Switzerland, the UK and elsewhere are urging their governments to take this step. They are also urging banks and financial institutions to recognize that their customers do not want their money being invested in deadly, indiscriminate weapons that have been banned by most of the world because of the devastation they cause.
Under the legal obligations of the Convention, states that have joined are not only legally bound to cease making cluster bombs themselves but also never to assist, encourage or induce anyone else to do so. While some States Parties to the Convention have enacted national laws that prohibit public or private financial institutions from providing such assistance, many others have not yet taken this step.
A report released today shows that billions of dollars are still being invested in companies that produce cluster bombs, weapons banned by most of the world.
The report from IKV Pax Christi and FairFin, The “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions, a shared responsibility,” shows that banks and other financial institutions have invested more than $43billion (USD) in companies making cluster bombs since 2009.
The report includes a “Hall of Shame” that lists the financial institutions investing in producers of cluster bombs.
Among the U.S.-based institutions in the Hall of Shame are AIG, Wells Fargo Bank, JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.
Reacting to the report, Laura Cheeseman, Director of the Cluster Munition Coalition, stated, “Most of the world has banned cluster bombs because of the severe and long-lasting impact they have, but even some countries that have joined the Convention are still allowing money to be invested in their production. The best way to prevent this is to explicitly legislate against it.”
* * *
From “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions, a shared responsibility” report:
* * *
Cluster Munition Coalition: Stop funding cluster bomb producers
Global report shows progress made but billions still invested in companies producing weapons banned by most of the world
(London, 14 June 2012): The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) is calling on governments to ban investments in companies producing cluster bombs, following news that billions of dollars are still being invested in producers of these weapons. The CMC believes that countries that have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions have a legal obligation to halt such investments.
The “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions, a shared responsibility” report by CMC members IKV Pax Christi and FairFin, launched today in Berlin, shows that since 2009 banks and other financial institutions from 16 countries have invested more than $43billion (USD) in companies making cluster bombs.
The bulk of these investments come from states that have not yet joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), the global ban that prohibits the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster bombs, as well as assistance in any of these acts.
“It is encouraging that an increasing number of banks are pulling funds from cluster bomb producers, and that countries are legislating to prevent this practice, but this report clearly shows that more needs to be done,” said Laura Cheeseman, Director of the CMC.
“Most of the world has banned cluster bombs because of the severe and long-lasting impact they have, but even some countries that have joined the Convention are still allowing money to be invested in their production. The best way to prevent this is to explicitly legislate against it,” Cheeseman added.
Today CMC campaigners in Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, South Africa, Switzerland, the UK and elsewhere are urging their governments to take this step. They are also urging banks and financial institutions to recognize that their customers do not want their money being invested in deadly, indiscriminate weapons that have been banned by most of the world because of the devastation they cause.
Under the legal obligations of the Convention, states that have joined are not only legally bound to cease making cluster bombs themselves but also never to assist, encourage or induce anyone else to do so. While some States Parties to the Convention have enacted national laws that prohibit public or private financial institutions from providing such assistance, many others have not yet taken this step.
President Donald Trump doubled down on his threats to silence his critics Thursday, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that outlets that give him "bad press" may have their broadcast licenses taken away.
The threat came just one day after his Federal Communications Commission (FCC) director, Brendan Carr, successfully pressured ABC into pulling Jimmy Kimmel's show from the air by threatening the broadcast licenses of its affiliates over a comment the comedian made about the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
"I read someplace that the networks were 97% against me," Trump told the press gaggle. "I get 97% negative, and yet I won it easily. I won all seven swing states, popular vote, I won everything. And they're 97% against, they give me wholly bad publicity... I mean, they're getting a license, I would think maybe their license should be taken away."
"When you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump, that’s all they do," the president continued. "If you go back, I guess they haven’t had a conservative on in years or something, somebody said, but when you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump. They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that.”
He said that the decision would be left up to Carr, who has threatened to take away licenses from networks that air what he called "distorted" content.
It is unclear where Trump's statistic that networks have been "97% against" him originates, nor the claim that mainstream news networks "haven't had a conservative on in years."
But even if it were true, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez says "the FCC doesn't have the authority, the ability, or the constitutional right to revoke a license because of content."
In comments made to Axios Thursday, Gomez—the lone Democrat on the five-member panel—said that the Trump administration was "weaponizing its licensing authority in order to bring broadcasters to heel," as part of a "campaign of censorship and control."
National news networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC do not have broadcasting licenses approved by the FCC, nor do cable networks like CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News. The licenses threatened by Carr are for local affiliates, which—despite having the branding of the big networks—are owned by less well-known companies like Nexstar Media Group and the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, both of which pushed in favor of ABC's decision to ax Kimmel.
Gomez said that with Trump's intimidation of broadcasters, the "threat is the point."
"It is a very hard standard to meet to revoke a license, which is why it's so rarely done, but broadcast license to the broadcasters are extremely valuable," she said. "And so they don't want to be dragged before the FCC either in order to answer to an enforcement complaint of some kind or under the threat of possible revocation."
Democratic lawmakers are vowing to investigate the Trump administration's pressure campaign that may have led to ABC deciding to indefinitely suspend late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) announced on Thursday that he filed a motion to subpoena Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr one day after he publicly warned ABC of negative consequences if the network kept Kimmel on the air.
"Enough of Congress sleepwalking while [President Donald] Trump and [Vice President JD] Vance shred the First Amendment and Constitution," Khanna declared. "It is time for Congress to stand up for Article I."
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, also said on Thursday that he was opening an investigation into the potential financial aspects of Carr's pressure campaign on ABC, including the involvement of Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which is the network's largest affiliate and is currently involved in merger talks that will need FCC approval.
"The Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into ABC, Sinclair, and the FCC," he said. "We will not be intimidated and we will defend the First Amendment."
Progressive politicians weren't the only ones launching an investigation into the Kimmel controversy, as legal organization Democracy Forward announced that it's filed a a Freedom of Information Act request for records after January 20, 2025 related to any FCC efforts “to use the agency’s licensing and enforcement powers to police and limit speech and influence what the public can watch and hear.”
After Hamas urged international support for the Global Sumud Flotilla, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday signaled another potential attack by claiming on social media that the peaceful humanitarian mission to feed starving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip "is a jihadist initiative serving the terror group's agenda."
While Israel has not taken responsibility for recent drone attacks on the Global Sumud Flotilla—whose name means perseverance in Arabic—the incidents have raised eyebrows, given the country's history of attacking previous ones. The foreign ministers of 16 other nations on Tuesday implored Israel not to target this flotilla, which involves activists and political leaders from dozens of countries, including eight US veterans.
As Middle East Eye reported Thursday, Hamas—which Israel and the United States designate as a terrorist organization despite its governance of Gaza—called for escalating the global movement in solidarity with the strip "in rejection of the [Israeli] occupation's aggression, crimes of genocide, and starvation."
"We call for mobilizing all means to support the Global Sumud Flotilla heading to Gaza, and we warn the occupation against targeting it," Hamas also said in a statement, part of which was quoted in the Israeli ministry's post on X.
Responding on the same platform, journalist Séamus Malekafzali said: "Past comments from the Israeli government about the aid flotillas focused on celebrity vapidity or didn't mention their aim at all. Now, they're honing in on it being a supposedly terrorist instrument. Feels like the response is being set up to be more severe than in the past."
The post came two days after Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism published a report titled "Global Sumud Flotilla": A Humanitarian Cover With Documented Links to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
As Brussels Signal reported Thursday:
Flotilla representatives and critics dismissed these claims as Israeli disinformation, echoing accusations leveled at prior missions, and called the report a case of "guilt by association," reliant on photos and unverified affiliations rather than evidence of operational control.
Organizers emphasised transparent crowdfunding for aid, with no terror funding, and framed the convoy as a grassroots response to aid blockages.
Earlier this week, a commission of independent experts at the United Nations concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and an investigation from The New Humanitarian found that Israeli forces have killed nearly 3,000 Palestinian aid-seekers and wounded almost 20,000 others since October 2023. As of Thursday, the overall death toll has topped 65,000, though experts warn the true tally is likely far higher.