One third of all recorded cluster bomb casualties are children. Yet despite efforts to ban these indiscriminate weapons, 138 banks and other financial institutions continue to invest over US$20 billion in companies that produce them.
Cluster bombs are large explosive weapons that scatter dozens or hundreds of smaller submunitions over a wide area. They cannot distinguish between military targets and civilians. Many submunitions fail to detonate on impact and, like landmines, continue to kill and maim people long after the conflict has ended. Find out more about Dtar’s story by watching this short film.
The good
The global campaign to eradicate cluster bombs, spearheaded by the Cluster Munitions Coalition, reached a major breakthrough in 2008 when governments negotiated an international treaty to ban them. So far, 103 countries have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the UK.
The bad
Although the UK government has signed the ban and stopped production of cluster bombs, UK banks still invest in cluster bomb producers in countries that have not yet outlawed them. A ban simply can’t be effective if there is still funding for the production of these weapons.
The downright ugly
A recent report* finds that UK high street banks are lending or providing investment banking services to cluster bomb producers to the tune of:
– Barclays: US$274 million
– HSBC: US$657 million
– Royal Bank of Scotland (includes NatWest): US$64 million
That could be YOUR cash. And if there’s one thing banks can’t do without, it’s customers: tell your bank to stop this shameful practice once and for all. If you’re not a customer of these banks you can still contact them to let them know that you find their investment in producers of cluster bombs totally unacceptable.
Take action – email your bank now
Had a response? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Hi I’ve taken this action last week. I am customer of Barclays Bank and they have not responsed to me at all! pretty disappointing customer service…
Any other Barclays customer had a different experience?
Hi, I am also a customer of Barclays and have had no response whatsoever. I am now thinking about ringing them up and asking for a response …
D
Hi,
Ring them, I would love to know what they say
J
Since my first email to Barclays Bank at the end of November I have been kept up to date with their investigation into my concern.
Today I received a letter from Barclays dated 5 December 09 basically saying they take every step to ‘…….ensure that defence exports financed by Barclays are not used by foreign authorities either to oppress their own populations or to support unjustified external aggression……..’.
I am satifisied with their response and I understand that, with the postal service at the moment, any delay in their response was out of their control.
So give it some time people, they will get back to you.
Thanks Barclays, I appreciate you being upfront with your customers.
Good blogpost, amazing looking website, added it to my favorites!!
I don’t actually believe Barclays is upfront with its customers at all! Just have a look at the actual report where Barclays is listed as investing in Lockheed Martin (US) which is a producer of cluster munitions!
http://www.ikvpaxchristi.nl/files/Documenten/wap%20cluster%20munitie/Clustermunition/Stop%20Explosive%20Investments/Worldwide%20investments%20in%20cluster%20munitions_summary%20table%20Hall%20of%20Shame.pdf
I agree with D; regarding the response cited by Terry, Barclays is not commenting at all about cluster bombs. I think that AI and the Cluster Munitions Coalition aren’t trying to take on the entire worldwide defense industry, just cluster bombs, which (as shown by the report) are killing so many civilians incl. children.
So Barclays responds to Terry that the weapons resulting from their funding aren’t used to “oppress their OWN populations or to support unjustified external aggression.” Fine, but that doesn’t touch upon cluster bombs that are used against **other nations’** populations (incl. civilians). And cluster bombs have been part of external aggression that, according to the politics of whatever countries are involved, are not unjustified.
Essentially with that statement, Barclays isn’t saying anything about their involvement in cluster bombs specifically. I would like to know what they say about the specific claims of the CMC report. So, I shall ask them….and shall ask HSBC…and RBS, all of which I use for my accounts. With all the emails sent (According to Amnesty’s web site), I would be expecting to see a little bit more feedback on what kind of response or non-response there has been.
It’s important to recognise that these replies from the Banks are saying that they have stopped investing in cluster bomb producers!
As a matter of fact, it has been illegal for Banks or any other financial institution to fund transfer and trade in cluster bombs since the UK introduced new arms export control laws on 1st October 2008. It is good to know that the Banks agree to abide by existing UK law in this area!
Banks say they prohibit direct funding for the production of cluster bombs, but this isn’t how cluster bomb production gets financed. In any case, the UK government has stated that direct finance of cluster bombs production will be banned under the new UK legislation to ratify the Cluster Bombs treaty. Again, in this context, Banks are only stating what the law will soon require them to do!
The big loophole Banks cling to is “indirect finance” No reply has stated that Banks have agreed to end this form of finance. Indirect finance is where funds are provided to a cluster bombs producer but not specifically for the production of cluster bombs themselves. However, in nearly all cases, funds cant be ring fenced in such a fashion and allow the producer to allocate to whatever business activity it chooses.
Indirect finance is a morally bankrupt argument because Banks are still facilitating the production of these indiscriminate and horrific weapons, either by allowing your money to be channelled into the production or freeing up other finance to be used on cluster bombs. It would be hard to imagine a Bank justifying the funding of a company involved in other serious crimes such as money laundering, people and drug trafficking, serious sex offences or acts of terrorism on the grounds that it was only providing funds to part of the company involved in less heinous activities!
The UK government has just stated that it wants to end indirect finance for the cluster bombs production will be looking at measures to do this as part of its work around the current cluster bombs legislation.
OK spot the deliberate mistake in my previous tirade.
Obviously the Banks HAVE NOT said they will stop funding cluster bombs producers.