Investing in Genocide

I got a proxy form the other day from my mutual fund. One of the issues up for vote was submitted by shareholders. It asked that the fund divest from companies whose activities contribute to genocide. Seems like a no-brainer, but the board advised against it. Some of their arguments:

• Staying engaged is a better way to exert influence


• Divestiture harms the target economy, and that hurts those we are trying to help.

So the board recommends continuing with the current policy: "Human rights ... are among the factors that can affect companies' long-term prospects for success."

In other words, we should fund genocide only if it is profitable.

I find this pretty sick. It was not unreasonable to make this argument during the Apartheid era. But it's quite a different matter with slaughtering and raping civilians. The shareholders are particularly offended by the fund's investment in PetroChina, whose parent company more or less funds genocide in Darfur.

If someone came to you and told you about a great oil opportunity. We could make lots of money, but we would have to murder a few hundred thousand natives to get it. Would you invest in his project?

It would be very educational to see an order of magnitude calculation of how much you would have to invest in one of these mutual funds to be responsible for one death, or one rape. I made a few very rough assumptions and got $200k/death.