[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 449 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 449

Encouraging the Federal Government and State and municipal governments, 
 universities, companies, and other institutions in the United States, 
and all Americans to divest from companies that do business with Sudan.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 24, 2007

Mr. Tancredo (for himself, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Poe, Mr. McCotter, and 
Mr. Wolf) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
   Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on 
 Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Encouraging the Federal Government and State and municipal governments, 
 universities, companies, and other institutions in the United States, 
and all Americans to divest from companies that do business with Sudan.

Whereas in the 108th Congress, the House of Representatives adopted House 
        Concurrent Resolution 467 on July 22, 2004, by a unanimous vote of 422-
        0, which--

    (1) declares that the atrocities unfolding in the Darfur region of 
Sudan are genocide;

    (2) declares that the Government of Sudan has violated the Convention 
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;

    (3) urges the Administration to seriously consider multilateral 
intervention to stop genocide in Darfur should the United Nations Security 
Council fail to act; and

    (4) calls on the Administration to impose targeted sanctions, including 
visa bans and the freezing of assets of the Sudanese National Congress and 
affiliated businesses and individuals directly responsible for the 
atrocities in Darfur;

Whereas in the 109th Congress, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3127, 
        the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006, on April 5, 2006, by a 
        vote of 416-3, which--

    (1) appeals to the international community, including the United 
Nations, the European Union, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 
(NATO), to immediately mobilize sufficient political, military, and 
financial resources to support and expand the African Union Mission in 
Sudan (AMIS); and

    (2) blocks assets and restricts travel of any individual the President 
determines is responsible for acts of genocide, war crimes, or crimes 
against humanity in the Darfur region of Sudan;

Whereas on September 9, 2004, former Secretary of State Colin Powell stated 
        before the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate that genocide 
        was being committed in the Darfur region of Sudan and that the 
        Government of Sudan and the government-supported Janjaweed militias bear 
        responsibility for the genocide;
Whereas on September 21, 2004, President George W. Bush affirmed the Secretary 
        of State's finding in an address before the United Nations General 
        Assembly, stating that the world is witnessing terrible suffering and 
        horrible crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan, crimes the Government of 
        the United States has concluded are genocide;
Whereas, although the Government of the United States currently bans United 
        States companies from conducting business operations in Sudan, millions 
        of Americans are inadvertently supporting the Government of Sudan by 
        investing in foreign companies that conduct business operations in Sudan 
        that disproportionately benefit the Sudanese regime in Khartoum;
Whereas the States of Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, and Maine have passed 
        legislation mandating divestment of State funds from companies that 
        conduct business operations in Sudan;
Whereas the States of Connecticut, Ohio, and Vermont have passed nonbinding 
        divestment legislation with respect to Sudan;
Whereas Providence, Rhode Island, New Haven, Connecticut, and other cities have 
        passed legislation mandating divestment of city funds from companies 
        that conduct business operations in Sudan;
Whereas Amherst, Boston University, Brandeis, Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, 
        Harvard, Middlebury, Oberlin, Princeton, the Reconstructionist 
        Rabbinical College, Samford, Simmons, Smith, Stanford, Trinity, the 
        University of California, the University of Colorado, the University of 
        Maryland, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern 
        California, the University of Vermont, the University of Washington, 
        Williams, and Yale have divested their funds from, or placed 
        restrictions on investment of their funds in, certain companies that 
        conduct business operations in Sudan;
Whereas divestment has proven effective in similar situations, as in 1986, when 
        State pension funds and university endowments were divested from 
        companies that conducted business operations in South Africa, which was 
        critical to ending apartheid in that country, and by 1994, when the 
        first free elections in South Africa took place, a substantial number of 
        States, counties, cities, universities, and colleges in the United 
        States had adopted partial or total divestment policies; and
Whereas the business operations of companies in countries that perpetrate grave 
        abuses of human rights, especially the uniquely monstrous crime of 
        genocide, are of material financial concern to United States investors 
        even when these operations represent a small fraction of a company's 
        total business: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,  That the House of Representatives--
            (1) calls upon the Government of Sudan to end the violence 
        it is perpetrating against the people of Darfur and enter into 
        peace talks with those factions in Darfur that are non-
        signatories of the Darfur Peace Agreement; and
            (2) until such time as the Government of Sudan has taken 
        the actions described in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) encourages the Federal Government and State and 
                municipal governments to divest from companies that do 
                business with Sudan;
                    (B) encourages universities, companies, and other 
                institutions in the United States to divest from 
                companies that do business with Sudan; and
                    (C) encourages all Americans to divest from 
                companies that do business with Sudan.
                                 <all>