Camden Council urged to divest pension fund from arms, illegal occupation, and fossil fuels

Camden Council has faced fresh calls to pull its pension investments from companies profiting from the arms trade, illegal occupations, and fossil fuels.

On Monday 18 November campaigners from the Camden Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and retired Unison members appeared at a meeting of the whole council, demanding an ethical pension fund investment policy.

George Binette, on behalf of retired Camden Unison workers, criticised the existing “democratic deficit” in the local government pension scheme (LGPS).

Ahead of the meeting the Unison delegation wrote: “We want divestment at the earliest feasible time from these specific sectors: a) The arms industry; b) Companies profiting from war and occupation including the occupation of the Palestinian territories; and c) The fossil fuel industry.

“We do not believe that there is a contradiction between the Council’s fiduciary duty, its obligations to current pensioners, and an ethical investment policy, which can play an essential role in ensuring the health and well-being of future generations,” they wrote in a deputation summary.

Addressing councillors he said the “obvious remedy” would be to give reserved places for elected trade union representatives and “full voting rights on the relevant bodies”.

“This just might also give real substance to what strikes us as the often empty rhetoric around environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.”

Binette insisted the council divest from weapons companies powering Israel’s ongoing military action, along with any other companies considered “unethical”.

“To be frank, there is a particular concern about investments that are fuelling the arms trade and ultimately wars such as the one being waged in Gaza — but also for that matter Sudan, where weapons manufactured in this country have been funnelled through the United Arab Emirates to one side in that horrific, catastrophic conflict.

“If the council were to conduct an unbiased survey, it would find that in fact members want a say in how their contributions are invested, and what provides for our pensions in retirement,” he said.

The public gallery doors were locked during the meeting of the full council following a heated row arising from a pro-Palestine protest in the chamber in October.

At the last full council meeting, activists from Camden Friends of Palestine were ejected from the gallery by police for disruption after holding up signs saying “Stop Genocide”, which borough solicitor Andrew Maughan described as “offensive”.

Helena Aksentijevic, secretary of Camden PSC, asked members: “Is Camden a progressive council? Does it uphold international law?”

“In 1983, supported by Frank Dobson, Camden acted radically in their opposition to the apartheid government of South Africa. They were on the right side of history then.

“Every day we wake up to a new massacre in Gaza. We hear the screams of people when the Israeli army bombs and burns men, women and children. How has this become normalised?” she said.

“The people of Camden are asking you please to be radical again — to condemn Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people and to call for an immediate ceasefire.”

The PSC’s deputation also requested the council address “splits in community cohesion” arising from a “refusal to discuss the situation in Gaza”.

The Town Hall has been the target of heavy criticism over its pension fund investments in companies like Elbit Systems, an Israeli private arms company.

Protestors argue the council has directly funded millions into Israel through the pension scheme, but the Town Hall has insisted that investments were exposed but not direct.

In September, the council said it was “considering all options” over divestment.

Cllr Rishi Madlani, pensions committee chair, thanked the PSC for engaging with him on the issue but did not commit to divestment.

All of the committee’s work was all being done in public for transparency, he said, and explained his involvement in a London-wide body to drive a “responsible investment agenda” for the LGPS, while “also ensuring value for money” for pensioners.

Councils have a legal responsibility or “fiduciary duty” to ensure pension funds generate enough money to sustain the benefit for retirees.

To overcome legal obstacles to divestment, Camden’s neighbouring borough of Islington has proposed restructuring its fund altogether.

Cllr Madlani said: “As a small fund, we have limited ability to engage in all topics and there’s a committee every three to four years when we do our valuations.

“We look at what the key issues are and the key issues that Camden identified in the previous cycle were climate action, gender equality and decent working jobs.

“That being said […] it’s something the committee will want to look at more actively in the coming cycle.

“We continue to monitor the latest legal advice on any specific prohibitions and UK regulations […] When we do our next evaluation around where we look at our core investment beliefs, we will look at peace and justice as a core investment belief.

“But that will happen next year,” he said.

Cllr Awale Olad gave the harshest criticism of Israel yet heard from the Labour group in the chamber, directly accusing the state of “war crimes”.

While condemning the “shocking inhumanity” of Hamas’s attack on 7 October last year, the response of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in Gaza has been to unleash “unspeakable horror” on the Palestinians, “destroying everything in sight”, he said.

“Homes, schools, hospitals, mosques, you name it — they’ve destroyed it. In the process, displacing millions of Palestinians, killing tens of thousands of children and women by targeting civilian infrastructure.

“We now have a humanitarian crisis [of] famine, starvation, disease. Very little medicine gets through, unimaginable war crimes being committed against the Palestinian people.”

Council Leader Richard Olszewski focused his response on the issue of community cohesion, addressing the concerning rise in incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia in the borough.

“People of all faiths have been impacted by the conflict in the Middle East. That pain is felt across Camden, for some very directly.

“Our priority as a council is to ensure that communities remain safe, and we recognise that cohesion is an important part of people both feeling and being safe.”

He added that the borough had stepped up reassurance and engagement patrols by community safety officers, in particular for synagogues and mosques, “to understand the impact of these terrible global events on our communities”.

Camden Council: Monday, 18 November 2024. Agenda. Webcast.

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