Handicap International is outraged: Canadian financial institutions continue to bankroll cluster munitions

The updated “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions” report produced jointly by IKV Pax Christi and Netwerk Vlaanderen, the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) which Handicap International is a part of, targets Canadian financial institutions due to many among them funding cluster munitions manufacturers. These practices are an affront to Handicap International and they are calling on financial institutions to ban any direct or indirect involvement with cluster munitions manufacturers.

The “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions” reports that Canadian financial institutions earn a spot on the “Wall of Shame” for bankrolling cluster munitions manufacturers. “It is inconceivable that Canadian financial institutions can continue to invest either directly or indirectly in this kind of venture. Cluster munitions are a true scourge that continues to mutilate and kill men, women and children, as well as breed poverty by rendering land barren,” claims Christian Champigny, Interim Director of Handicap International Canada.

Investing in the cluster munitions industry is tantamount to assisting production of cluster munitions and therefore implies complicity in the manufacturing of these barbaric weapons. Hence, Handicap International is calling on Canadian financial institutions involved to terminate participation in all investments related to cluster munitions and to implement a thorough and transparent policy to ban all future involvement in this industry.

Many financial institutions have ceased to invest in cluster munitions manufacturers and have instituted thorough and transparent policies. “A responsible investment policy is a real necessity and not just window dressing. We expect Canadian banks to respect the Oslo Treaty’s precepts,” Christian Champigny adds.

Canada is a signatory of the Oslo Convention on Cluster Munitions since December 2008, a convention that prohibits the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions. Handicap International and Mines Action Canada demand that Canadian financial institutions comply with the Oslo Treaty’s obligations.