NEWSGENOCIDE PREVENTION

It began with individuals, spread to campuses, was taken up by cities, and last Friday California became the very first U.S. state to take action on conflict minerals from Congo.

By a vote of 67 to 11, the California state assembly passed a bill that prohibits state agencies from signing contracts with companies that fail to comply with federal regulations aimed at deterring business with armed groups in eastern Congo. The California bill builds off the momentum of the Dodd-Frank bill passed by the U.S. Congress last year, by further incentivizing companies to help build a legitimate mining industry in Congo.

While Congo’s corrupt mining industry isn’t the source of the country’s decade-long conflict in the east, militias and even soldiers in the national army exploit its mineral wealth to fund the war they are largely waging against civilians. Those minerals end up in electronics. As the major success in California demonstrates, a growing number of U.S. consumers are mobilizing to demand reforms that would ultimately enable Congolese to benefit from their mineral resources – not continue to see them as a curse.

Libya. Egypt. Syria. Big names getting big headlines right now - and for good reason. Africa and the Middle East are in the midst of an uprising--a swell of populist support for human rights and democracy. These are equally promising and dangerous times for the entire region, and they all deserve our support as they work so hard to achieve the goals of the people.

Today I ask you to speak out for a place that has fallen out of the headlines in recent years. A place that has been struggling for the last decade to reach some sort of peace from the ongoing campaign of violence against their people.

Shareholder Vote Boosts Campaign by Investors Against Genocide.

The shareholder proposal on "Genocide-free investing" earned 7.69 percent of the vote at today's JPMorgan Chase shareholder meeting. The favorable vote is more than double the 3% required for the proposal to be presented at next year’s meeting and is a solid result given that 74 percent of outstanding shares are held by institutional investors.

William Rosenfeld, co-founder and Director of Strategic Initiatives for Investors Against Genocide (IAG), presented the proposal at the shareholder meeting, held this year in Columbus, Ohio. “Eight years after the genocide in Darfur, it is time for JPMorgan Chase to implement a genocide-free investing policy,” said Rosenfeld.  “We hope today’s vote causes JPMorgan Chase to reconsider its opposition to such a policy.  If not, we will bring genocide-free investing forward for consideration at next year’s annual meeting, knowing that Americans, once they become aware, do not want their pensions and family savings connected to genocide.”

A week before JPMorgan Chase shareholders vote at their annual meeting on a genocide-free investing proposal, Investors Against Genocide (IAG) has launched a communications campaign featuring a dramatic print advertisement in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).  The aim of the campaign is to draw much-needed attention to the connection between investments and genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

The full-page ad asks readers:

Are your investments tied to genocide? Many financial institutions invest in PetroChina, a company which, through its parent, CNPC, provides Sudan's government with revenue that has been helping fund the Darfur genocide for years.   The conflict has claimed 300,000 lives and left millions homeless.  With a billion-dollar stake in PetroChina as of January 2011, JPMorgan Chase is one of its largest investors. On May 17, JPMorgan Chase shareholders have the opportunity to vote for genocide-free investing.  How would you vote?

If you knew your family savings or retirement funds were financing a government’s genocidal campaign, would you keep sending money?

JPMorgan Chase is faced with this question right now.

Next month, JPMorgan Chase’s shareholders will decide whether they want the company to adopt a genocide free investing policy and avoid investing in companies that “substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity, the most egregious violations of human rights.”

So far, the financial services firm has been defensive, filing a “no action” request to the Securities and Exchange Commission in a bid to avoid putting a potential genocide-free policy to a vote. The SEC denied the request.

Update: BP has now stopped all business with Libya, and growing sanctions may soon stop others as well.

As unrest in Libya grew into full fledged violent clashes, Change.org member Alyssa Kwan saw a crucial chance to make a difference: calling on BP, one of the largest companies doing business with the Gaddafi regime, to suspend operations in Libya.

She launched a concise and effective petition, which quickly gathered more than 2,500 signatures. The UN seemed to agree with the sentiment, imposing sanctions on the current Libyan government and referring several members of the regime to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

Earlier this week a group of Libyan activists launched a petiton calling for Malta to grant asylum to two Libyan pilots who defected to the small island nation last Monday. Within 24 hours they had tens of thousands of signatures, more than 1,000 signatures an hour!

Who are these folks?

ENOUGH! Gaddafi is a group of grassroots Libyan activists both inside and outside the country, working together to bring down the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the long time dictator of Libya. Calling themselves a new voice of dissent against the Gaddafi regime, ENOUGH! Gaddafi seeks to utilize grassroots Libyan activism to "promote the ability of the Libyan people to overcome the limitations imposed upon them by an illegitimate and unjust government."

Last week, two Libyan pilots were ordered to bomb civilian protesters by Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. They faced an unimaginable choice: bomb their countrymen or face likely execution if they returned without carrying out the attacks. Instead, they found a third option - flying their planes out of Libya and defecting to the nearby island nation of Malta. In doing so, they saved the lives of untold numbers of their fellow Libyans.

But ever since Malta's Refugee Commissioner Mario Guido Friggieri and other government officials have refused to say whether they will give these pilots asylum.

A group of Libyan activists have gathered tens of thousands of signatures in under 24 hours on a petition calling for Malta to grant asylum to two Libyan pilots who defected to the small island nation last Monday.

That's more than 1,000 signatures an hour!

These pilots faced an unimaginable choice: bomb their countrymen or face likely execution if they returned without carrying out the attacks. Instead, they found a third option - flying their Mirage jets out of Libya and defecting to the nearby island nation of Malta.

In doing so, they saved the lives of untold numbers of their fellow Libyans.

But to date the Maltese government has been silent as to the fate of the two pilots, and the decision rests with Malta's Refugee Commissioner Mario Guido Friggieri.

Five years ago this week, I won an Olympic gold medal in men's speed skating.

I won by the largest margin in that event in more than 20 years. This is the shining line on my resume – both literal and social. Every day for the last five years I am not introduced as just “Joey Cheek," but as “Olympic Gold Medalist Joey Cheek."

However, as much as that moment changed my life, I’ve learned that what we achieve for ourselves rarely provides long-term pride when compared to the things we achieve for others.

Americans love the Olympics… when they are on. The Olympic spotlight is brief, but when that light is upon us, it burns brightly. I knew that if I won the gold, I would have only a few seconds to capture the world’s attention. I had to make it count.

After I won, I announced that I would be donating my winnings to support the people of war torn Darfur and encouraged others to do the same.