How to Divest

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has a long history of engagement in divestment campaigns and in responsible investment actions for peace and civil rights issues worldwide, including corporate accountability campaigns in the anti-apartheid movement, farmworkers' rights campaigns, the movement for nuclear disarmament, peace and anti-militarism campaigns, and struggles against mass incarceration and for the rights of immigrants.

As an investor, AFSC invests only in companies providing goods and services which people and peacetime industries need for everyday life. It refrains from investment in the military industries and major defense contractors, in nuclear power and fossil fuels, and in companies directly involved in other forms of state violence, such as mass incarceration, militarized borders and policing, mass surveillance, and military occupation.

The Economic Activism Program provides organizers and investors with tools and training for campaigns that face corporate power, expose corporate complicity in state violence and violations of human rights, help corporations move away from such harmful practices, and support the creation of public and transparent standards for corporate behavior.

Divestment is an act of tracing our own financial links to war, oppression, and exploitation, to use them as leverage to expose, isolate, and withdraw from these harmful social structures. As far as companies go, once they are exposed and confronted with the potential controversy and reputational and regulatory risks, many of them respond to engagement efforts by stakeholders, develop a human rights policy, or even step away from additional controversial activities.

We advocate divestment from all forms of state violence. On Investigate, we offer information and divestment recommendations on three such institutions: mass incarceration, military occupations, and the border and surveillance industries. Divestment is one of the main tools of Racial Justice Investing, in support of the struggle for Black lives, for Palestinian rights, and for immigrant justice. Each of these issues is a priority for AFSC's longstanding work, where we have detected a lack of available information and a need for investors and activists to come together and hold these harmful industries to account.

Different stakeholders in the companies listed on our database may choose to use different strategies to help companies divest and withdraw from these activities: they may engage with the companies, shame them, work with them to create better due diligence mechanisms and human rights policies, put consumer pressure on them, file shareholder resolutions, or dump their stocks.

We urge all companies listed on our database to divest from these harmful activities, and we hope that their consumers, investors, and business partners will use this information to demand that these companies make that transition, and help them in this process.

We urge responsible investors to refrain from owning stocks or bonds of the companies on our divestment list. Based on our assessment using the criteria detailed below, these companies would not respond to shareholder activism on these issues at this time, which makes the ownership of these securities a moral liability.

We urge activist groups and advocacy organizations to call on institutional investors such as universities, cities, endowments, unions, faith organizations, and public pension funds to adopt a responsible investment and procurement policy, to divest from these companies, and to stop contracting with them.

We urge responsible investment consultants and investment data providers to integrate this information as part of their ongoing analysis of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues. Adding these concerns to our human rights screens and ratings would help develop industry-wide standards for corporate respect for human rights.

Our Divestment Criteria

The Investigate database is two-tiered. From our general list of companies, some are highlighted as targets for divestment. This recommendation is based on an assessment of three criteria: the salience of the human rights violation, the company's responsibility for the violation, and the company's responsiveness. These are explained below in detail.

Each criterion is evaluated on a 1-5 point scale, from least to most severe, leading to an overall score of 3-15 points for each company. We evaluate the companies in our database separately on their involvement in all three issues we track: the prison industry, military occupations, and border militarization. Companies that receive more than 10 points on any issue become part of our divestment recommendation.

  • Salience - the severity of the human rights violation and how harmful it is. Based on the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights Reporting Framework, it measures the severity of the negative impact of a company’s activities and/or business relationships. Salience does not measure the extent of the company’s stake in the said violation, nor its impact on the company’s revenue; it measures only the degree to which this violation is harmful to people. Salience is also adjusted by measuring the scale and scope of the violence.
  1. Symbolic: Discrimination
  2. Structural: Exploitation or sporadic indirect violence
  3. Indirect: Large-scale systemic indirect physical violence or sporadic direct violence
  4. Direct: Systemic direct physical violence
  5. Severe: Large scale and severe direct physical violence
  • Responsibility - the degree of the company’s involvement in the human rights violation. It is assessed on a case by case basis and includes both the degree to which the company’s products and services contribute to the violation and the degree to which the company is knowingly and intentionally linked to the violation. For example, supplying custom-made crucial equipment or services would constitute a more significant involvement than the supply of an off-the-shelf product.
  1. Normalize: The company’s relationships link to the violation.
  2. Capitalize: The company’s activities, services, or products link to the violation.
  3. Support: The company’s activities, services, or products exacerbate or contribute to the violation, or deliberately support it.
  4. Facilitate: The company knowingly and intentionally provides products, activities, or services which exacerbate or enable the violation.
  5. Enforce: The company’s activities cause the violation.
  • Responsiveness - the company’s responsiveness to multi-stakeholder engagement, as well as the continuity of its involvement, in the harmful activities. All companies listed on Investigate have full knowledge of the impact of their actions. Their responsiveness is assessed by monitoring the company’s attempts at dialogue and remediation as well as changes in corporate policies or activities.
  1. Responsive: The company announced it would fully withdraw from the violation.
  2. Responding: The company is changing its behavior, but not enough.
  3. Dialogue: There is a dialogue or possibility of a dialogue with the company about this violation, with potential for improvement.
  4. Nonresponsive: The company is unlikely to respond to stakeholders’ concerns.
  5. Resistant: The company has not responded to public stakeholders’ concerns regarding the violation.

Our research and recommendations are updated regularly with changes in companies’ operations and responsiveness. Since the inception of the Investigate database in 2011, we have removed more than 20 companies. We hope that our database continues to shrink as companies divest from state violence.

Our divestment list is neither a “black-list” nor a boycott list. We use it to advocate for a specific course of action relevant for investors, and we recognize that different stakeholders might have different opportunities to promote the same goals. Please contact us if you need assistance in tailoring specific screening recommendations for different investors, asset managers, or investment consultants.

Divestment from the Border and Surveillance Industries

With the increased militarization of borders all around the world and the unprecedented expansion of state surveillance systems designed to criminalize and hunt down immigrants and refugees, ethical investors must learn to identify this newly-defined and ever-growing military-surveillance industrial complex. Community groups and organizations should call on universities, cities, unions, faith organizations, endowments, and pension funds to divest for immigrant justice and withdraw from any partnership with the surveillance high tech and security industries.

The American Friends Service Committee does not invest in companies which consistently, knowingly, and directly facilitate and enable state violence and repression, including in the industries of border security, militarized policing, and mass surveillance. Many of these companies are large military contractors or weapons companies, already excluded by AFSC's policy banning investment in military and weapons companies. Other mass surveillance firms are large high tech companies whose specific activities are carefully assessed to determine their human rights impact and the companies' responsiveness to the concerns voiced by the public, their own employees, and investors.

Divestment from the Prison Industry

The American Friends Service Committee does not invest in companies which consistently, knowingly, and directly facilitate and enable mass incarceration and detention, including those providing prison and jail services, transportation and deportation services, bond services, reentry and other "community corrections" services, electronic monitoring, or companies which use prison labor.

We encourage other institutional investors to adopt a similar policy, to expand the idea of "prison divestment" beyond the focus on private prison operators, and to help isolate the main culprits that drive the mass criminal punishment system in the U.S.

We hope that our research will help investors refrain from any investment in the prison industry unless they intend to use it for corporate engagement and shareholder activism to help companies change their policies and transition out of this industry.

Divestment from the Occupation Industry

The American Friends Service Committee has worked with Palestinians and Israelis for peace and justice for over 70 years. The principles that guide AFSC's work in this area are outlined in the document "Principles for a Just and Lasting Peace between Palestinians and Israelis," which was first approved by AFSC's board of directors in 1999. These principles hold that peace will only be realized if both Palestinians' and Israelis' rights are recognized and the structural injustices between peoples have ended.

The AFSC Investment Policy states that "[i]nvestments should not be made in...companies that facilitate and enable violations of international law and human rights as part of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Syrian lands and/or as part of Israeli apartheid." The Policy refers only to Israeli violations, since all investment which might support Palestinian militant groups is already banned by U.S. law.

We see this as our response to the 2005 Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS, as well as the implementation of AFSC's vision and mission statement, in line with our commitment to divest from all forms of state violence and militarism.

Using the Investigate human rights rating system, we recommend divestment from companies with a substantial, ongoing, and intentional complicity in severe violations of human rights and human rights law, including through their involvement in:

  • The Settlement Industry - companies that support and maintain illegal settlements in occupied lands.
  • Exploitation of Natural Resources - companies involved in the exploitation and plundering of natural resources in occupied lands.
  • Wall and Checkpoints - companies that support the system of severe travel restrictions Israel imposes on Palestinians.
  • Weapons and Military Equipment - companies that provide militant groups in Palestine/Israel with weapons and militarized equipment specifically designed for and consistently used in war crimes or attacks on civilians.
  • Discrimination - companies that discriminate against Palestinians in their services or goods, in the workplace, or by exploiting the unequal and discriminatory legal situation for their commercial benefit.

Over the last several years, several large corporations were taken off our divestment list or altogether from the Investigate database after they changed their activities on the ground. This includes, for example, CRH, SodaStream, Veolia Environnement, HP Inc., Orange, which followed Unilever, Assa Abloy, and the privately-owned companies Keter Plastic and Barkan Wineries. Other companies, which have changed or announced a change in their West Bank business operations, remain under close observation: Caterpillar, Cemex, and Fosun International.

View our divestment list

A US air cargo transportation and aircraft leasing company that operates deportation flights for the US government.

A Dutch multinational military and aerospace company whose helicopters are used to monitor the US–Mexico border.

An Israeli investment firm. Its subsidiary Energix Renewable Energy has projects in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights. Its subsidiary Amot Investments owns an industrial building in the occupied West Bank.

A French company operating in the railway sector. It participated in the construction of the Jerusalem Light Rail and Tel Aviv–Jerusalem railway, both of which cut through the occupied Palestinian territory.

A Dutch multinational telecommunications company. Its Israeli subsidiary HOT has facilities in and provides telecommunication services to most illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights.

An Israeli agricultural company that operates branches in two illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

A US-based provider of food, facility management, and uniform services. It provides food and other services to prisons and immigration jails and uses prison labor.

One of Israel's largest construction and real estate companies. It has constructed housing units and large-scale infrastructure in illegal Israeli settlements, as well as parts of Israel's separation wall. It also operates a quarry and concrete plant in the occupied West Bank.

An Israeli holding company with a controlling interest in Bezeq, Israel's largest telecommunications provider, which has infrastructure throughout the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights and provides telecommunication services to illegal Israeli settlements, military bases, and checkpoints.

The world's seventh-largest military contractor, which manufactures multiple weapon systems routinely used in war crimes against Palestinians.

One of Israel's largest banks, which is deeply involved in the expansion of Israel's illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights.

One of Israel's largest banks. It is deeply involved in the expansion of Israel's illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories.

An Israeli bank that is deeply involved in the expansion of Israel's illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Israel's largest telecommunications provider. It has infrastructure throughout the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights and provides telecommunication services to illegal Israeli settlements, military bases, and checkpoints.

The world's third-largest military company. It manufactures multiple weapon systems that are routinely used in war crimes against Palestinian civilians and previously designed the smart/virtual wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

A US government IT contractor, which developed cloud analytics services for US immigration authorities to track and target immigrants.

An Israeli outsourcing company for secure communications systems. Its systems are installed at military bases and checkpoints in the occupied West Bank and in weapons systems used by the Israeli military.

The owner of Safariland and Defense Technology, which manufacture tear gas and other crowd control weapons that are used by Israeli police and military authorities against Palestinians and by immigration, prison, and law enforcement agencies in the US and around the world.

A US-based multinational manufacturer of construction machinery and equipment. Its products are weaponized for the Israeli military and are used in home demolitions; in the construction of illegal settlement infrastructure, border walls, and military checkpoints; and in military assaults against Palestinians.

The largest Israeli cellular communications provider. It operates hundreds of antennas that serve illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories.

An Israeli digital intelligence firm that supplies police, prison, and immigration authorities, as well as repressive regimes around the world, with hacking technologies.

A Mexican building materials company that has provided concrete for numerous illegal Israeli construction projects in the occupied Palestinian territory and that operates production plants there, despite having formally sold them.

One of the world's largest oil and gas companies. Its subsidiary Noble Energy extracts gas off the shores of the Gaza Strip, exacerbating the Gaza blockade and potentially involved in pillaging.

A US-based retail and commercial banking company. It has been one of the main financial backers of private prison company CoreCivic.

A manufacturer of firearms and ammunition for military, law enforcement, and commercial markets in Israel, the U.S., and around the world.

The world’s largest private prison company. It owns and operates prisons and jails, including immigration jails and “community corrections” centers, and uses forced prison labor. It also provides e-carceration technologies, transportation, and other services as part of the criminal punishment system.

An Israeli construction company controlled by Africa Israel and its parent company, Lapidoth Capital. It is involved in several construction and infrastructure projects in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

An Israeli multinational conglomerate of automotive, energy, insurance, and real estate companies. It owns and operates gas stations and convenience stores throughout the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights.

An Israeli holding company with subsidiaries that develop, construct, and operate gas stations as well as market fuel products. It operates gas stations and convenience stores in multiple illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer. Its weapons are routinely used in war crimes against Palestinians and its surveillance systems are used in Palestine and along the U.S.–Mexico border.

An Israeli holding company with multiple business operations in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights.

An Israeli construction company that builds and maintains infrastructure projects in and around illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights.

An Israeli renewable energy company. Owns a solar farm in an illegal settlement industrial zone in the occupied West Bank. Developed a wind farm project in the occupied Golan Heights.

The parent company of Bank of Jerusalem, an Israeli bank that finances construction projects and operates branches in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The parent company of First International Bank of Israel, which finances construction projects, operates branches in, and provides financial services to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian and Syrian territory.

One of Israel's largest banks. It is deeply involved in the expansion of Israel's illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

A subsidiary of multinational software company Asseco and parent company of Matrix IT and other subsidiaries that provide security systems and IT services to illegal Israeli settlements, the Israeli military, and the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

A Chinese multinational conglomerate that owns AHAVA, which excavates minerals in the occupied West Bank and operates a processing center and visitor center in an illegal Israeli settlement, despite moving its factory outside of the occupied Palestinian territory.

One of Israel's largest private security firms and a former subsidiary of G4S. It provides security services and equipment to illegal Israeli settlements, the Israeli military, and the Israeli police and prison systems.

Genasys, formerly the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) Corporation, specializes in manufacturing acoustic hailing systems. Its flagship product, the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), is used by police, military personnel, and immigration authorities in the US and abroad.

The fifth-largest military contractor in the world. It manufactures weapons that are used by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians and surveillance technology that is used to monitor and surveil the U.S.–Mexico border and immigrant communities.

One of the world's largest weapons companies. It manufactures engines for multiple weapon systems that are routinely used in war crimes against Palestinian civilians and infrastructure for a power plant in the occupied Syrian Golan.

A US multinational oil & gas company. Extracts oil in the occupied Golan Heights.

A US-based construction company that built parts of and performed maintenance on the US–Mexico border barrier.

The world's largest cement producer and a leader in the production of aggregates. Operates quarries and manufacturing facilities in the occupied West Bank. Its products have been used to build and expand illegal settlements.

A US manufacturer of components that are integrated into multiple weapons systems used in war crimes.

The parent company of B Communications, which has a controlling interest in Bezeq, Israel's largest telecommunications provider. Been has infrastructure throughout the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights and provides telecommunication services to illegal Israeli settlements, military bases, and checkpoints.

One of Israel's largest banks. Financed the construction of housing projects in multiple illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory. Has branches in illegal settlements.

A Dutch investment company that develops and manages assets and projects in real estate and water infrastructure. Through its subsidiary TAHAL Group, the company has carried out multiple projects in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

A US-based construction and engineering firm that maintains and repairs the US–Mexico border fence in Arizona.

A US weapons manufacturer that provides phone tracking devices and other equipment to the Israeli military and US immigration authorities. It used to provide surveillance technologies for use along the US–Mexico border and at Israeli military checkpoints.

A large Israeli construction, infrastructure, and drilling company. Its subsidiaries Africa Israel and Danya Cebus are involved in several construction and infrastructure projects in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

A US-based military IT contractor that provides imaging technologies and biometric systems to US immigration authorities for border monitoring and surveillance.

An Italian weapons manufacturer that provides the Israeli Navy with warship guns.

An Israeli construction and development company that has provided services and infrastructure to illegal Israeli settlements and military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank.

The world’s largest military company. It manufactures weapons that are routinely used by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians and reconnaissance aircraft that are used by US immigration authorities to monitor the US–Mexico border.

An Israeli IT service management company and subsidiary of Formula Systems. It provides services and technology to illegal Israeli settlements, the Israeli military, and the Israel Police and Prison Services, and operates one branch in an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank.

An Israeli real estate firm. Develops shopping malls in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

A British facility management, consultancy, and product management company that operates private prisons and immigration jails in the UK.

One of Israel's largest real estate companies, specializes in properties for industrial or commercial use. Owns multiple industrial spaces in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights.

A major Israeli bank. Financed the construction of multiple illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory. Has branches in illegal settlements. Discriminates against Palestinian citizens of Israel.

An Israeli construction and real estate development company that constructs residential and commercial projects in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

A US-based communications and surveillance company. Its surveillance products are used in US prisons, along the US–Mexico border, and by US police departments. Its equipment is installed in illegal Israeli settlements and along the separation wall in the occupied West Bank and is used by the Israeli military, police, and prison service.

A major Israeli bank specializing in credit for local municipalities. Financed the construction of public projects in multiple illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory. Has branches in settlements.

An Israeli surveillance technology company that sells voice recording, video, and other surveillance tools to US police departments and prisons.

The world’s third-largest military company. It manufactures weapons that are used by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians and surveillance technologies used by US immigration authorities to monitor the US–Mexico border.

An Israeli development and engineering firm. Operates a quarry and factory in the occupied West Bank and involved in illegal settlement construction.

A US-based high-tech surveillance company whose big data AI tools are used by Israeli security forces and U.S. law and immigration enforcement agencies.

One of the largest Israeli providers of cellular phone services. Has hundreds of antennas and other communications facilities in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights. Services illegal settlements and military bases in the occupied West Bank.

The largest gas and energy supplier in Israel. Operates gas stations in and supplies cooking gas to illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights. Part of a duopoly with exclusive rights to supply gas to the Gaza strip.

A US-based multinational water company. Its Israeli subsidiary Eden Springs extracts water from the occupied Golan Heights and is headquartered in an illegal settlement there.

Israel’s third largest grocery store chain. Owns real estate and operates stores in multiple illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

A US-based banking and financial services company. It has been a major financier of private prison companies CoreCivic and GEO Group.

A German company that manufactures engines and transmission systems for Israel's main battle tanks and armored personnel carriers.

The UK's second largest weapons manufacturer. Its German subsidiary MTU makes the engines for Israel's main battle tanks and armored personnel carriers.

An Israeli construction company that has built residential housing projects in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. It previously constructed facilities for the Israeli military.

The world's second-largest military company, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies. It makes missiles, bombs, components for fighter jets, and other weapon systems used by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians. Its surveillance technology is also used to monitor the U.S.–Mexico border.

One of Israel's largest bread and pastries companies. It operates bakeries in two illegal Israeli settlement neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem: Gilo and Ramat Shlomo.

A US military and intelligence contractor that provides license plate readers and other surveillance technologies to US immigration authorities.

An Israeli company (formerly Magal Security Systems) specializing in high-tech security systems for fences and walls. Its systems are installed in the West Bank and Gaza walls.

A British multinational outsourcing company that operates prisons and immigration jails in Australia, Germany, New Zealand, and the UK.

An Israeli construction and infrastructure firm. Operates a quarry and concrete plant in the occupied West Bank and involved in several development projects in illegal settlements there.

An Israeli infrastructure and construction company. Builds infrastructure and residential projects in multiple illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and has a factory a factory in a settlement. Involved in building military checkpoints and the Gaza wall.

One of the largest grocery store chains in Israel. It operates branches and manufactures food products in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights.

A Chinese solar energy company. Its solar panels are used in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights.

A French multinational food services and facilities management company that operates prisons in Australia and the UK.

A US-based manufacturer of firearms and tactical gear. It sells its products to law enforcement agencies, the US military, and foreign militaries, including the Israeli military, which uses Ruger weapons to target Palestinians. 

An Israeli provider of electronic monitoring, cybersecurity, and digital identity products. Its subsidiary Leaders in Community Alternatives sells e-carceration tools and and operates "community corrections" programs in the US and internationally. 

A US-based facility management services company that owns and partially operates two ICE immigration jails.

A US engineering and IT government contractor that provides CBP with mobile surveillance systems used to monitor the US–Mexico border.

A US-based military contractor, known for its Beechcraft, Bell, Cessna, and Hawker aircraft, some of which are used to monitor the US–Mexico border and by the Israeli military.

The world’s second-largest private prison company. It owns and operates prisons and jails, including immigration jails and “community corrections” centers, and uses forced prison labor. It also provides e-carceration technologies, transportation, and other services as part of the criminal punishment system.

 

An Israeli real estate, construction, and development company that builds housing and commercial projects in the occupied Palestinian territory.

A Canadian data broker and information services provider whose systems and databases are used by US immigration authorities to target and track immigrants.

A German engineering company that has provided the Israeli Navy with warships and submarines

An Israeli staffing agency for the private security industry. Its subsidiary Reshef Security provides security services to illegal Israeli settlements, infrastructure projects, and military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights.

A US multinational oil & gas company. Provides Israel with fuel for aircraft used by the Israeli air force against Palestinian civilians.

An Israeli construction and real estate company that has built residential and commercial projects in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Its subsidiary Giltek Infrastructure Works has performed construction work for the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

This page was last updated on
26 October 2021