Draft council resolution

[XXX] Council / Committee

1. notes that

a) selling military equipment overseas is detrimental to peace, justice and human rights as well as to development;

b) arms companies receive major subsidies from the taxpayer to export their wares and that, if the subsidies were to be withdrawn, share values of arms companies are likely to drop substantially;

c) the number of jobs dependent on arms exports has declined dramatically since the end of the Cold War;

d) at the end of 2006, the five largest UK arms producing companies accounted for less than 2% of the FTSE all-share index, even including their civil work;

2. further notes that an increasing number of pension funds are engaging with companies, considering this to be socially responsible investment. However, such engagement is not appropriate where the product is the problem, such as with arms and tobacco;

3. encourages [XXX] Council to press for its local authority pension fund to be managed according to ethical principles appropriate to the interests of the beneficiaries and to investigate the means of implementing this within the law.