United Methodists are responding to Kairos Palestine: A Moment of Truth ,a statement of faith and urgent call to action from Christians in Palestine. UMKR seeks, through nonviolent means and in partnership with Palestinian Christians, freedom, justice and equality for all Palestinians and Israelis.
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Divestment Wespath Petition 2025
THE DIVESTMENT RESOLUTION
Exclude Government Debt of Countries Involved in Prolonged Military Occupations
WHEREAS, Amos 5:24 (CEB) says “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever--owing stream” and Psalm 103:6 (CEB) says “The Lord works righteousness; does justice for all who are oppressed,” and
WHEREAS, The United Methodist Church, through its general agencies and annual conferences, has endeavored to be accountable to our Social Principles through screening against investment in military occupations, and
WHEREAS, The United Methodist Church’s Social Principles (¶ 165D) state “. . . we endorse the United Nations, its related bodies, the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court as the best instruments now in existence to achieve a world of justice and law,” and
WHEREAS, three nations have held subject populations under prolonged military occupation: Israel has occupied the Palestinian territories since 1967, Turkey has occupied Northern Cyprus since 1974, and Morocco has occupied Western Sahara since 1976, thus denying the subject populations their self-determination in violation of the system established by the Charter of the United Nations and International Law in general, and
WHEREAS, the above-named occupying powers have been named in United Nations Security Council resolutions and/or International Court of Justice rulings as having engaged in prolonged military occupations and are thereby violators of international law and are responsible for human rights abuses, generally including reduction of food assistance to refugees, failure to protect civilian persons, land confiscation, home demolition, and violence against civilians, and
WHEREAS, government debt (also called sovereign debt), especially that held in bonds denominated in foreign currencies, is unrestricted funds that a governmentuses at its own discretion and without any formal mechanism for advocacy by the bond holder, unlike stocks that represent an ownership interest in a corporation and provide a platform to advocate for change, and
WHEREAS, holders of the government debt of countries complicit in prolonged military occupations are effectively financing the high military expenditures of those governments that are necessitated by that military occupation and holders of that debt are therefore earning money in the form of interest payments from the human rights abuses and violations of international law of those countries, and
WHEREAS, Wespath Benefits and Investments, the holder of United Methodist pension funds (formally named the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits), in their human rights investment guideline says “Wespath also may exclude from investment the sovereign debt of any country demonstrating a prolonged and systematic pattern of human rights abuses,”
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the General Conference prayerfully calls upon the boards and agencies throughout the connection and its own investment managers to add to their human rights guidelines explicit language with regard to governmental debt so as to exclude those governments maintaining a prolonged military occupation that have been the subject of United Nations Security Council resolutions and/or International Court of Justice rulings, and to align their portfolios accordingly, avoiding the governmental debt of each such country until the time when each government ends their military occupation.
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Adopted at General Conference 2020/2024
UMKR has launched a petition asking Wespath to implement a resolution adopted by the United Methodist General Conference in 2024.
The resolution urges United Methodist investors not to invest in the bonds of countries maintaining prolonged illegal military occupations.
See the full text of that General Conference resolution on the right.
See the petition to Wespath below,
including the list of advance signers.
The resolution specifically names Israel, Morocco and Turkey.
All of these occupation regimes have been cited by United Nations bodies for their flagrant violations of human rights and international law. All of these people in Western Sahara, Northern Cyprus, and Palestine, living under decades of occupation, have the right to freedom and self-determination.
After General Conference, Wespath provided a statement regarding the bonds divestment resolution, saying that they take seriously this call of the General Conference and that they will go through "a prayerful discernment process" to determine a course of action.
It has been almost a year since that landmark decision at General Conference. Given the urgency of this moment – in particular, the devastation that Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are facing once again – UMKR has drafted a petition for those who would like to see this important call from the General Conference fulfilled in our church.
It clearly is the position of the General Conference – the only body that speaks for our denomination – that United Methodists should not be invested in these bonds that fund illegal and destructive occupations, causing suffering to millions.
Twenty-two church leaders, bishops and others, have already signed the petition - see the list on the right below the petition text. They do not want their pensions invested in these countries' grave, decades-long violations of human rights.
We hope you agree with them and will join them in signing the petition.
We ask for your help to encourage prompt and faithful action by Wespath to fulfill the church's decision, which was an important witness to the world of our Wesleyan values.
If you are UMC clergy or an employee with a Wespath pension or retirement fund,click the red button to take action now.
THE PETITION
A Call to Fulfill the Divestment Resolution of the United Methodist General Conference of 2024: “Excluding Government Debt of Countries Involved in Prolonged Occupations”
A petition to Wespath by United Methodist clergy and lay employees
To the Board of Directors and Staff of Wespath Benefits and Investments:
As United Methodist clergy and lay employees of the church, we urge you to swiftly implement the divestment resolution adopted at General Conference 2024: Excluding Government Debt of Countries Involved in Prolonged Occupations.
In this resolution, the first such divestment decision by a major Christian denomination, The United Methodist Church has called on all United Methodists, including church investment managers, to exclude from their investments the government debt of three countries – Israel, Turkey, and Morocco – that are holding subject populations under prolonged military occupation, "until the time when each government ends their military occupation.”
The resolution makes clear the church’s intention to avoid profiting from the suffering and oppression caused by these decades-long occupations: Israel’s occupation of the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip since 1967, Turkey’s occupation of Northern Cyprus since 1974, and Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara since 1976.
The United Nations has identified flagrant human rights violations in all of these occupations, including: land confiscation, theft of natural resources, home demolitions and illegal colonization, deprivation of food and water, violence against civilians, mass incarceration for population control, and brutality against children.
We believe there is an urgent need for Wespath’s Board of Directors and staff to honor this General Conference resolution at a time when we see human rights violations on the rise and causing so much suffering in these occupied territories.
Therefore, we are calling on Wespath to act promptly in applying this decision of the United Methodist Church to our denomination’s primary investment portfolio.
We look forward to your prayerful and timely consideration and fulfillment of this resolution.
ADVANCE SIGNERS OF THE PETITION
Bishop David Alan Bard
Michigan Conference and Illinois Great Rivers Conference
Bishop Ciriaco Francisco, retired
Chairperson, Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters
President, College of Bishops, Philippines Central Conference
Bishop Robert Hoshibata, retired
Board of Trustees, Claremont School of Theology
Bishop Peggy Johnson, retired
Dr. Jeffrey Kuan
President Emeritus, Claremont School of Theology
Bishop Ernest Lyght, retired
Bishop Joel Martinez, retired
Bishop Jane Allen Middleton, retired
Bishop Neil Irons, retired
Rev. Dr. Connie Semy P. Mella
Executive Director, LEAD Hub–Philippines and Southeast Asia, GBHEM
Colleen Moore
Director of Peace with Justice, GBCS
Mary Elizabeth Moore
Dean Emerita of the School of Theology, Boston University
Bishop Sandra K. Olewine
Resident Bishop, California-Nevada Conference
Bishop Bruce Ough, retired
Board of Trustees, United Methodist Higher Education Foundation
Bishop Israel Maestrado Painit
Resident Bishop, Davao Episcopal Area, Philippines
Rev. Dr. Lizette Tapia Raquel
Academic Dean, Union Theological Seminary, Philippines
Bishop Ann Brookshire Sherer-Simpson, retired
Bishop Kristin Stoneking
Resident Bishop, Mountain Sky Conference
Bishop Julius C. Trimble
General Secretary, General Board of Church and Society
Bishop Hope Morgan Ward, retired
Council of Bishops Co-Ecumenical Officer
David Wildman
Executive Director for Human Rights and Racial Justice, GBGM
Bishop Rosemarie Wenner, retired
Council of Bishops Co-Ecumenical Officer
Join these signers in supporting this petition.
Click the button below and fill out the form to add your name.
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