Dear MM. Jean St-Gelais and Charles Emond, we are writing to you regarding the urgent need to bring the activities of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (“CDPQ” or “the Caisse”) into compliance with international law.
We do so against the backdrop of heartbreaking scenes of violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and Israel, where civilians have been targeted indiscriminately and brutally, in violation of international law. The fundamental function of international law is to provide a means of peaceful settlement of international disputes and, therefore, an alternative to war.
As international lawyers, we were therefore happy to learn that, following pressure from the Caisse, G4S, which belongs to Allied Universal, of which the Caisse is the main shareholder, decided to withdraw from Policity , the Israeli police academy, given the well-documented war crimes and serious human rights violations committed by the Israeli police for decades.
We were just as happy to hear you, Mr. Emond, declare at the National Assembly of Quebec, on May 2, 2023, in response to a question from MP Haroun Bouazzi, that the Caisse should not be involved in companies who “torture Palestinian political prisoners in Israel, including children.” In addition, Mr. Conrad Harrington, spokesperson for CDPQ, stated that it “takes all allegations relating to human rights very seriously and is one of the most respected investors in the world with regard to the criteria ESG, which we apply rigorously and consistently.”
However, the Fund’s annual report as of December 31, 2022 shows that it continues to invest in at least 12 companies listed in the UN database of companies operating in illegal Israeli settlements (“the Database”). of ONU “). These settlements constitute a war crime, as noted in 2021 by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories occupied since 1967. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights man confirmed in 2023 that illegal Israeli settlements in the OPT constitute a war crime.
Illegal Israeli settlements
In addition, the Caisse holds an investment of $3.5 billion in WSP Global Inc. (“WSP”), a Canadian company of which it is the main shareholder. On September 15, 2022, a report was submitted to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, requesting that WSP be included in the UN database. This submission was made by 105 organizations from around the world, including Canada, and supported by eminent individuals, including former United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories occupied since 1967 Michael Lynk , John Dugard and Richard Falk, as well as linguistics professor emeritus Noam Chomsky.
WSP was commissioned to plan, design, maintain and extend the Jerusalem Light Rail, an Israeli public system that contributes to the maintenance of illegal Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, occupied and annexed in violation of international law.
WSP thus facilitates the transfer of part of the population of the occupying power to the OPT in violation of Article 49 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949, while strengthening the physical, social and economic integration of illegal Israeli settlements.
Through its active support of Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise in occupied East Jerusalem, WSP is involved in blatant and systematic violations of the fundamental human rights of the Palestinian population. The Caisse’s investment in this company therefore contradicts the aforementioned statement by Mr. Harrington.
Furthermore, according to investigations carried out by AFSC Investigate and Who Profits, more than 80 other companies identified in the Fund’s 2022 end-of-year assets operate in illegal Israeli settlements and are thus complicit in Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people.
In Canada, those complicit in war crimes, including corporations, are subject to criminal prosecution under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act. We would therefore expect that you would want to divest, on the basis of unacceptable risk from these companies’ systematic violations of human rights and international law, of all these investments, just as you have done with Allied Universal by encouraging it to sell its stake in Policity.
In light of the above, we ask the Fund:
1. to immediately divest all investments in companies in the UN database and ensure in the future not to invest in any companies listed there;
2. to immediately dispose of its investment in WSP;
3. to review all its investments to ensure that none of them are associated with violations of human rights and international law; And
4. to put in place a transparent process to ensure that in the future, all companies in which it invests will be monitored to avoid violations of human rights and international law.
* Also signed this letter: Georges Abi-Saab, honorary member of the Institute of International Law; John Dugard, former UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian Territories occupied since 1967; Richard Falk, former UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian Territories occupied since 1967; Michael Lynk, former UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian Territories occupied since 1967; Susan Power, Head of Legal Research and Advocacy, Al-Haq, Ramallah, Palestine; William Schabas, professor of international law at Middlesex University, London.