{"id":126805,"date":"2021-05-12T14:00:24","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T12:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=126805"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:37","slug":"academics-send-open-letter-to-pension-fund-stop-investing-in-myanmar-junta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2021\/05\/12\/academics-send-open-letter-to-pension-fund-stop-investing-in-myanmar-junta\/","title":{"rendered":"Academics send open letter to pension fund: stop investing in Myanmar junta"},"content":{"rendered":"

Academic staff of the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, as well as staff affiliated with other academic institutions, have demanded in an open letter that the ABP pension fund, which manages the pensions of university employees, stops investing in companies that have ties to Myanmar\u2019s military junta. \u201cWe do not wish to indirectly invest in suppression.\u201d<\/p>\n

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ISS staff in front of their building. This is one of the photos sent to the Myanmar media.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

An investigation conducted by Justice for Myanmar\u00a0showed<\/a>\u00a0in March that the ABP pension fund, which manages the pensions of university employees, invests in companies that have strong ties with the military junta governing Myanmar. A military coup was staged by the South East Asian country\u2019s army on 1 February. Since then, the army has been in charge of Myanmar, and has met protests against the coup with brutality, killing dozens of protesters.<\/p>\n

Staff of ISS, a The Hague-based component of Erasmus University, embarked on their solidarity actions even before the publication of the Justice for Myanmar report.\u00a0\u201cSeveral people affiliated with ISS work in Myanmar or conduct research on subjects related to the country. This touches on their lives. They are concerned,\u201d says one member of the network that organises ISS\u2019s solidarity actions.<\/p>\n

Genocide<\/h2>

The organisation within the institute calls itself the ISS Solidarity with the CDM in Myanmar Network. CDM stands for \u2018civil disobedience movement\u2019, the organised rebellion against the regime.\u00a0The people who make up the network do not wish to be named, as they fear individual members of the network might suffer repercussions.<\/p>\n

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A group of employees in front of the International Court of Justice<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

Their first solidarity actions, taken in March, were group photos taken on the threshold of the ISS building and in front of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. The pictures show the activists displaying three-fingered salutes, which have become symbolic of the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar. \u201cWe took the photos immediately after a violent weekend<\/a>\u00a0in Myanmar in which at least 39 people died. The latter photo shoot at the ICJ a symbolic one. It is currently trying a case regarding the suppression of the Rohingya (an ethnic group that was driven from Myanmar by means of abject violence \u2013 ed.).\u201d Among other things, the trial is meant to determine whether a genocide was committed.<\/p>\n

When the solidarity network sent the photos to the Myanmar media, they were shared and liked thousands of times in a brief amount of time. \u201cWe have found that people there feel hugely supported by such actions,\u201d says the network\u2019s spokesperson.<\/p>\n

Fossil fuel<\/h2>

The results of the ABP investigation were not published until after the photos. The academics decided to write the open letter since they were able to exert their influence and because it concerned their own pensions. The letter was signed nearly three hundred times last month \u2013 by ISS academic staff, as well as by academics affiliated with other institutes. The ABP stated in a response that it was in talks with the companies concerned. In April, one of the companies announced that it had quit investing. The party that invests ABP\u2019s funds said this happened after they had talked to the company concerned.<\/p>\n\n\t

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Lees meer<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t