Investors urge oil firms: abandon Assad regime

Institutional investors have urged oil companies operating in Syria to withdraw or condemn the brutal repression by the country’s Bashar al-Assad dictatorship.

Members of Conflict Risk Network (CRN) – Calvert, Boston Common and Domini among them – have told 11 companies that their payments to the Syrian government for access to oil link them to its human rights abuses, including the killing of thousands of protestors, and must leave the country or condemn the regime. The companies approached include Shell, Total, Petrofac and Gulfsands Petroleum.

Constantina Bichta, head ESG researcher at Boston Common, referred to political scientist John Ruggie’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, recently ratified by the UN, saying: “Companies must act towards mitigating human rights impacts even if they have not contributed directly to them.”

The CRN alleges that some oil producers have agreed new contracts in Syria, despite the al-Assad regime’s crackdown, and that the repair of damaged pipelines may involve direct collaboration with the regime.

The move follows a similar, continuing campaign in Libya, where foreign companies significantly scaled back their exploitation of oil after the Gaddafi regime’s violent response to the uprising.

There, the CRN has newly-targeted Italian refiner Saras as it reaffirmed its earlier call for companies to halt oil distribution in Libya or stop their products reaching areas controlled by the Gaddafi regime.

Shin Furuya, of Domini, said of Saras: “The company’s actions do not appear to violate existing sanctions on Libya, but we expect companies to do more than just comply with the law.

“They have a responsibility to respect human rights and, under the UN Guiding Principles, this means avoiding complicity in abuses committed by others.”