As we all should know by now, Nelson Mandela, the face of human rights, died Thursday in South Africa.
What many may not know is that socially responsible investing actually found its roots in South Africa.
The divestment programs of the 1970s an 1980s—in which investors “divested” from the country and from companies that had links to it—laid the foundation for stock screening based on social criteria. Divestment is still very much a useful tool to effect policy. It has just worked in Iran. And with any luck Syria, too, will cave to divestment pressure.
Investors should be keenly aware of where their money lands around the globe. In addition, it’s helpful to know who the biggest human rights perpetrators are.
Maplecroft, a U.K. risk consultancy, has mapped the human rights course of today’s global landscape. (Check out Maplecroft.com for some really neat graphs and maps.)
Maplecroft’s list of human rights abusers are: 1) Syria; 2) Sudan; 3) DR Congo; 4) Pakistan; 5) Somalia; 6) Afghanistan; 7) Iraq; 8) Myanmar; 9) Yemen; and 10) Nigeria.
As the consultancy notes, “The risks of complicity in human rights violations by the state are also high for those companies undertaking investments in resource-rich countries.” This, in turn, poses risk to future economic growth opportunities.
One South African man interviewed about Mandela’s legacy says his country could have ended up sacked and war torn much like Afghanistan had it not been for Mandela’s fight for human rights.
It’s important not to ignore the risks that human rights violations pose—not only for portfolios but for the world.