The Indian Express: Wed 16,1998

[khtut@xxxxxxxx]

Wednesday, December 16, 1998

Nobel prizes support a self-defeating cause
OBSERVER NEWS SERVICE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

The Nobel Foundation, the secretive Swedish institution behind the
prestigious peace prize, funds its awards by investing in arms companies and
firms with doubtful human rights records, an Observer inquiry reveals. The
Foundation invests more than $80 million a year on the London and New York
stock markets, and has no ``ethical policy'' about which shares to buy.
Fund managers acting for it in Britain and the US admitted to The Observer
that they have invested in arms manufacturers such as Boeing, United
Technologies, British Aerospace and GKN. The last two companies have sold
military equipment to the Indonesian government. Human rights groups claim
it has been used against protesters.

British Aerospace Hawk jets have been used against opponents of the bloody
Indonesian occupation of East Timor in 1975. Two years ago the Nobel peace
prize went to Bishop Carlos Belo and Jose Ramos-Horta for their fight
against the Indonesian regime in East Timor, which is claimed to have killed
200,000 people. Money fromthe Nobel Foundation has also been invested in
companies that have been active in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi, who won a Nobel
in 1991 for her struggle for democracy against the country's military
dictatorship, wants western companies to stay away.

The revelations have shocked peace groups around the world. Jody Williams,
last year's peace prize winner for her work with the International Campaign
to Ban Landmines, has called for the Nobel Foundation to stop investing in
arms companies. She said: ``I am shocked. It would not seem logical to award
a peace prize to those fighting for human rights in Indonesia, then invest
in a company selling arms to that government.''

Gordon Clark, executive director of Peace Action which has been closely
associated with the last three Nobel Peace laureates, said: ``We are
horrified to find that Nobel prize money is coming from profits made by
those selling weapons.'' Each winner of the five awards is given $1 million.
The Foundation -- which last week awarded the prize toIrish politicians John
Hume and David Trimble -- also gives $725,000 to other institutions that
award the prizes, such as the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

In London, the Foundation uses an arm of the Swiss bank Pictet to buy shares
in Europe. Rod Hearn, Pictet's director in control of Nobel investments,
admitted investing in arms companies. He refused to disclose details but
stressed the amounts were small. ``We have a duty to maximise the return for
our client, but we are sensitive to our client and would never be overweight
in such stocks,'' he said. A register of Pictet's investments reveals it has
$13million invested in BAe and $2.8million in GKN, the company that supplies
water cannon to the Indonesian army.

Alfred Harrison, a director in charge of investing Nobel's money in the US,
said: ``There are no ethical guidelines placed on us. We have full
discretion in whom we invest. Yes, we have invested in defence companies
like Boeing but it has never been a problem.''

Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.





**************************************
Doing what you like is freedom.
Liking what you do is happiness.
***********Read Somewhere  in India***********