Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Time: 11:00am

Place: Federal Press Conference (Bundesspressekonferenz), Conference room 107, Schiffbauerdamm 40, 10117 Berlin

To mark the occasion of Deutsche Bank’s Annual General Meeting, several NGO’s wish to evaluate the performance of Co-CEOs Juergen Fitschen and Anshu Jain for the 2012-2013 business year.

Several NGOs wish to denounce Deutsche Bank’s management for their failure to take concrete and transparent steps towards obtaining a fair and sustainable business model. The supposed “culture change” that they advertise has not occurred. Recent research shows that Deutsche Bank is still heavily involved in financing highly controversial companies and in the risky business of food speculation where other financial institutes have chosen to withdraw investment. Environmentalists from Namibia and the U.S. are coming to the Annual General Meeting specifically to convey the grave environmental and social destruction inflicted by mining companies with which Deutsche Bank does business.

On Thursday, May 23, 2013, NGOs including The Critical Shareholders Society (Dachverband der Kritischen Aktionaere), FACING FINANCE, Urgewald, Friends of the Earth, Global Witness, CATAPA, GOUD:EERLIJK?, ECOLIFE, NBV, and Fairfin will protest and distribute Fitschen and Jain’s annual “report card” to investors outside the Annual General Meeting in Frankfurt. Later, the NGO’s will call on Deutsche Bank’s investors to donate a portion of their dividends to the people they have victimized. The popular cabaret duo, “Onkel Fisch,” from Cologne will also take part in the day’s activities. Lastly, the NGO representatives will address these issues to Deutsche Bank executives and board members.

Speakers:

Barbara Happe, Bank correspondent, Urgewald

Bertchen Kohrs, Earthlife Namibia

David Hachfeld, Oxfam, economy and globalization

Paul Corbit Brown, Keeper of the Mountains

Thomas Kuechenmeister, Coordinator, Facing Finance

For Questions and Interview requests please contact:

Thomas Küchenmeister, FACINGFINANCE, 0175-49 64 082

Dr. Barbara Happe, urgewald e.V., 0172-68 14 474

More information at: www.facing-finance.org and www.urgewald.de

Read the full BBC News article here.

Read the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.

Of course, this new technology pushes other states to consider adding such technology to their fleets. The rivalry between the US and China has witnessed a marked increase in the wake of Drone technology. China has been aggressively expanding its naval fleet, which by some measures is already the second largest in the world. Beijing purportedly intends to use their bolstered fleet to extend their territorial control over waters in the Pacific, which poses an increased threat to US territories in the region like Guam and Hawaii.

Read the full article from the New York Times here.

Christopher Coker is a professor at the London School of Economics and the author of “Warrior Geeks“.

If you are a Financial Times subscriber, you can read the full article here.

Read the full report here.

The films (produced by Peter Steudtner) address human rights violations in Cateme such as violations to people’s right to food, adequate housing, and political rights.

The ground around Cateme is largely barren; drinking water is scarce and/or contaminated. After a few years, many houses are on the verge of collapse, showing serious design flaws. In January 2012, police forces arrested and abused demonstrators in a violent attempt to break up a protest lodged against Vale, coalmine operators, and those responsible for the relocation.

See also the Facing finance profile for Vale

Right to Food

Right to Adequate Housing

Political Rights

Semi-autonomous unmanned weapon systems, e.g. Drones, have long been components of modern warfare. The German Army currently uses them and, to the delight of German manufacturers and technology companies, intends to procure armed versions in the future. Fully autonomous military combat robots programmed to independently attack and kill could be operational in the near future thus confirming the fears of many NGOs, (non-governmental organizations), including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Article36, IKV Pax Christi, the “International Committee for Robot Arms Control,” and Facing Finance from Germany.

“People should never entrust machines with decisions of life or death,” says Thomas Küchenmeister of Facing Finance. Facing finance e.V. is a German member of the “Campaign to Stop Killer Robots” concerned with financial institutions that finance, (at times unconsciously), companies who continue to develop and/or produce killer robots. Facing Finance calls on investors not to invest in companies profiting from violations of human rights, environmental pollution, or the production of controversial weapons and will investigate who are the producers of killerrobots and who funds them.

Unmanned weapons systems were (UAV & UGV) this year’s hot-topic at the IDEX 2013 in Abu Dhabi – the world’s largest arms fair. Various exhibitors acknowledged offering unmanned systems with the ability to act autonomously. Still others pointed out that authoritarian rulers are particularly interested in drones, among other technologies. According to Denel Dynamics, a South African manufacturer, demand from the Middle East, Asia, and Africa has rapidly increased.

Certain unmanned weapons have the option to be semi-autonomous or fully autonomous. Whether they are equipped with the ability to be fully autonomous is ultimately a political decision. Reflecting on the IDEX arms fair, Mr. Küchenmeister noted, “Technologically speaking, there are no limits.” Even a German manufacturer commented casually, “we could offer an autonomous mode in our systems if political entities request it.”

In addition to the political and technical concerns surrounding the use of fully autonomous weapons, the campaign deliberates the morality and legality of their use. For example, international laws of war regarding attack methods mandate a clear distinction between military and civilian targets, which autonomous weapons cannot afford.

“Any way you look at it, when anticipated civilian damage is viewed in proportion to damage incurred by the intended military target, such a distinction between combatant and non-combatant is too complex a calculation to be delegated to computers in the foreseeable future, ” said Jürgen Altmann, co-founder of the “International Committee for Robot Arms Control,” one of the founding organizations of the “Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.” He goes on to say, “autonomous weapons simply cannot mimic human judgment or understand context.”
The campaign calls for a comprehensive, preventive prohibition in the development, production, and deployment of fully autonomous weapons systems achieved through international law, treaty, or similar measures.

How this should be achieved will be discussed at a conference in London where over 60 NGO representatives from around the world will convene.

For interviews and further information, please contact:

Thomas Küchenmeister, Facing Finance and “Campaign to Stop Killer Robots” in Germany,
Tel +49 (0)175-4964082
Dr. Jürgen Altmann, “International Committee for Robot Arms Control”
Tel +49-231-755-3520, -3513

For more information:

Video:
UGV of EARTH, Abu Dhabi, filmed on IDEX 2013. Copyright FACING FINANCE 2013 http://youtu.be/vJYXbonsgSA

TV reports in German (Jutta Sonnewald, ZDF):

http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/hauptnavigation/sendung-verpasst#/beitrag/video/1875256/Krieg-der-Roboter

http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/hauptnavigation/sendung-verpasst#/beitrag/video/1873798/Kampfroboter:-Krieg-der-Zukunft

Websites for the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots:

http://www.stopkillerrobots.org

https://www.facebook.com/stopkillerrobots

Facing Finance website:
www.facing-finance.org

FAZ article(German):

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/waffenmesse-in-abu-dhabi-ein-tag-auf-dem-basar-des-todes-12095420.html

Website of the “International Committee for Robot Arms Control,”

http://icrac.net

UGV of EARTH, Abu Dhabi, filmed on IDEX 2013. Copyright FACING FINANCE 2013 http://youtu.be/vJYXbonsgSA

Ban Killer Robots Campaign on FaceBook

Rainforest Rescue also raised severe concerns about the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil because BGA is a member of this institution.  

 BGA is a subsidiary of Bumitama Agri Ltd. which was listed at the Singapore Stock Exchange in April 2012 and which is part of the Harita Group of companies. Wilmar is one of their customers.

Rainforest Rescue petition to call for a stop to rainforest destruction and palm oil imports.

…the security, social, economic and humanitarian consequences of the illicit and unregulated trade in conventional arms…bearing in mind that civilians, particularly women and children, account for the vast majority of those adversely affected by armed conflict and armed violence (A/CONF.217/2013/L.3, 2013, p. 3).

Once ratified, the treaty will regulate states’ actions concerning the sale and transfer of conventional weapons.

Relevant Components:

Article 1: Object and Purpose

-Establish the highest possible common international standards for regulating or improving the regulation of the international trade in conventional arms;

-Prevent and eradicate…illicit trade in conventional arms and prevent their diversion;…

-Contribut[e] to international and regional peace, security and stability;

-Reduc[e] human suffering;

-Promot[e] cooperation, transparency and responsible action by States Parties… (A/CONF.217/2013/L.3, 2013, p. 2).

Article 2: Scope

This treaty shall apply to…(a) Battle tanks; (b) Armoured combat vehicles; (c) Large-calibre artillery systems; (d) Combat aircraft; (e) Attack helicopters; (f) Warships; (g) Missiles and missile launchers; and (h) Small arms and light weapons  (A/CONF.217/2013/L.3, 2013, p. 4).

Article 3: Ammunitions/Munitions

Each State Party shall establish and maintain a national control system to regulate the export of ammunition/munitions fired, launched or delivered… (A/CONF.217/2013/L.3, 2013, p. 4).

Article4: Parts and Components

Each State Party shall establish and maintain a national control system to regulate the export of parts and components where the export is in a form that provides the capability to assemble the conventional arms… (A/CONF.217/2013/L.3, 2013, p. 4).

Article 6: Prohibition

States are prohibited from:

1. … transfer of conventional arms …if the transfer would violate…measures adopted by the United Nations Security Council … under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, in particular arms embargoes.

2. … transfer of conventional arms …if the transfer would violate…relevant international obligations under international agreements…, in particular those relating to the transfer of, or illicit trafficking in, conventional arms.

3. …transfer of conventional arms…if it has knowledge…that the arms or items would be used in the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, attacks directed against civilian objects or civilians protected as such, or other war crimes as defined by international agreements to which it is a Party (A/CONF.217/2013/L.3, 2013, p. 5).

Article 7: Export and Export Assessment

1. …each exporting State Party… shall, in an objective and non-discriminatory manner…assess the potential that the conventional arms or items:

(a) would contribute to or undermine peace and security;

(b) could be used to:

(i) commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law;

(ii) commit or facilitate a serious violation of international human rights law;

(iii) commit or facilitate an act constituting an offence…relating to terrorism …; or

(iv) commit or facilitate an act constituting an offence … relating to transnational organized crime…

2. …consider whether there are measures that could be undertaken to mitigate risks

4. …take into account the risk of the conventional arms…being used to commit or facilitate serious acts of gender-based violence or serious acts of violence against women and children (A/CONF.217/2013/L.3, 2013, pp. 5-6).

Article 8: Import

2. …take measures that will allow it to regulate, where necessary, imports under its jurisdiction of conventional arms…

3. …may request information from the exporting State Party concerning any pending or actual export authorizations where the importing State Party is the country of final destination (A/CONF.217/2013/L.3, 2013, p. 6).

Article 9: Transit or Trans-shipment

…take appropriate measures to regulate… the transit or trans-shipment under its jurisdiction of conventional arms… (A/CONF.217/2013/L.3, 2013, p. 7).

Article 10: Brokering

…shall take measures…to regulate brokering taking place under its jurisdiction for conventional arms…. Such measures may include requiring brokers to register or obtain written authorization… (A/CONF.217/2013/L.3, 2013, p. 7).

Article 11: Diversion

1. Each State Party involved in the transfer of conventional arms…shall take measures to prevent their diversion.

2. …shall seek to prevent the diversion of the transfer of conventional arms

4. If a State Party detects a diversion…[they] shall take appropriate measures… to address such diversion. Such measures may include alerting potentially affected States Parties, examining diverted shipments of such conventional arms, and taking follow-up measures through investigation and law enforcement (A/CONF.217/2013/L.3, 2013, p. 7).

Article 12: Record keeping

1. …shall maintain national records…of its issuance of export authorizations or its actual exports of the conventional arms…

2. …encouraged to maintain records of conventional arms…transferred to its territory as the final destination or…authorized to transit or trans-ship territory under its jurisdiction

4. Records shall be kept for a minimum of ten years (A/CONF.217/2013/L.3, 2013, p. 8).

Article 13: Reporting

1. …provide an initial report to the Secretariat of measures undertaken in order to implement this Treaty… (A/CONF.217/2013/L.3, 2013, p. 8).

Source

Draft report of the Final United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty. (2013). Final United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (pp. 1-13). New York: UN General Assembly. Retrieved from http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N13/272/17/PDF/N1327217.pdf?OpenElement