To Urge Vanguard Board to Invest Responsibly

UUSC signed on to a letter addressed to Vanguard Trustees, telling Vanguard that with the genocide in Darfur now entering its seventh year, Vanguard's current approach to companies that substantially contribute to genocide is inadequate.

Purpose: Request that the Vanguard board "institute procedures to prevent holding investments in companies that, in the judgment of the board, substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity, the most egregious violations of human rights."

Update: Millions of Vanguard customers voted on this important social issue July 2, 2009.

Despite Vanguard's active opposition and misleading statement of opposition, 21 funds recorded votes ranging from 7 to 17 percent in favor of genocide-free investing.

Below are a few highlights from the Investors Against Genocide press release on the voting at Vanguard:

"If Vanguard wanted a good test of shareholder support, it would have taken a neutral stance, rather than seeking to obscure the interests of shareholders, especially since, as we all know, it is common practice for ordinary investors to ignore and discard their proxy materials.

"In Vanguard's proxy materials (page 2 and 30-32), the company asked its shareholders to vote against the proposal because it calls for procedures that 'duplicate' existing practices and is 'substantially identical' to existing procedures of the Vanguard funds. However, Vanguard has not released the text of a Board policy, beyond the statement of opposition that details how Vanguard will avoid holdings that are tied to genocide or crimes against humanity, and Vanguard's quarterly holdings reports showed that it continues to hold and purchase additional shares of PetroChina and other oil companies tied to the genocide in Darfur, Sudan."