The shareholder resolution, which received over 7% of the vote according to preliminary results, requested the company to comply with the China Business Principles, a corporate code of conduct for companies operating in China. Because the resolution received more than 3% it will be reintroduced in 2003.
“Oracle is providing software to the police and military in China which may be leading to massive human rights violations”, said John Harrington, President/CEO of Harrington Investments, Inc. at the October 14th Oracle Annual Shareholders’ meeting in Redwood City, California.
Harrington’s resolution also asked Oracle to join with other high tech companies to provide leadership and actively participate in the China Working Group (CWG). The China Working Group is an informal group of companies and organizations such as Amnesty International, the International Labour Rights Fund and Global Exchange, that share “best practices” information and members’ experience working or operating in China and educates members about Chinese government policies and human and labour rights abuses.
“We know Oracle spent $2.3 million on lobbying Congress last year and has donated over $821,000 in campaign contributions to politicians, but what has the company spent in China to influence the government and convince it to buy the company’s products? Is Oracle’s software being used to identify, jail, torture and execute advocates of democracy in China?” Harrington asked.
Harrington cited the 2001 report from the U.S. State Department’s annual report on human rights violations in China, which said that “The Chinese government continued to commit numerous and serious human rights abuses in 2001, . . . including arbitrary arrest, detention, forced labour, violence against women, forced abortion and sterilization, abuse of children and detention and torture of religious group members.”
Harrington specifically mentioned that several hundred members of the peaceful Falun Gong [spiritual] movement have died in detention as a result of torture or mistreatment by the Chinese government.
Harrington also said that China is ruled by an authoritarian Communist government, has weapons of mass destruction, provided Pakistan nuclear weapons, and provided Iraq fibre optic technology to assist the Iraq military in shooting down U.S. aircraft in the no-fly zone. He added that Oracle should not provide technology to the terrorist government of China which may aid in human rights abuses.
“Failure of Oracle’s management to recognize and acknowledge human rights violations in China and take an active role in finding solutions is a disgrace. China’s use of Oracle’s software to track down advocates of democracy is no different than Nazi Germany’s use of IBM’s technology to move Jews to concentration camps during World War II” Harrington concluded.
http://fofg.org/news/oracle_corp_challenged.html
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