|
Financial Times' Ignites
By Brian Ponte November 2, 2022
Morningstar’s Sustainalytics platform no longer uses data from the United Nations Human Rights Council because several organizations claim that the data has anti- Israel bias, the company said. Terminating the use of the UN Human Rights Council’s data is one of the several steps that the Chicago-based researcher announced Monday that aim to help the firm address anti-Israel bias on its Sustainalytics platform.
The steps were the result of a months-long engagement process with several nonprofits by Morningstar, the announcement says. Organizations including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Federations of North America, as well as 17 state treasurers, raised concerns that Morningstar’s Sustainalytics platform supported the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which promotes sanctions against Israel. The treasurers represent states with bills that forbid them from doing business with companies that boycott Israel.
A spokesperson for the U.N. Human Rights Council denied the organizations’ accusations of antisemitism and said the Human Rights Council “takes a vigilant stance against antisemitism.” “The Council has a long track record speaking out against all forms of discrimination and racism and vehemently condemns such abhorrent acts,” he said. “As the only intergovernmental body charged with addressing human rights situations around the globe, the Human Rights Council provides a unique stage to hear a wide range of views, often those not heard elsewhere.”
Removing the UN Human Rights Council data from Sustainalytics platform is part of Morningstar's plans to “hone its approach to media and other sources,” the announcement says. Sources determined to be “biased and unreliable,” including the UN Human Rights Council, were removed from the platform.
“The UN Human Rights Council is not an objective source of information,”
wrote Julie Hammerman, chief executive of JLens, a Jewish investor network, in an email. “How can anyone, let alone ESG investors, take seriously human rights guidance from some of the world's worst human rights abusers that currently sit on the UNHRC including Russia, China, Cuba and Venezuela.” The UN’s Human Rights Council has “used Israel as a punching bag for years, targeting the country more times than all other countries combined,” she said.
|
