Common shareholder advocacy action priorities for member- provinces of the National Jesuit Committee on Investment Responsibility are to address the economic impact on these justice issues:
THE GLOBAL HIV/AIDS PANDEMIC
According to estimates from the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), 38.6 million adults and 3.2 million children were living with HIV at the end of 2002. This is more than 50% higher than the figures projected by WHO in 1991 on the basis of data then available.
PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS
“The cornerstone of the Universal Declaration is the acknowledgement of human dignity: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." These rights are civil and political, as well as social, economic and cultural; all are indivisible, inalienable and universal. Taken together, these basic human rights are essential for protecting the life of each individual and helping that life to be more fully human, as well as for a just and peaceful world.”
Statement by Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, on the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, December 1998
Oil, gas, and other mining companies often operate in places of extreme poverty, repressive governments, civil conflict, weak rule of law, endemic corruption, or poor labor and environmental standards. The World Bank reports that globally the extractive industries are important for the economies of over 50 developing countries where up to 1.5 billion people live on less than $2 per day. Extractive industries have been linked to human rights abuses and civil conflict in a number of countries.
SPECIAL INTERESTS OF PROVINCES
In addition to the Global HIV/AIDS Pandemic and Promoting Human Rights, provinces from time to time also engage companies on issues that are particular to their apostolic endeavor or geographic presence. For example, the New Orleans Province focuses on Access to Capital in the Gulf Coast as part of the economic recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Other provinces engage issues like Global Warming or Predatory Lending Practices.