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Josephs continues her push for legislation that practices social responsibility

HARRISBURG, July 18 – State Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Phila., is continuing to push for enactment of legislation that would divest Commonwealth funds from private business entities doing business with the government of Sudan.

Josephs has sent a memo to members of the Senate drawing attention to a recent news article on the genocide occurring in Darfur and reminding them that Pennsylvania can do something to help.

"The Senate has two bills currently before them that would send the Sudanese government a message that genocide is not tolerated," Josephs said.

The Sudanese government has been sponsoring ethnic cleansing of non-Arab Darfurians since February 2003. More than 400,000 Darfurian civilians have been killed, and millions more have been displaced. This week, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has formally requested an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. This is the first sitting leader to face this kind of case.

Josephs said the seriousness of these crimes and the lack of support from the international community to end these horrors make it our responsibility as human beings to help.

"It is our moral and social responsibility to speak out against these atrocities and do what we can to help," she said. "The Sudanese president has turned against civilians by not only using bullets, but with hunger, rape and fear. Applying economic pressure is an effective tool to use in making our voices heard."

Both bills would require the state to pull its investments out of companies that do business with the government of Sudan; H.B. 1086 also includes the Iranian government in its text. Both measures overwhelmingly passed the House in the past year and are before the Senate Finance Committee for review.

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