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James W. Owens
CEO, Caterpillar Inc.
100 NE Adams Street
Peoria IL 61629 USA
Dear Mr. Owens:
We were once gratified to know
that Caterpillar's Code of Worldwide Business Conduct recognizes
"the social dimension of [corporate] responsibility [for]
Caterpillar's impacts on the social systems in which we work
and live.î That observation is inarguable, and those impacts
are variously felt across Caterpillar's worldwide operations.
By its Code, Caterpillar has accepted "the responsibilities
of global citizenshipî and asserted that: "Wherever
we conduct business or invest our resources around the world,
we know that our commitment to financial success must also take
into account social priorities." This solid principle grounds
a position of laudable corporate accountability and sets a standard
for other enterprises as well.
Unfortunately, however, these principles continue to degrade
beyond recognition, firstly, at the image of Caterpillar equipment
on the frontline of Israel's destruction of Palestine and, ultimately,
with the collective moral descent of Caterpillar stockholders
and directors since April 2004. At that time, in response to
a conscientious stockholder initiative, Caterpillar's decision
makers squandered an opportunity to live up to their stated principles,
and decided not to. Even the preceding murder of Rachel Corrie
with the Israeli-army driven Caterpillar bulldozer did not give
directors and stockholders pause enough to reconsider their corporate
relations.
Caterpillar's failure to reconsider its relationship with the
Israeli army is no mere sin of omission. Caterpillar Inc. is
consciously abetting practices recognized as war crimes and crimes
against humanity. That active decision prevails still, fully
two years after the International Court of Justice determined
the illegality of those actions of your client and committed
partner.
Suspending the corporation's Code of Worldwide Business Conduct,
Caterpillar's directors cynically have argued that such matters
should be deferred to US foreign policy decision makers. However,
by their cross-border business conduct and open dismissal of
the consequences, Caterpillar's directors have assumed the mantle
of de facto foreign policy decision makers.
Systematic demolition of Palestinian homes by bulldozer since
1947 is perhaps foremost among the destructive Israeli practices
throughout Palestine in both physical and socioeconomic terms.
This legacy evokes the systematic Israeli depopulation and demolition
of 531 indigenous Palestinian villages in the first two years
of Israel's proclamation of independence, and an ensuing continuum
of practices that today are commonly identified with ethnic cleansing.
The continuous bulldozing of Palestinian homes has flattened
2,243 houses across both Gaza and the West Bank in 2004 alone,
leaving some 14,000 Palestinians homeles s. According to the
UN, your client's army has destroyed or irreparably damaged over
12,000 homes since 2001 in the Gaza Strip, including some 2,990
shelters, home to 28,500 refugees. In 2005, Israel used bulldozers
to destroy at least 114 Palestinian homes in Jerusalem, and 50
in Gaza. Since 25 January 2006, Israel has likewise destroyed
at least 48 Palestinian homes on the pretext that they lacked
Israeli permits.
Since your last stockholders meeting, your official Israeli business
partners have conducted much of their bulldozing destruction
in the path of Israel's Separation Wall snaking across the West
Bank. Surely you know that the International Court of Justice
has advised the international community "not to render aid
or assistance in maintaining the situation created by such construction.î
Building the Wall has involved uprooting hundreds of thousands
of olive, citrus and other fruit trees, representing the livelihood
of the indigenous communities; destroying hundreds of wells and
agricultural storehouses; and tearing up roads and blocking thousands
of others with concrete and earthen mounds. The Wall continues
to displace thousands of people from their homes and deny them
their livelihoods. Much of this deprivation is enabled by equipment
that Caterpillar consciously provides for the nefarious task.
This concern was the subject of the 18 May 2004 letter to you
from the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, which famously
went unheeded.
A growing public now understands Caterpillar's association with
these international criminal acts. Meanwhile, the Caterpillar
website quotes you, Mr. Owen, rema rking that Caterpillar's "reputation
for making a difference in the wo rld is something we are proud
of as a companyóand as individuals. Whether it's caring
for the safety of our fellow employees, improving the communities
in which we live and work, or sustaining the environment we all
share, Caterpillar people are fully committed to and engaged
in good corporate citizenship. We are doing well by 'doing good'
all around the world." However the knowing sale of Caterpillar
equipment to Israel for purposes of demolition and dispossession
of Palestinian communities runs contrary to all claims of "good
corporate citizenship.î
It would seem essential that a company at once identified with
both ethnic cleansing and self-acclaimed social responsibility
should take a more-responsible stand in the interest of its own
integrity. At its 2006 stockholder meeting on 14 June, Caterpillar
still faces an inescapable choice, precisely because its Israeli
customers have helped widen the chasm of the corporation's ethical
contradictions and invited the global public's perception of
them.
With so much bad will accruing to Caterpillar's account, we urge
its CEO, directors and shareholders to take the necessary, conscientious
steps to restore their plummeting moral stock by formally, visibly
and effectively denouncing their clients' illegal and criminal
use of Caterpillar products. This minimum step includes genuine
cooperation with human rights defenders and monitors, including
cooperation with the investigation and prosecution of the murder
of Rachel Corrie. At a minimum also, Caterpillar representat
ives should find an alternative to their disingenuous deference
to for eign policy makers, so notorious for failing to uphold
the human rights provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act (1961).
Of course, a morally and legally grounded position by Caterpillar
would have meaning only if it also accompanied the cessation
of further sales and/or transfer of Caterpillar equipment and
spare parts to those who have abused them at a cost to Caterpillar's
public reputation, including Israel foremost. That naturally
calls for refraining from the sale of Caterpillar equipment and
parts to the Israel military and other relevant state bodies.
Those include the Jewish National Fund, Jewish Agency and World
Zionist Organization and their affiliates, particularly as all
act on behalf of the State of Israel and engage in illegal population
transfer and colonization practices.
Should Caterpillar's directors
and stockholders resolve to take such corrective measures, we
would remain ready to provide further information on the related
issues, in order to clarify Caterpillar's corporate responsibility
and repair its plummeting reputation. We also look forward to
your corrective response and to further correspondence with Caterpillar
Inc. toward using its resources, capacities and opportunities
someday actually to build a better world.
Sincerely,
Joseph Schechla, coordinator
Housing and Land Rights Network Habitat International Coalition 11 Tiba Street, 2nd Floor
Muhandisin, Giza
Egypt
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