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City of Cambridge, MA: By-Law to Promote Human Rights and Democracy in Nigeria Adopted May 19, 1997 Preamble: WHEREAS, the citizens of the City of Cambridge recognize the moral responsibility of communities to take positive steps to end human rights abuses and support legitimately elected governments; and WHEREAS, the nation of Nigeria, with a current population of over one hundred million people, independent on October 1, 1960, and declared a democratic republic on October 1, 1963, nonetheless has been ruled by military governments for approximately 26 out of its 35 years of independence; and WHEREAS, in June 1993, a democratic, presidential election to end military rule was held and monitored by national and international observers; and WHEREAS, Chief Moshood K. O. Abiola was believed to have won the election, but the reigning military regime annulled the vote before formal results were announced, and put the nation in the hands of a military-appointed interim civilian government; and WHEREAS, General Sani Abacha overthrew the transitional government in November 1993 and promised to return the country to civilian rule, but has nonetheless continued to rule the country through a dictatorship; and WHEREAS, Chief Abiola has been in prison since June 1994 while he awaits trial on charges of treason for proclaiming himself President on the first anniversary of the 1993 election, and has, according to his personal physician, undergone a serious decline in his health since arrest, and WHEREAS, on June 4, 1996, Kudirat Abiola, wife of Chief Moshood K. O. Abiola who had been campaigning for her husband's release, was assassinated 200 yards from a police roadblock; and WHEREAS, the reigning military regime has also engaged in massive human rights abuses, disbanded the national and state legislatures and removed elected civilian governors, banned the free press, shot and killed peaceful pro-democracy protesters, and arbitrarily arrested human rights and environmental activists, trade unionists and community leaders in an effort to crush the democratic aspirations of the Nigerian people; and WHEREAS, human rights investigators from such groups as Amnesty International have documented massacres of defenseless communities by the Nigerian army and the systematic use of murder, torture and rape of pro-democracy activists by government security forces; and WHEREAS, on November 10, 1995, nine activists of the Ogoni tribe, including Ken Saro-Wiwa, a renowned writer, environmentalist and human rights activist, were executed by the military government; and WHEREAS, Nigerian leaders and pro-democracy groups have called on the international community to impose sanctions against Nigeria in order to effect change; and WHEREAS, on Wednesday, March 12, 1997, Nigeria's military government charged Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, in exile since 1994, and 11 other opposition leaders with treason, for which the maximum penalty is death, over the spate of bomb explosions in the country; and WHEREAS, in 1994, United States oil companies, by their purchase of more than $4 billion worth of oil, indirectly financed the dictatorship through taxes and royalties on oil paid to the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company, thereby undermining the Nigerian democracy movement; and WHEREAS, oil exports from Nigeria account for more than ninety percent of Nigeria's foreign exchange earnings and seventy-five percent of its budget revenues; and WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has upheld the power of a municipality to make legitimate economic decisions without being subject to the restraints of the interstate Commerce Clause when it participates in the market place as a corporation or a citizen as opposed to exerting its regulatory powers; and WHEREAS, the City of Cambridge has the right to measure the moral character of its business partners in determining with whom it seeks to have business relations; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Cambridge City Meeting adopt the following By-Law. AND, FURTHER, BE IT RESOLVED that the Cambridge City Clerk be directed forthwith upon the dissolution of this City Meeting to send a certified copy of this By-Law to the following parties: President William Jefferson Clinton · Senator Stanley Rosenberg · Secretary of State Madeleine K Albright · Representative Ellen Story · William Richardson, U.S. Ambassador to · Massachusetts Municipal Association the United Nations · General Sani Abacha of Nigeria · Senator Edward M. Kennedy · Nigerian Ambassador to the United States · Senator John F. Kerry · Nigerian Ambassador to the U.N. · Representative John W. Olver By-Law to Promote Human Rights and Democracy in Nigeria SECTION I. Definitions: A. "City funds" shall mean all monies, grants, or other general or enterprise funds received and managed by or otherwise under the control of the City Finance Director, and any notes, bonds, or securities issued by the City of Cambridge. B. The "City Finance Director" shall mean the City Finance Director of the City of Cambridge, or any authorized representative of the City Finance Director. C. The "City" or "City of Cambridge" shall mean the City of Cambridge, or any entity or official agent acting under the direction of the Cambridge City Meeting. D. "Commodities" shall include, but not be limited to, supplies, goods, commodities, vehicles, machinery, and equipment. E. "Loans" shall include any financial transaction involving Nigerian entities whether entered into as a singular institution or as a participant in a lending consortium. Such transactions would include purchasing securities, investing in assets, lending monies, making interest-bearing deposits,extending lines of credit, or any other such transaction that is anticipated to result in a return, directly or indirectly, of assets. F. "Professional Services" shall mean the performance of any work or labor and shall also include investment counseling, underwriting, providing brokerage services, acting as a trustee or escrow agent, providing any consulting advice or assistance, or otherwise acting as an agent pursuant to a contractual agreement. G. "Person" shall mean any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, association, or any other organization or entity, however formed. "Person" shall include any parent, subsidiary, affiliate, division, or franchisee of the Person. H. The "government of Nigeria" shall mean any public or quasi-public entity operating within Nigeria, including, but not limited to, municipal, provincial national, or other government bodies, including all departments and agencies of such bodies, public utilities, public facilities, or any national corporation in which the public sector of Nigeria has a financial interest or operational responsibilities. I. "Doing business with" shall include but not be limited to license, franchise, supply, distribution, management or training agreements, or payment of a tax levy, fee, duty, charge, or similar sum to the government of Nigeria, except those payments necessary to prevent the use of its name, trademark, trade name, trade secret, copyright or patent in Nigeria. J. "List" shall mean a List provided and periodically updated by The Africa Fund using information provided by the U. S. Commerce Department and/or other reliable sources of banks, financial institutions, vendors, suppliers, service providers, or persons who have any outstanding Loan to or who buy, sell, lease, produce, or distribute commodities and/or professional services to:
K. All terms used in this By-Law shall be construed in a manner consistent with the intent of this By-Law. SECTION II. Deposit and Investment of City Funds in Banks and Financial Institutions A. General Prohibited Transaction 1. No City funds shall be deposited or remain deposited in, or be invested or remain invested in the stocks, bonds, securities, or other obligations of, any bank or financial institution named on the List 2. The prohibitions of this Section shall not apply to any bank or financial institution which submits a Statement certifying its compliance with the requirements of subsection "C" of this Section 3. The prohibitions of this Section shall not apply to City funds invested under a trust indenture or investment agreement or otherwise invested by the City under a preexisting contractual obligation, provided that such funds, if invested or deposited in non-compliance with this By-Law, shall be withdrawn or divested at the earliest possible maturity date. B. Waivers 1. In the event that no bank or financial institution is available which is capable of performing the desired function, or the City will incur a significant financial loss as a consequence of the prohibitions of Section II.A.I and 2 above, the City Finance Director shall endeavor to select that bank or financial institution which conforms to the greatest extent with the intent of this divestment act 2. If waivers are required, the City Finance Director shall develop rules and regulations which specifically address both the criteria and reporting procedures. Such rules and regulations shall be approved by the Select Board. The City Finance Director shall periodically report to the Select Board each and every exercise of waiver implemented pursuant to this subsection. C. Statement Required 1. Before any City funds can be deposited or invested in any bank or financial institution named in the List, the City Finance Director shall send a written inquiry to each such named bank or financial institution and shall request a Statement certifying that it does not have an outstanding Loan to any Person named on the List 2. The requirements of this Section shall be satisfied by ensuring that no City funds are invested or deposited by banks or financial institutions named on the List which fail to submit the Statements required by this Section. D. Compliance 1. The withdrawal or divestiture required by this Section shall be completed within one hundred twenty (120) days after the effective date of this By-Law. 2. If the City Finance Director determines that City funds have been deposited or invested in a bank or financial institution which subsequently comes into noncompliance with this By-Law, the City Finance Director shall require the withdrawal or divestment of those funds within one hundred twenty (120) days after the date of determination of noncompliance. SECTION III. Contracting and Purchasing With City Funds A. General Prohibited Transaction The City of Cambridge shall be prohibited from entering into any contractual agreement for the purchase of any commodities produced by any Person named on the List. The processes set forth in Sections II. B and C regarding Waivers and Statement Required for Banks and Financial Institutions shall apply to these transactions as well. B. Pursuant to the findings set forth herein above, it shall be City policy to minimize the expenditure of City funds on goods and services produced by any Person named on the List. C. Contracts and Purchases. 1 1. Persons submitting bids to or entering into contracts with the City of Cambridge who are named in the List shall be required to certify their compliance with this By-Law. 2. All bid advertisements and contracts shall state the City policy set forth in subsection B of this Section and urge contractors to comply with the policy in making purchases and subcontracts. SECTION IV. Reporting The City Finance Director shall report annually to the Cambridge City Meeting on the implementation of this By-Law. SECTION V. Severability This By-Law shall be enforced to the full extent of the authority of the City of Cambridge. If any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence or word of this By-Law is deemed to be invalid or beyond the authority of the City of Cambridge, either on its face or as applied, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the other sections, subsections, paragraphs, sentences or words of this By-Law, and the applications thereof; and to that end the section, subsections, paragraphs, sentences and words of this By-Law shall be deemed severable. SECTION VI. Supremacy of State and Federal Law Existing contracts and Procurements of the City that fail to comply with the provisions of this By-Law, if otherwise compliant with applicable state and federal law, will not thereby be void or voidable. SECTION VII. Duration of Policy This By-Law shall take effect ninety (90) days from the day on which the Cambridge City Meeting is dissolved and shall remain in effect until the Select Board finds after a public hearing that democratic rights have been restored in Nigeria and City Meeting subsequently repeals the By-Law. Upon completion of their Public Hearing and prior to a City Meeting, the Select Board may vote to suspend or modify the operation of this By-Law. Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club |
