The Ethical Investment Representations Review Subcommittee (EIRRS) is conducting a review of the University’s current policy prohibiting direct investment into companies that manufacture illegal arms, according to the University newsletter Gazette. Students are invited to provide input in the upcoming weeks through webinars and a form, and the report will be published in Hilary Term 2025.
The decision to form this report was made in June following months of protests and two encampments by Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P). At the time, OA4P stated that the decision was “a direct response to the mass movement of students, faculty, and staff across the University calling for disclosure and divestment”.
The current strategy was put in place in 2010 by the now defunct Socially Responsible Investment Review Committee (SRIRC) in light of escalating world conflict. SCRIC had faced student pressure to maintain the University’s ethical standards by prohibiting investments into companies which invest into illegal arms. They proposed that the University follow the guidelines set by the Munitions (Prohibition) Act 2010 and the Landmines Act 1998.
In response, the SRIRC produced a report declaring the University’s intention not to invest directly in companies that manufacture weapons or munitions prohibited under Arms Control Treaties, to which the UK is a signatory. Following a committee meeting in 2011, the terms of the report were tightened to ban investments into companies whose actions were illegal under UK law, even if they were legal in the place of the weapons’ manufacture.
The new report by the EIRRS, which has since replaced the SRIRC involves opportunities for student engagement, involving an form offering questions such as ‘‘What should be considered a ‘controversial weapon’ beyond those already banned under UK law?” and “Do you think the UK government should expand the type of weapons that are illegal?”. The suggestion is that the University may expand its list of companies to refuse investment from beyond those that directly contravene existing arms treaties. Students can submit comments until the end of the Michaelmas term.
Additionally webinars this week allow students to ask questions of Oxford’s investment approach, aiming to contextualise the review and help students formulate ideas for submissions.
