Lockheed Martin Board of Directors rejects stockholder proposal from Sisters to align its political activities with Human Rights Policy
Photo: Protests at the CANSEC arms at the EY Centre in Ottawa have drawn attention to Lockheed Martin, a sponsor of CANSEC 2025.
The Lockheed Martin “2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders” is a virtual gathering happening on May 9, less than three weeks before the U.S. based transnational exhibits at the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa, May 28-29.
The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, the School Sisters of Notre Dame and the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica have made a “stockholder proposal” (on page 82) to Lockheed Martin that resolves that “shareholders request the Board of Directors to annually conduct an evaluation and issue a public report, at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information, describing the alignment of its political activities (including direct and indirect lobbying and political and electioneering expenditures) with it Human Rights Policy.”
The “whereas” section of the proposal notes: “The UN has criticized the ‘symbiotic relationship’ between governments and defense contractors, ‘which can cause States to approve arms exports despite genuine human rights risks that should prevent them’.”
It further highlights: “F-35s have been used repeatedly by Israeli forces to target Palestinian civilians in Gaza and are connected to apparent war crimes. Despite this, in June 2024, Israel sign a $3 billion deal with Lockheed to sell 25 F-35s to Israel.”
Lockheed Martin has responded (on pages 83-84 of this circular): “The Board of Directors Recommends a vote AGAINST Proposal 5 because Lockheed Martin’s lobbying practices already align with our Human Rights Policy, and our stockholders overwhelmingly rejected the same proposal last year with no indication of change in their views. Thus, Proposal 5 is redundant and unnecessary.”
The response from Lockheed Martin continues: “Proposal 5 also asserts that our work to sell F-35s to international customers causes us to be complicit in war crimes, suggesting we should not sell F-35s to certain allies of the U.S. Government despite the government’s review, approval and facilitation of our sales of the planes to those allies. Proposal 5’s assertions misstate the F-35 program’s role in strengthening global alliances and partnerships through connected deterrence capabilities, thus strengthening human rights and the ability to defend human rights. Ultimately, our work is closely aligned with our customers and is subject to rigorous government oversight to ensure that our business complies with legal requirements and furthers the interest of the U.S. Government and its allies to support human rights including by helping to deter conflict around the world.”
The Lockheed Martin Board of Directors response concludes: “We received a similar proposal from the same proponents in 2024, and 87% of our stockholders rejected that proposal at the 2024 Annual Meeting.”
Weapons sales and human rights defenders
Peace Brigades International-Canada focuses on the protection and security needs of human rights defenders.
We uphold and affirm the statement by Amnesty International that: “Legal concepts of ‘corporate complicity’ in and the ‘aiding and abetting’ of international crimes continue to evolve and could in the future apply to arms companies that continue supplying weapons in the knowledge that they may be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international human rights or humanitarian law.”
On January 16, 2025, Ihab Marwan Kamal Faisal of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and his family were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. In February 2024, in two separate incidents, two of PCHR’s lawyers, Nour Abu Al-Nour and Dana Yaghi, were also killed along with their families by Israeli airstrikes.
In its Global Analysis 2023/24 released in May 2024, Dublin-based Front Line Defenders stated: “Those defending the right to health and the right to life as doctors, nurses, or ambulance workers, those exposing and documenting war crimes as journalists, and those providing humanitarian support as volunteers or employees of aid agencies were all specifically targeted by Israeli bombs or guns.”
In a joint statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, Washington, DC-based Global Witness, that reports annually on killings of land and environmental defenders, has also supported the demand for halting the transfer of weapons, parts, and ammunition that may be used to commit violations of international humanitarian law.
We continue to follow this and take note of this “Shut Down CANSEC” mobilization.
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