Holy Land Principles Confront Coke's Social Conscience

WASHINGTON, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Coca Cola, the massive soft-drinks company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is facing an upcoming fair employment Resolution regarding its operations in Israel-Palestine.

Coca Cola's annual shareholders' meeting is in Atlanta on April 27, where the company will be faced with a Resolution on the Holy Land Principles: a corporate code of conduct for American companies doing business in Palestine-Israel— based on the highly effective Mac Bride Principles for Northern Ireland.

The Holy Land Principles are pro-Jewish, pro-Palestinian and pro-company. The Principles do not call for quotas, reverse discrimination, divestment, disinvestment or boycotts. The Principles do not take any position on solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The Principles do not try to tell the Palestinians or the Israelis what to do. The Holy Land Principles only try to get Coca Cola and the other companies to sign the Holy Land Principles.

Last year, three American companies — Corning, GE and Intel— tried to get the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) to exclude the Holy Land Principles resolution from their 2015 Proxy Materials. However, the SEC ruled in favor of the Holy Land Principles.

The SEC is a federal agency of the United States Government. One of the SEC's main responsibilities is to protect investors. And the fact that the SEC has ruled in favor of the Holy Land Principles is proof positive that the Holy Land Principles are intrinsically valid, eminently reasonable and inherently fair.

Fr. Sean Mc Manus—President of the Washington-based Holy Land Principles and Irish National Caucus — said: "Coca Cola in its 'Statement Against Shareowner Proposal Regarding Holy Land Principles,' rather lamely argues that 'Endorsing these principles for one geographic area could risk undermining the universality of our own Human Rights Policy. We believe our policies work best when they can be applied throughout our entire enterprise.' Well with all due respect, I think that's a bit like responding to the urgent call 'Black Lives Matter' by saying all lives matter. People see through that dodge, that evasion, that dissembling."

Fr. Mc Manus explained: "American companies doing business in Northern Ireland initially tried such evasive tactics, including Coca Cola. But eventually they saw the light. Eventually 116 companies signed the Mac Bride Principles— including, to its credit, Coca Cola. So why would Coca Cola, or any American company now balk at signing the Holy Land Principles?"

Fr. Mc Manus continued: "Isn't it truly remarkable that until we launched the Holy Land Principles, on International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2012, this issue had never been raised before in the corporate boardrooms. Surely, something was very odd about that? How can it be explained, given the fact that SRI groups and faith-based organizations were filing Resolutions by the boat-load on every conceivable issue? This surely was the elephant in the (board) room! One cannot ask American companies doing business in the Holy Land a more important or existential question than one about their fair employment practices. Therefore, the Holy Land Principles are filling a vacuum that was crying out to be filled—indeed, playing a prophetic role. That is why our campaign — like our Mac Bride Principles campaign — will prevail in the end because there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.

We respectfully ask all Coca Cola investors to vote for the Holy Land Principles resolution."

Fr. Sean Mc Manus
President
Holy Land Principles,Inc.
P.O. BOX 15128
Capitol Hill
Washington, DC 20003-0849
Tel. 202-488-0107
Fax. 202-488-7537
[email protected]

SOURCE Holy Land Principles