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(1)                     
Bowling Park Community Orchard: Help Safeguard its Future
 
Resolved:  That the petition be referred to the
Executive.
 
To be actioned
by:  Strategic Director Corporate
Resources/S151 Officer/Director of Legal and Governance
 
(2)                     
 Making Bowling Cemetery a Dog Free
Zone
 

Resolved:  That the petition be referred
to the Regulatory and Appeals Committee.
 
To be actioned
by:  Strategic Director Place/Director
of Legal and Governance
 
PETITION - WEST
YORKSHIRE PENSION FUND - DIVEST FROM GENOCIDE IN PALESTINE
MOTION 12.1 - CALL
TO DIVEST THE WEST YORKSHIRE PENSION FUND FROM COMPANIES THAT ARE
COMPLICIT IN OR PROFIT FROM THE VIOLATION OF PALESTINIAN HUMAN
RIGHTS, INTERNATIONAL LAW AND ACTS OF ETHNIC CLEANSING
 
Motion 12.1
 
Motion 12.1 was moved by Councillor Ward and
seconded by Councillor Saddiq.
 
In accordance with Council Standing Orders
18.4  and 18.8
 an amendment (additional published papers Amendment
A) was moved by Councillor Hinchcliffe and seconded  by Councillor Imran Khan.
 
Following a number
of speakers in accordance with Council Standing Order 18.12
Amendment A as set out below was then put to the vote, was carried
and became the substantive motion, was then voted on and was
carried.         
 
Resolved-
 
That with the
addition and deletion of the appropriate words, the motion be
amended to read as follows:
 
Council notes:

A temporary ceasefire was agreed
in October.  But just last week two
Palestinian children were killed by an Israeli drone strike in
southern Gaza.  We hear from the Prime
Minister of Qatar that the negotiations on a lasting ceasefire are
at a critical moment. We urge world leaders to turn this
opportunity into lasting peace, to stop the killing and to achieve
a two-state solution.
The incalculable devastation
caused by Israel’s military assault on Palestinians in the
Gaza Strip.
The ongoing humanitarian crisis
in Gaza that has caused intolerable civilian suffering,
including widespread displacement and severe shortages of
food, water, and medical supplies.
That on 7th May 2025, a group of
over 20 UN independent experts, including the Special
Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese stated that the actions
unfolding in Gaza ‘bear the hallmarks of genocide’
and in their words, ‘the international community has failed
to prevent genocide before, we must not fail again’.
That East Jerusalem, the West
Bank, the Golan Heights and Gaza are illegally occupied by
Israel; and that prior to the current genocide, Gaza had been
subject to a blockade since 2007.
The establishment of illegal
settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

That the Palestine Solidarity
Campaign (PSC) has commissioned a legal memorandum (the
‘Position Paper’) regarding local authority pension
fund investments in companies that are aiding or assisting in
Israel’s violations of the most fundamental norms
of international law. The 74-page Position Paper has been
prepared by counsel (Max du Plessis S.C., Tatyana Eatwell and
Joshua Jackson), with the assistance of Deighton Pierce Glynn
solicitors.  The Position Paper sets out an opinion on the
duties Local and Central Government have
to prevent and not assist Israel’s violations
of international law, and how those duties apply to public
sector investments under the Local Government Pension Scheme
(‘LGPS’). The legal memorandum has been sent to all
administering authorities under the LGPS – including Bradford
Council - asking them to take action to divest public money from
companies furthering Israel’s violations of international
law.
That the Local Government Pension
Scheme Advisory Board has now written to Government asking for
further advice and guidance because investment professionals would
be acting outside their authority to decide on world matters
normally the domain of Governments and the UN.  A response is awaited.

There has been a
huge policy shift by the Labour Government from the previous
Conservative Government on this issue. After being elected the
Labour Government has:
·      
Recognised Palestine as a Sovereign State
·      
Called for an immediate ceasefire
·      
Restored funding to UNWRA, the UN’s aid agency for
Gaza
·      
Completed a review of UK arms exports licensing to Israel and
has suspended 30 export licenses where there was a clear risk that
exports, where used for military operations in Gaza, might be used
in serious violations of International Humanitarian Law.
·      
suspended negotiations with this Israeli Government on a new
free trade agreement and is to review cooperation under existing
agreements.
·      
Completely rejected the challenge of the previous Government who
wanted to contest the right of the International Criminal Court to
seek arrest warrants for those complicit in committing
genocide
This Council further
notes:
1.    That the West Yorkshire Pension
Fund’s investments are not controlled by Bradford district
councillors.  Councillors can urge but
cannot instruct.
2.    The Supreme Court held, in its
judgment on the Palestine Solidarity Campaign case, that pension
funds cannot take into consideration political preferences over
what is required under their fiduciary duty.
3.    That WYPF has a fiduciary duty to its
pensioners and participating employers whose money it invests on
their behalf.  This is not council
money.
4.    The United Nations Human Rights
Council (UNHRC) publishes a database of companies involved in
‘specified activities’ in the occupied Palestinian
territory. WYPF does not have holdings in any of these
companies.
5.     That Bradford Council through
the instrument of its Treasury Management passed by Full Council is
really clear that it is only allowed
only to invest in the following countries: Australia, Denmark,
Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland,
Canada, Finland, USA, UAE, Qatar, Belgium, France and UK.
This Council
resolves to:
1)   
Continue to call on the UK Government to stop arms sales that
are used in acts that violate international law.
2)   
Urge WYPF to uphold the highest standards, for the benefit of
its members, in its stated commitment to being a responsible
investor, taking account of social, environmental and corporate
governance considerations in the selection, non-selection,
retention and realisation of investments and its engagement and
stewardship activities.
3)   
Urge the West Yorkshire Pension Fund to divest themselves of any
activity that is complicit in human rights abuses, war crimes, or
genocide anywhere in the world.
4)   
Urge West Yorkshire Pension Fund to use its position on the
national Local Authority Pension Fund Forum to influence other LGPS
funds to do likewise.
5)   
Urge Government to reply to the Local Government Pension Scheme
Advisory Board letter as soon as possible to provide the direction
they have sought.
6)   
Conduct a thorough review of the Council’s financial ties
and procurement practices to see whether there are any investments
in, or any goods, services or consumables supplied by companies
with links to the arms industry, or those directly or indirectly
involved in either: a) the Gaza conflict, and/or b) illegal
settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories.
7)   
Further calls on Government to implement:
a.   
targeted sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes on
all individuals and entities complicit in maintaining Israel's
unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
b.   
A ban on all trade in goods and services with, and investments
in, illegal Israeli settlements.
 
 
PETITION
-  WEST YORKSHIRE PENSION FUND
– DIVEST FROM GENOCIDE IN PALESTINE
 
Resolved-
 
That the petition be
referred to the West Yorkshire Pension Fund.
 
To be actioned
by:  Director of West Yorkshire Pension Fund