*[Enwl-eng] Apple

[ENWL]

            Did you hear? Apple has published its first policy on human rights, including a commitment on upholding freedom of expression.

            We’re not done with the tech giant yet, but it’s a sure sign that our campaign is working, and that’s something you can be very proud of.

            This wouldn’t have happened without SumOfUs members like you, Vladimir.


            Tibetan activists took part in a solemn protest outside an Apple Store in Washington, DC this summer.

            Since last summer, we’ve been working alongside activists from communities hit hardest by repression and loss of freedom of expression in Tibet, Uyghur regions, China and Hong Kong. We’ve signed and shared petitions, tweeted at Apple, spread brand-jamming content and emailed key decision makers. And that’s not all.

            Thirteen SumOfUs members also submitted a shareholder proposal demanding Apple change to uphold freedom of expression. Apple has deleted over 1000 "virtual private network" apps (VPNs) from its China app store in recent years, to placate the government of China. VPNs are crucial for vulnerable human rights defenders to evade censorship, surveillance, and political backlash.

            Apple advised its investors to vote against our proposal, but in the end we garnered more than 40% of shareholders’ votes at the company’s AGM in February. That means massive institutional investors -- which normally just roll with whatever Apple says -- must have backed our proposal.

            Now, Apple has fulfilled the first part of the proposal and produced a human rights policy.

            A new file called Apple-Human-Rights-Policy.pdf somewhere on the internet doesn’t sound like much, but it was front-page news in the Financial Times, and reported in over 50 other outlets. Together we’ve moved the world’s most valuable company to act.

            This is a breakthrough -- but it’s not enough to protect Apple’s users from the government of China's censorship and surveillance.

            Vladimir, I know we can do more. Thank you for the regular donation that you make to fund SumOfUs campaigns like this one.

            Working on this campaign is a privilege and an honour to me, not least because of the courage and wisdom of our partners who’ve been at this for many years. Without SumOfUs members like you though, Apple wouldn’t have moved. That’s people power.


            Thank you, so much, for everything you do, 
            Sondhya and the team at SumOfUs



            P.S. We have a collection of photos from the campaign over on Flickr. Have you seen them yet?


            More information:

            Apple adopts landmark new human rights policy following shareholder pressure, SumOfUs, 4 September 2020
            Apple commits to freedom of speech after criticism of China censorship, Financial Times, 4 September 2020
           
              
       






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
            SumOfUs is a community of people from around the world committed to curbing the growing power of corporations. We want to buy from, work for and invest in companies that respect the environment, treat their workers well and respect democracy. And we’re not afraid to stand up to them when they don’t.

            Please help keep SumOfUs strong by chipping in $3



                  Chip in $3 


            From: Sondhya Gupta, SumOfUs 
            Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2020 12:31 PM
            Subject: Apple 
     





 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.enwl.net.ru/pipermail/enwl-eng/attachments/20201001/c48fe4a2/attachment-0001.html>