Insights
Pathfinder & the United Nations (UN) Report of the Special Rapporteur
'From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide'
In July 2025 some Pathfinder members asked us why some of the companies we invest in were mentioned in the United Nations (UN) Report of the Special Rapporteur called ‘From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide’.
Based on our data, these companies didn’t breach our Ethical Investment Policy, but we wanted to dig deeper. Our Ethics and Investment Committee approved a review of Pathfinder’s holdings mentioned in the report and whether the claims made against them constituted inconsistent activities or controversial behaviours under our Ethical Investment Policy.
Pathfinder is currently invested in six** companies mentioned in the report, and we have recently sold out of Volvo but are still researching them to decide if they’re re-investible (should we want to buy more stock in the future).
| Company | What the report says | Some examples of what this means |
|---|---|---|
| Alphabet (Google’s parent company) | Displacement: Surveillance & Carcerality*. | Surveillance via provision of software to Israel’s military, used to surveil Palestinians. Carcerality via Project Nimbus, a contract awarded to them by the Israeli government and worth $1.2 billion. Nimbus provides core tech infrastructure enhancing data processing, decision-making and surveillance/analysis capacities including within defense and security sectors. |
| Amazon | Displacement: Surveillance & Carcerality Replacement: Global Retail; Trading the fruits of illegality | Surveillance via provision of software to Israel’s military, used to surveil Palestinians. Carcerality via Project Nimbus, a contract awarded to them by the Israeli government and worth $1.2 billion. Nimbus provides core tech infrastructure enhancing data processing, decision-making and surveillance/analysis capacities including within defense and security sectors. Global retail via Amazon.com operating directly in Israeli colonies, sustaining their economy, enabling expansion and participating in apartheid through discriminatory service delivery. |
| IBM | Displacement: Surveillance & Carcerality | Surveillance via IBM’s bespoke Eitan system which enforces the permit regime (this requires Palestinians to obtain a number of separate permits from the Israeli military authorities governing Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank for a wide range of activities) Carcerality through Eitan’s biometric scanning used to monitor, control and restrict movement of Palestinians. |
| Microsoft | Displacement: Surveillance & Carcerality | Surveillance like intercepting and storing millions of phone calls. Carcerality by granting Israel virtually government-wide access to their cloud and AI technologies, enhancing data processing, decision-making and surveillance/analysis capacities. |
| Volvo | Displacement: Civilian guise: Heavy machinery in service of settler-colonial destruction Replacement: Home on stolen land | Volvo machinery is sold, by Volvo, to business partners in Israel. Volvo machinery has been documented demolishing Palestinian homes. |
You can read the full report here.
*Carcerality refers to the qualities, systems, or conditions associated with imprisonment or incarceration. The term is often used to describe not just physical prisons, but also the broader structures and ideologies that support surveillance, control, and punishment in society.
Notably both Microsoft and Volvo are looking into the claims with the support of independent parties and Microsoft has already revoked one cloud services license for breach of their terms of service. We note that the USA has announced sanctions against the author of the report, Francesca Albanese, who responded by saying this isn’t the same as challenging the facticity of the report.
The report is not legally binding on the UN or any other member country (including NZ), however Special Rapporteur Reports carry significant moral and diplomatic weight.
Pathfinder’s Position
As you know, the Pathfinder KiwiSaver Plan is a financial product designed to help you save for your retirement. Our aim is to generate individual wealth and collective wellbeing.
We decry all violations of human rights and want to promote peaceful and inclusive societies, which is why we aim to avoid investing in weapons, no matter the conflict (read more about our position on this, including how we use revenue thresholds here).
We have offered our KiwiSaver members the chance to have their say via a survey and we are on track to have our final determination regarding these stocks. Here are the options available to us that the Ethics and Investment Committee will be selecting from:
- Divest (that is, we sell the shares we own) from the company.
- Stay invested but engage with the company asking them to provide evidence they’re addressing the issue.
- Stay invested by granting an exception if the stock is required for portfolio construction reasons (such as diversification, or acceptable risk/return characteristics for the portfolio as a whole).
Update as at 11.12.2025
Our investment team has completed its work, including contacting the listed companies involved. Our Ethics and Investment Committee is reviewing our research currently and will make a final determination on these stocks by January 2026. We will email all members and produce a blog with the details of this decision on or before January 30th, 2026.
While for some it feels like our process over several months is long, we assure you we have been working with diligence and care through this period.
We appreciate your patience and look forward to updating you on the outcomes.
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash
** Note that Pathfinder has exposure to two additional companies (BNP & AXA) in the Finance Sector that are mentioned in this report. We are conducting a separate analysis of indirect financing as this requires a different framework. It’s likely the outcome of this will form an amendment to our EIP explaining how we approach investing in banks, insurers or other financial instruments that have indirect influence on ethical issues.
