Mac Bride Principles - Campaign

Campaign

The MacBride Campaign is conducted on a three-fold level:

1. Federal - The MacBride Principles became the law of the U.S. in October 1998. The U.S. House and Senate passed the MacBride Principles—as part of the Omnibus Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1999—and President Clinton signed them into law. The MacBride law mandates that recipients of U.S. contributions to the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) must be in compliance with the MacBride Principles. (The U.S. has been contributing about $19.6 million per year since 1986 to the IFI.)
2. State and Cities - Millions of dollars in state and city pension funds are invested in American corporations doing business in Northern Ireland. The MacBride Campaign lobbies to have legislation passed to direct these funds to be invested, in the future, only in companies that endorse the Principles (again, note, not divestment or disinvestments). This is the first step. The second step — once the MacBride Principles investment law has been passed — is to lobby cities and states to enact a "selective purchasing" law, barring the state or city from purchasing goods or services from companies in Northern Ireland that have not endorsed the Principles.
3. Shareholder resolutions - The Campaign works to have shareholders introduce and pass resolutions asking companies to endorse the Principles.