The statutory advisory board for the Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales has provided partial and misleading information on its website regarding a discussion with the former UNHRC Special Rapporteur, Michael Lynk, and correspondence relating to it.

Michael Lynk

Michael Lynk, who was then UNHRC Special Rapporteur “on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967” wrote to Local Government Pension Scheme Funds on 22 November 2021. His letter asked them to divest holdings in any companies listed on the OHCHR database if they could not give clear assurance that they had removed themselves entirely from what he called “the illegal Israeli settlement economy”.

The Local Government Pension Scheme Advisory Board (LGPSAB) is a statutory body whose purpose is to encourage best practice, increase transparency and coordinate technical and standards issues between Local Government Pension Scheme Funds in England and Wales.

The LGPSAB reported on its website that

“The Chair of and representatives from LAPFF [Local Authority Pension Fund Forum], together with the [LGP]SAB Secretary held a call with Michael Lynk on 11th January [2022] to discuss his letter to funds. The discussion was productive and it was agreed to it follow up with another call in a month or so. It was made clear that LGPS funds’ primary objective in investment is to ensure pensions are paid but they do take human rights issues seriously in their decisions and through LAPFF are actively engaging with many of the companies listed on the database. In that respect Mr Lynk will provide further information on the database in particular the process for removing companies from it. LGPS Funds who are considering responding to Mr Lynk may wish to reference this ongoing discussion.”

UKLFI wrote to the LGPSAB on 28 February 2022 pointing out in detail that Mr Lynk’s letters contained serious misrepresentations and that his intervention with the pension funds was illegal and outside the scope of his mandate.

The LGPS replied on 11 April 2022 stating that

“the purpose of the meeting with Michael Lynk in January was to clarify and correct some of the assertions and misrepresentations made in his letter to enable the Board, if it wishes, to make a considered and measured response. …

 “I also wish to make it clear that the meeting with Michael Lynk is not to be taken as agreement by the Board with any of the claims or arguments he put forward in his letter. Those who attended the meeting on behalf of the Board did so with an open mind without any pre-conceptions regarding the status of his report or his own status and impartiality. I can also confirm Michael Lynk has not provided the further information he undertook to provide in January and that in consequence no follow up meeting has taken place.”

In view of this helpful clarification, UKLFI asked the LGPSAB on 17 April 2022 to correct the statements on its website quoted above, suggesting that it should read:

“The Chair of and representatives from LAPFF, together with the SAB Secretary held a call with Michael Lynk on 11th January to discuss his letter to funds.  The purpose of the meeting was to clarify and correct some of the assertions and misrepresentations made in his letter to enable the Board, if it wishes, to make a considered and measured response. It was made clear that LGPS funds’ primary objective in investment is to ensure pensions are paid but they do take human rights issues seriously in their decisions and through LAPFF are actively engaging with many of the companies listed on the database. In that respect Mr Lynk undertook to provide further information on the database in particular the process for removing companies from it. Mr Lynk has not provided the further information that he undertook to provide and no further meeting has taken place.”

The LGPSAB replied on 3 August 2022 that “the Board has agreed that the items to which you refer should not be removed as it wishes to maintain an accurate audit trail of events in which it is involved”.

Instead the LGPSAB decided to post the following text:

“The Chair of and representatives from LAPFF, together with the SAB Secretary, met Michael Lynk on 11th January to discuss his letter to funds. Representations were also received on this issue from the UK Lawyers for Israel, and their letter is here Letter to SAB Chair from the UK Lawyers for Israel. It has since been clarified that the UN Human Rights Office produced the database referenced by Mr Lynk which details business enterprises involved in certain specified activities related to the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. That list is updated annually and further detail about its compilation and maintenance is available at A/HRC/43/71”.

This was also misleading. It did not link to UKLFI’s original letter of 28 February 2022 addressing the misrepresentations in Mr Lynk’s letter and explaining why his intervention was illegal – it only linked to UKFLI’s later letter of 17 April 2022 setting out how the text should be amended in the light of the LGPSAB’s letter of 11 April 2022, which was also omitted. It left uncorrected the misleading account of the meeting with Mr Lynk on 11 January 2022. Furthermore, the claim that the OHCHR’s list is updated annually was untrue; the list has not been updated since it was published in February 2020.

UKLFI wrote back to the LGPSAB on 3 August 2022 expressing concern regarding the failure to correct the original misinformation and the additional misinformation that the OHCHR’s list is updated annually. The LGPSAB has since agreed to remove the latter claim.

UKLFI Chief Executive, Jonathan Turner, said: “For a body whose purposes include increasing transparency, the LGPSAB’s handling of this issue has been extraordinary”.