Dear Fellow Petitioners,
Just for your information, I have just sent the letter below to the CEO of Unilever, Hein Shumacher. A copy of it has also been forwarded to all UK MPs, the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph and The Times. I hope it's self explanatory.
In the meantime, my thanks again to every single one of you for supporting the petition (nearly 4,500 of you to date). Please continue to share the petition as widely as you can. Every single signature will count when it comes to persuading Unilever to halt its immoral, sanctions-busting operations in Russia.
This is the link to copy, paste and share:
https://www.change.org/p/unilever-must-stop-funding-putin-s-war-on-ukraine
Thank you so much!
Mark Birkett
Rochdale, UK
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To: Hein Schumacher, CEO, Unilever
Cc: Unilever Press Office (London)
Bcc: All interested parties
Bcc: The Guardian / Daily Telegraph / The Times
Bcc: All UK Members of Parliament
Date: Friday 8th September 2023
Dear Mr Schumacher
I am writing to let you know about a petition I set up a week ago to require Unilever to cease its operations in Russia. If you take a moment to read it, you will see that it's designed to achieve four things.
1) To help raise public awareness of Unilever's continued immoral and illegal sanctions-busting operations in Russia, all helping to prop up Vladimir Putin's murderous regime
2) To help raise public awareness that Unilever continues to pay millions of dollars in Russian taxes that are directly funding Russia's illegal war in Ukraine
3) To put pressure on UK Parliamentarians to require you (as Unilever's CEO) to attend an appropriate Foreign-Office committee, so that you can explain why you think your company is above the law regarding UK-government sanctions on this matter
4) To encourage all UK consumers to boycott every single Unilever product until your current policy re: continuing to operate in Russia is totally reversed. Some are listed below.
How many signatories are there on this petition?
So far (in just under one week) the petition has attracted nearly 4,500 people from every corner of the United Kingdom (many of them likely to be regular consumers of Unilever products, at least until this week). To ensure Unilever backs down over this matter, our intention in the coming days and weeks is to attract many more.
What is the central complaint?
As you also know, Unilever (with you as its chief decision maker), has paid the Russian state many tens of millions of pounds in taxes all of which has helped and continue to help fund Vladimir Putin's murderous invasion of Ukraine.
Let's Be Clear What This REALLY Means
Men, women, children and babies all over Ukraine have been maimed, injured, burned and killed by Russian attacks every single day of the week, all of which were funded in part by the taxes that Unilever has been paying (and continues to pay) to Vladimir Putin's regime. Unilever's taxes have helped Russia to blow up dams causing decades worth of environmental damage.
Your support for Putin has helped him attack the very democratic foundations of Ukraine and indeed encouraged Putin to threaten us and other European countries with nuclear / 'escalatory' measures too.
This is Absolutely Not Good Enough, Nor Is It Legal
Unilever is not only acting in an immoral manner, but also in direct opposition to the legally enforceable sanctions set up by the UK Government. That is why I have also written to every single British MP about this matter in the last week and will be doing so again today. I have asked each of them to demand that you be forced to explain yourself before the appropriate Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation Parliamentary Committee.
Their Questions Would be Simple Enough to Articulate;
How dare Unilever act unlawfully and immorally like this?
How dare Unilever choose to stay and pay taxes to a regime that uses a proscribed terrorist organisation (Wagner) to murder innocent civilians?
How dare Unilever still benefit from sales of its goods in Russia when hundred of other UK companies have rightly left and taken their share of the financial hit?
The Legal Position
The UK GOV.UK website makes Unilever's precarious legal position very clear (with my underlines for emphasis):
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has the power to impose monetary penalties for breaches of financial sanctions and to refer cases to law enforcement agencies for investigation and potential prosecution. Breaches of financial sanctions are a serious criminal offence.
Unilever's Response To Date?
Ludicrously, Unilever is still claiming that keeping its four manufacturing bases and head office open in Russia is somehow "protecting [its] people" there. Its February statement claims that "we are not trying to protect or manage our business in Russia" and that "exiting is not straightforward". None of these statements have the slightest credibility.
Firstly, if you think that "protecting" the jobs of some three thousand employees in Russia somehow justifies Unilever's financial support for bombing, maiming and killing millions of innocent Ukrainians, then both you and Unilever you are clearly operating without any moral compass and have another think coming.
Secondly, Unilever is clearly trying to protect its investments in Russia. Blithely stating the opposite doesn't make the denial true.
Thirdly, Unilever's claim that "exiting is not straightforward" to leave Russia doesn't stand up to the slightest scrutiny either. Unilever must simply send those Russian staff home, close all the factories, and leave. Just like all the other companies rightly did during 2022.
It's that simple
Summary
I hope this email will persuade you to do the right thing by the millions of people in Ukraine. Today. If not, please rest assured that our call for boycott on all Unilever products, and our call on Parliament to sue Unilever for illegal sanctions busting, will continue.
Sincerely
Mark Birkett, Petitioner
Rochdale, UK
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Please support the Coalition For Ukraine re: other rogue companies illegally operating / trading in Russia
https://www.coalitionforukraine.com/holdouts