Shares in the British security firm G4S have been blacklisted by Norway’s sovereign wealth fund over concerns about the firm’s human rights violations against its workforce in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Norway’s Council of Ethics, which monitors investments in the country’s £860bn Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), said there was an “unacceptable risk of the company contributing to systematic human rights violations”. Up to 30,000 staff, mostly working in security and construction, could be affected.
G4S has come under fire in the UK for alleged abuses at an immigration detention centre it ran, over which a public inquiry was launched this month.
Witnesses may be compelled to give evidence on claims that inmates were assaulted, humiliated and verbally abused by officers.
