Some shareholders of
parent
alphabet
have allegedly said they are concerned about the company’s plans to expand data center operations in locations such as India, which they allege have serious human rights abuses in the US State Department’s country reports on human rights practices.
“These include… Delhi, India, where the government frequently orders internet shutdowns and where Google’s transparency report showed a 69% increase in government requests for user data in 2019 and another 50% by 2021,” the Economic Times said tested proposal.
Proposal #10, entitled “Shareholder Proposal on Human Rights Assessment of Data Center Sites,” reportedly mentioned that shareholders have asked the board to commission a report on the data center site assessment
Google Cloud data centers
in countries with “significant human rights concerns”, including India, Jakarta, Indonesia, Doha and Qatar. The proposal was submitted by SumofUS, a global nonprofit advocacy group and online community, now renamed Eko. The
missionary wafers
of Mary Immaculate Province of the United States along with others are co-initiators of this proposal.
She requested that the report be published on the company’s website within six months of the 2023 AGM, which is scheduled to take place on June 2.
Google’s response to the suggestion
For its part, Google’s parent Alphabet said that its company’s ongoing commitment to human rights is reflected in its “robust management and governance structures” regarding human rights-related risks. She has asked shareholders to vote against the proposal. “Our existing comprehensive disclosures provide transparency on our approach to assessing and managing human rights-related risks, including in relation to data center siting. Therefore, our Board believes that the additional report requested in this proposal would not provide our shareholders with additional useful information and recommends a vote AGAINST this proposal,” the company said in its counter-statement.
