The state of Oregon’s pension fund is the largest indirect investor in an Israeli spyware company whose software has targeted hundreds of human rights defenders in India and around the world.

Pegasus, a hacking software sold by the NSO Group, has been weaponized by authoritarian governments worldwide. In summer of 2021, it was revealed that the Indian government has used Pegasus spyware to target leading human rights activists, students, lawyers, journalists, and opposition politicians. India’s Supreme Court has ordered an investigation into the government’s use of Pegasus.

Here in the United States, the Biden administration blacklisted the NSO Group in November 2021, describing Pegasus as a “tool of repression.” Reports even indicate that the Israeli government has used Pegasus to spy on its own citizens.

In 2017, the state of Oregon invested $233 million in a private equity firm that later acquired a controlling stake in the NSO Group. The Oregon Treasury has repeatedly stated that it has no role in selecting companies that its private equity investors invest in. And yet, new revelations from The Guardian show that in 2018, fully aware of the NSO Group’s role in enabling human rights violations, a senior official at the pension fund discussed investing in the company “in detail” and expressed “strong support” for the deal.

Take action now to stop taxpayer dollars from funding human rights violations worldwide! Oregon taxpayers fund the state’s Public Employee Retirement System (PERS), which oversees pension funds for nearly 400,000 people.

Join us in calling on State Treasurer Tobias Read and the Oregon Investment Council to immediately divest pension funds from NSO. In calling for divestment and accountability, we join Oregon’s Senator Ron Wyden and civil society organizations including the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Demilitarize Portland-to-Palestine, and the Center for Study and Preservation of Palestine.

This is a joint appeal from Hindus for Human Rights, India Civil Watch International, and Indian American Muslim Council.