Mr. Jürgen Grässlin, Freiburg, Germany
Regarding Item 3 of the Agenda:
»The actions of the members of the Board of Management are not to be ratified.
Reason: The Board of Management supports the Daimler/EADS involvement in
the inhumane production of submunition delivery systems and inhumane
armaments exports.
Last year, in many interviews and statements, members of the Board of Management of Daimler AG emphasized that their actions were based on ethics, morals and an awareness of responsibility. In the current Annual Report 2007, under the keyword of »responsibility«, the Company promises to participate in an »open dialogue« and to be guided by »the highest ethical principles«.
Such declarations are not worth the paper they are printed on. In reality, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) - whose biggest shareholder is Daimler AG with a stake of 15% - is one of the eight biggest armaments exporters in the world, according to a report by the renowned Stockholm peace research institution, SIPRI. People are shot and killed with Daimler weapons in many wars and civil wars. Often it is mainly civilians who die - children, women and old people.
Once again last year, the Board of Management failed to make any efforts to discontinue doing business with inhumane weapons systems such as submunitions delivery systems. At this point, I would like to quote the example of the involvement in the MLRS (multiple launch rocket system) and the guided MLRS. MLRS rockets are to be produced in enormous numbers. The guided multiple rocket launcher, GLMRS, is designed to distribute approximately 8000 bomblets over an area of up to one square kilometer.
The MLRS submunitions used by the Israeli army in the war with Lebanon for example have an effect similar to landmines. Due to the extremely high number of non-explosions, entire stretches of land are contaminated with submunitions. The alliance for action, landmine.de (see www.landmine.de), regards the use of submunitions as a breach of the Geneva Convention, which proscribes random attacks on civilians.
Meanwhile, a broad alliance of peace organizations, human-rights organizations and Christian organizations have gathered together in the alliance for
action, »We don't buy Mercedes: boycott submunitions!« Together with the Critical Daimler Shareholders (KAD, Arndtstraße 31, 70197 Stuttgart,
Tel. 0711 608396, see
www.kritischeaktionaere.de and www.juergengraesslin.com),
the following organizations have declared their support:
* German Peace Association - United Opponents of Military Service
(see www.dfg-vk.de),
* Peace Center Association Braunschweig,
* Living without Armaments (ORL),
* German section of the Pax Christi Movement,
* Armaments Information Bureau e. V. (see www.rib-ev.de)
and
* Workshop for Nonviolent Action, Baden (WfgA)
Several thousand signatories have declared - through their signatures on the campaign postcard and many of them on the website www.wir-kaufen-keinen-mercedes.de - that they will not buy a Mercedes until Daimler/EADS cease all involvement in the research, development and production of submunitions and rocket launchers that can be used for cluster bombs.«
Publisher on the Daimler-Website:
http://www.daimler.com/dccom/0-5-1050424-1-1051061-1-0-0-1050437-0-0-8-7164-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.html