Half a billion dollars of investments, from KiwiSaver and other funds out of New Zealand, are going into Government bonds of countries with poor human rights records. That is according to a new report published by Motu Research this morning. Researchers there used the Human Rights Measurement Initiative, which ranks countries based on economic, civil and political rights residents have and portfolio data from KiwiSaver and other retail funds - to identify how much money New Zealanders were investing in sovereign bonds of so-called 'high alert' countries. These countries include China, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar because of their low scores in safety from the state, civic freedoms and rights to things like education, food, health and housing. Lead author and economist at Motu Research Anne-Marie Brook says ethical investing has typically had minimal human rights data and this is the first comprehensive look at how much New Zealand investment is going into sovereign bonds of countries with dubious human rights' records.

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