Did Providence divest from Sudan in 2006?

In May 2006, Providence adopted an ordinance prohibiting the City from knowingly investing in companies that provide revenues to the Sudanese government, offer benefits to the government’s supporters or demonstrate complicity in the Darfur genocide.

According to the United States Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006, over 180,000 died in an “ongoing genocide” of non-Arab civilians by the Sudanese government.

Providence’s code of ordinances reflects this law in Chapter 2, Article 1, Section 2-17 “Divesting from the Republic of Sudan.”

In March 2006, Brown University also divested from six companies “supporting and facilitating the Sudanese government in its continuing sponsorship of genocidal actions and human rights violations in Darfur.”

On November 3, 2026, approximately 74% of Providence voters approved an ordinance to divest city funds from all foreign countries and complicit entities conducting severe violations of human rights, including “conducting ethnic cleansing, apartheid, illegal military occupation, or genocide.”