Whether to own companies with ties to Sudan has a big issue in the pension-fund world for several years. Illinois passed a law in 2005 requiring its state funds to sell their Sudan-related shares, only to see it declared unconstitutional last year.

Now, the divestiture fight has come to one of the nation’s biggest mutual fund families. Activists sponsored proposals to require two big Fidelity funds, Capital & Income and Select Health Care, to sell shares of any company that might “substantially contribute to genocide” in Sudan. Neither proposal passed, but they got 28 percent of shareholder votes at the health care fund and 27 percent at Capital & Income.

Eric Cohen, an author of the proposals, is counting that as a victory. He told the Associated Press:

We got much more support than we expected, and feel it was more successful than in our wildest hopes.

Fidelity’s position is that it only invests in companies that comply with U.S. law, and that its fund managers are the best people to weigh risks such as political instability.

Note to readers: Posts in this space will be scarce, maybe non-existent, next week because I’ll be on vacation.