Expose the businesses aiding illegal settlements in Palestine

On 12 February 2020, with a four-year delay since the adoption of the mandate in 2016, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) published a database of 112 enterprises [1] doing business in Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Why? Because these companies “directly and indirectly, enabled, facilitated and profited from the construction and growth of the settlements” in Palestine that are illegal under international law.

What’s the problem? Today, the database is out of date and urgently needs updating to help expose and end corporate complicity in the illegal occupation. Adding and removing companies from the database creates a necessary incentive and deterrent against engaging with Israel’s illegal settlement industry.

Despite the UN’s promise and a resolution “that the Human Rights Council establish a group of independent experts, with a time-bound mandate, to report directly to the council” on the situation, a group of experts is yet to be appointed.

Add your name to the petition calling on Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to respect UN Human Rights Council resolution 31/36 [2] and update the database urgently.

Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:

The International Trade Union Confederation is calling on the UN Human Rights Office to respect UN Human Rights Council resolution 31/36:

• By updating and publishing the database of enterprises doing business in the Israeli settlements of the Occupied Palestine Territory. The database is now two years out of date, and was published after a four-year delay.
• The ITUC is also calling for the UN Human Rights Council to appoint a group of experts in accordance with the UN resolution which demands “that the Human Rights Council establish a group of independent experts, with a time-bound mandate, to report directly to the council for such a purpose”.

An up to date database is not just in the interests of justice for the Palestinian people, but also of the companies on the original database that have since cut ties with illegal Israeli settlements.

The extraction of profits by Israeli companies and multinational corporations impedes Palestinian economic development, as it relies on the annexation of land and the plundering of Palestinian natural resources.

The prospect for a viable two-states solution is being damaged as illegal settlements continue to expand with the support of the businesses the database is designed to expose.