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Scope of Database of Firms Contributing to Israeli Settlement Activities
Scope of Database of Firms Contributing to Israeli Settlement Activities
Pursuant to:
Resolution 31/36 of the Human Rights Council
Geneva, 24 March 2016
The Human Rights Council,
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17. Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in close consultation with the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, in follow-up to the report of the independent international fact-finding mission to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and as a necessary step for the implementation of the recommendation contained in paragraph 117 thereof, to produce a database of all business enterprises involved in the activities detailed in paragraph 96 of the afore-mentioned report, to be updated annually, and to transmit the data therein in the form of a report to the Council at its thirty-fourth session;
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Source: at unispal.un.org
[Hereinafter are Sections 96 and 117 of the Report referred to above. The Report (A/HRC/22/63) is dated 7 February 2013.]
Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission to Investigate the Implications of the Israeli Settlements on the Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the Palestinian People Throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem
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96. Information gathered by the mission shows that business enterprises have enabled, facilitated and profited, directly and indirectly, from the construction and growth of the settlements. In addition to the previously mentioned violations of Palestinian workers rights, the Mission identified a number of business activities and related issues that raise particular human rights violations concerns. They include:
• The supply of equipment and materials facilitating the construction and the expansion of settlements and the Wall and associated infrastructures;
• The supply of surveillance and identification equipment for settlements, the Wall and checkpoints directly linked with settlements;
• The supply of equipment for demolition of housing and property, destruction of agricultural farms, greenhouses, olives groves and crops;
• The supply of security services, equipment and materials to businesses operating in settlements;
• The provision of services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements, including transport;
• Banking and financial operations helping to develop, expand or maintain settlements and their activities, including loans for housing and development of businesses;
• The use of natural resources, in particular water and land, for business purposes;
• Pollution, dumping and transfer of waste to Palestinian villages;
• Captivity of the Palestinian financial and economic markets as well as practices that disadvantage Palestinian businesses, including through restrictions on movement, administrative and legal constraints; and
• Use of benefits and reinvestments of businesses owned totally or partially by settlers for developing, expanding and maintaining the settlements.
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117. Private companies must assess the human rights impact of their activities and take all necessary steps – including by terminating their business interests in the settlements – to ensure they are not adversely impacting the human rights of the Palestinian People in conformity with international law as well as the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The Mission calls upon all Member States to take appropriate measures to ensure that business enterprises domiciled in their territory and/or under their jurisdiction, including those owned or controlled by them, that conduct activities in or related to the settlements respect human rights throughout their operations. The Mission recommends that the Human Rights Council Working Group on Business and Human Rights be seized of this matter.
Source: at unispal.un.org