United Nations Announces Involvement of 214 Companies in Settlement Activities

Geneva - Afaq News - The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights announced the involvement of 214 companies from 11 countries in activities within the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, calling on these companies to take measures to address the negative impacts on human rights associated with their activities.

This came in a report updating the database established by the commission in 2020, which lists companies involved in specific activities related to Israeli settlements in ten areas, under a mandate from the Human Rights Council.

The latest report focuses on companies operating in the sectors of agriculture, transportation, storage, waste management, energy, food, and hospitality.

The commission added 61 companies to the list, while removing five companies that were previously listed, after it was found that they were no longer involved in such activities.

The commission indicated that it continues to review the remaining companies whose evaluation process was not completed in time for the issuance of this report, following a public call for information in 2024.

Among the information regarding 596 companies, the commission reviewed information related to 215 companies last year and 126 other companies this year.

The commission's assessment focuses on the impact of companies on the Palestinians' right to self-determination, and due to limited resources, it does not address their effects on other rights.

The commission classifies companies' involvement into three levels: causing, when the company's activities are sufficient in themselves to affect individuals' ability to enjoy a human right; contributing, when a company's activities are linked to another party's activities in a way that affects the enjoyment of a human right; and direct connection, where the company's operations, products, or services are directly linked to negative impacts on human rights.

Among the 214 companies listed, it was found that 200 companies contribute to causing negative impacts on the right to self-determination, while 14 companies are directly linked to these impacts, with no proven case of direct causation by any of the companies.

In this context, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, emphasized that the report serves as a reminder to companies that they have responsibilities related to human rights, and they are expected to exercise due diligence to ensure they are not involved in human rights violations or abuses.

It is worth mentioning that the vast majority of the companies listed are subsidiaries of the Israeli occupation, while the list includes 8 companies from the United States, 3 Spanish companies, and 2 companies from each of the United Kingdom, France, and China, as well as one company from each of South Africa, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, and Mexico.