{"id":103350,"date":"2017-12-11T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T12:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=103350"},"modified":"2017-12-10T18:50:05","modified_gmt":"2017-12-10T18:50:05","slug":"why-the-un-is-setting-up-a-database-of-international-businesses-operating-in-israeli-settlements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/12\/why-the-un-is-setting-up-a-database-of-international-businesses-operating-in-israeli-settlements\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the UN Is Setting Up a Database of International Businesses Operating in Israeli Settlements"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Israeli diggers work on opening new roads on a land prepared for the construction of the first Israeli West Bank settlement of Amichai in 25 years, 21 June 2017.
EPA\/ATEF SAFADI<\/p><\/div>\n

7 Dec 2017 – <\/em>Hundreds of companies<\/a> are doing business in around 250<\/a> illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories that are effectively subsidised and maintained by the Israeli government. In December, a United Nations\u2019 database of businesses that operate in the settlements is due to be finalised<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Israel and the US have attacked the database and want to prevent its release<\/a>. On November 26, Israel\u2019s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, told The Associated Press<\/a> \u201cwe will do everything we can to ensure that this list does not see the light of day\u201d.<\/p>\n

The database is being established under the auspices of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). This effort has recently been supported by dozens of international and local rights groups, including Amnesty International<\/a>, the International Federation for Human Rights<\/a>, and Human Rights Watch<\/a>. As a regulatory initiative for the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights<\/a> (UNGP), the database\u2019s aim is to help businesses and states ensure that they do not contribute to or benefit from activities in Israel\u2019s settlements.<\/p>\n

The UN is due to release the database by the beginning of 2018, after reportedly engaging<\/a> with as many as 150 companies<\/a>, of which 60 are foreign and the rest Israeli.<\/p>\n

To protect the legitimacy of the database and shield it from criticism<\/a>, the UN must clarify its function, and show that it is not a punitive device but a vital resource for furthering business transparency and enabling business and state compliance with their existing obligations under international law.<\/p>\n

httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cJ5rZa3KN-8<\/p>\n

Human Rights Compliance<\/strong><\/p>\n

The database began with a recommendation in a 2013 UN fact-finding mission report<\/a> on Israel\u2019s settlements, endorsed<\/a> by the Human Rights Council in March 2016.<\/p>\n

In Israel\u2019s settlements, as the Human Rights Council\u2019s March 2017 resolution affirmed<\/a>, \u201cit is not possible for businesses to take appropriate steps in view of the immitigable nature of the adverse impact of their activities on human rights\u201d. All business transactions in or related to Israel\u2019s settlements contribute to the illicit financial flows generated by the wrongful enjoyment of unlawfully appropriated property rights obtained by the Israeli government.<\/p>\n

The need to monitor the involvement of foreign and Israeli businesses in Israel\u2019s settlements was kindled by UN Security Council Resolution 2334<\/a>, which held that Israel\u2019s settlement activity in occupied territory has \u201cno legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law,\u201d and called on third states to exclude settlement-based entities and activities from their dealings with Israeli entities.<\/p>\n

To date, some 18 European government advisories warned<\/a> businesses of the economic, financial, and legal risks of business activities in Israel\u2019s settlements. In recent years a host of companies, financial institutions and pension funds, among them a Norwegian government fund, Dutch pension fund, Danish bank and Dutch engineering company decided<\/a> to terminate operations in the Palestinian territories.<\/p>\n

Engagement, Not Punishment<\/strong><\/p>\n

The UN database is a mechanism to document, report, and engage primary interested parties. It does not have the mandate to adjudicate the responsibility of concerned parties, nor to act as a coercive tool of law enforcement. Thus, commentators who refer to it as a \u201cblacklist\u201d<\/a> misrepresent it and undermine its legitimacy.<\/p>\n

To maximise its effectiveness, the database must be able to engage and cooperate with businesses that operate in the territories and their home states. It cannot afford to alienate its target audiences by operating as an adjudicative or coercive body.<\/p>\n

The OHCHR should learn from the pitfalls of previous UN-led efforts to list businesses. Take the UN Center for Transnational Corporations: its mandate to report on businesses in Apartheid-era South Africa never gained adequate support<\/a> because it was presented as a sanction. The UN panel on the plunder of resources in the DRC produced a list of businesses, which was discredited for failing<\/a> to gain businesses\u2019 cooperation.<\/p>\n

There is no doubt that the UN database will be embroiled in political turmoil. It may not be the first of its kind, but it could well become the first to function as a regulatory tool that gains support, and encourages compliance with international law.<\/p>\n

To ensure its ability to further respect for international law, the database should be seen as a pilot mechanism that could be used beyond the Israel-Palestine context. And the mechanism behind the database could be readily applied in other parts of the world<\/a> where military occupation<\/a> is used to pursue the permanent acquisition or transformation of territory.<\/p>\n

______________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Valentina Azarova <\/a>– Postdoctoral Fellow, Ko\u00e7 University Istanbul <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Republish <\/em>The Conversation articles for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons license.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 theconversation.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Join the<\/em><\/strong> BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS <\/em><\/strong>campaign<\/em><\/strong><\/span> to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation\u2019s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.<\/p>\n

DON’T BUY<\/strong> PRODUCTS WHOSE<\/strong> BARCODE<\/strong> STARTS WITH<\/strong> 729<\/strong>, which indicates that it is produced in Israel. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

7 Dec 2017 – Israel and the US have attacked the database and want to prevent its release. On Nov 26, Israel\u2019s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, told The Associated Press \u201cwe will do everything we can to ensure that this list does not see the light of day\u201d. The database is being established under the auspices of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":103352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}