Palestinian Human Rights Organizations, supporters renew call for United Nations to terminate contracts with G4S
Earlier this month, Palestinian human rights organizations renewed a demand to United Nations’ Secretary Ban Ki-Moon, urging the UN to terminate their contracts with the security company G4S, this time accompanied by over 220 trade unions, human rights organizations, and migrant groups in solidarity with the call.
Five months after the initial letter, the UN has yet to reply in any form.
G4S operates in 125 different countries, effectively making it the largest security company in the world. It has been targeted by the Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions movement for its reported complicity in maintaining the Israeli occupation’s prison systems, as well as its involvement in the occupation’s violations of human rights and international law. AddameerPrisoner Support and Human Rights Association, a Palestinian civil institution working with Palestinian political prisoners, has outlined G4S’s complicity and involvement in Israeli detention of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, including information on detention centers, military courts, and torture centers.
The renewed call urges the UN to “uphold international law and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights” by refraining from renewing any existing contracts with G4S or awarding any new contracts with G4S until the company ends all complicity and involvement with the Israeli occupation of Palestine, including its documented role in the Israeli Prison Service.
During its June 2014 annual general meeting, G4S stated that it “did not expect to renew” its contract with the Israeli Prison Service and set a possible date in 2017 by which it would end its role in the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The joint letter to UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon comes at a time when the company has failed to record this expectation in writing and continues its role in profiting off Israeli violation of human rights and international law.
