Israel Matzav

BDSers spawn investigation of British security company for installing cameras at checkpoints

The Financial Times of London reports that BDS groups have spawned an investigation of a British multinational for 'human rights violations' as a result of the group's work with the IDF on setting up checkpoints.

G4S supplies and services screening and security equipment to military checkpoints, prisons and detention centres in the West Bank and Israel.

In a statement the National Contact Point, a government body, said that it had “accepted issues for further examination”, though it stressed that no conclusions had yet been reached.

The National Contact Point sits within the Department for Business and is responsible for ensuring the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s standards for the behaviour of multinationals are fulfilled.

It is expected to examine whether the supplying and servicing of equipment in the checkpoints infringes on the human rights of Palestinians. It will also examine the use of screening equipment in prisons and detention centres in Israel and the West Bank.

The investigation shines a spotlight on the murky area of what constitutes ethical practice for multinationals. G4S has been under pressure from pro-Palestinian protesters over its work for the Israeli authorities for several years and is expected to face protests outside its annual general meeting on Thursday.

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G4S, which employs 6,000 people in Israel, said it “takes very seriously our obligations to ensure that our activities do not contribute to human rights abuses. We have provided evidence which clearly demonstrates that the company is acting appropriately in the context of international laws and voluntary human rights guidelines including those set out by the OECD”.

G4S said it would support the NCP’s process but cited the watchdog’s “clear acknowledgment that the company carries out extensive due diligence and ongoing review of the potential human rights risks of its business”.

The group has already said it will not seek to renew the West Bank contracts when they end in 2015. It argues that its staff simply fix and install security equipment such as CCTV and are not directly involved in the management of the prisons or checkpoints.

But the arguments have failed to satisfy the pro-Palestinian campaign groups, which want the company to exit all its contracts for the Israeli government.

Still waiting for investigations of who is supplying Syria or Sudan or Egypt or Iran... and word that their governments are cooperating. Hypocrites!

Labels: BDS, British anti-Semitism, hypocrisy, Israeli checkpoints

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:41 PM