Det Udenrigspolitiske Nævn 2019-20
UPN Alm.del Bilag 89
Offentligt
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A
/HRC/43/71
Advance Unedited Version
Distr.: General
12 February 2020
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Forty-third session
24 February-20 March 2020
Agenda items 2 and 7
Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the
High Commissioner and the Secretary-General
Human rights situation in Palestine and other
occupied Arab territories
Database of all business enterprises involved in the
activities detailed in paragraph 96 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
Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Summary
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR) has prepared the present report pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution
31/36 on Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East
Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.
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I.
A.
Introduction
Background
1.
The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to
resolution 31/36, on
“Israeli
settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including
East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan”, adopted by the Council on 24 March
2016.
1
2.
In paragraph 17 of resolution 31/36, the Council requested production of a
database of all business enterprises involved in certain specified activities related to the
Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, to be updated annually, and to
transmit the data therein in the form of a report to the Council.
3.
OHCHR presented a previous report on the matter at the thirty-seventh session
of the Human Rights Council, on 20 March 2018 (A/HRC/37/39). That report set out
methodology used to discharge the mandate of the Council.
4.
In its previous report, OHCHR noted that it had reviewed information on a total
of 321 business enterprises following transmittal of notes verbales to States, an open
invitation for submissions and its own research. Following review, a total of 206
business enterprises were assessed at that time for further consideration.
5.
Paragraph 26 of that report stated that
“[o]nce OHCHR has been in contact with
all 206 companies, and subject to determinations of their responses and non-responses,
OHCHR expects to provide the names of the companies engaged in listed activities in a
future update. Before the determinations on the companies are made public, OHCHR
will notify the companies concerned.”
B.
Mandate
6.
Human Rights Council resolution 31/36 requesting production of a database was
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 (A/HRC/22/63). In its report, the fact-finding
mission set out a list of activities that raised particular human rights concerns for it
(“listed activities”).
2
In resolution 31/36, the Council defined the database by reference
to the listed activities compiled by the fact-finding mission in its report, which were:
(a) The supply of equipment and materials facilitating the construction and the
expansion of settlements and the wall, and associated infrastructures;
(b) The supply of surveillance and identification equipment for settlements,
the wall and checkpoints directly linked with settlements;
(c) The supply of equipment for the demolition of housing and property, the
destruction of agricultural farms, greenhouses, olive groves and crops;
1
2
While resolution 31/36 refers to the occupied Syrian Golan, paragraph 17 requesting production
of a database and the report of the independent international fact-finding mission to which it
refers pertains to the Occupied Palestinian Territory only. Business enterprises involved in
activities related to the occupied Syrian Golan therefore do not fall within the present mandate.
A/HRC/22/63, para. 96.
2
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(d) The supply of security services, equipment and materials to enterprises
operating in settlements;
(e) The provision of services and utilities supporting the maintenance and
existence of settlements, including transport;
(f) Banking and financial operations helping to develop, expand or maintain
settlements and their activities, including loans for housing and the development of
businesses;
(g)
purposes;
(h)
The use of natural resources, in particular water and land, for business
Pollution, and the dumping of waste in or its transfer to Palestinian villages;
(i) Captivity of the Palestinian financial and economic markets, as well as
practices that disadvantage Palestinian enterprises, including through restrictions on
movement, administrative and legal constraints;
(j) Use of benefits and reinvestments of enterprises owned totally or partially
by settlers for developing, expanding and maintaining the settlements.
7.
Paragraph 5 of the previous report outlined parameters of the database, which
encompasses business enterprises, whether domiciled in Israel, the Occupied Palestinian
Territory or abroad, carrying out listed activities in relation to the Occupied Palestinian
Territory.
8.
The mandate to produce the database set out by
the Council’s
resolution 31/36 is
confined to the 10 activities listed above. The database does not cover all business
activity related to settlements, and does not extend to wider business activity in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory that may raise human rights concerns. In addition, while
there may be other types of enterprises involved in significant business activity related
to settlements, only those enterprises constituting business enterprises are considered;
non-business enterprises are excluded from consideration.
C.
Definitions
9.
The mandate set out in
the Council’s
resolution 31/36 requires identification of
three cumulative elements: (a)
“business enterprises”; (b) “involved”; (c)
in one or more
listed activities.
This report’s
approach to the interpretation of each element is as
follows:
(a)
“Business enterprises”:
10.
In paragraph 18 of its previous report, OHCHR noted:
When contacting companies, OHCHR included in the communications,
wherever possible, all relevant entities with respect to that particular situation of
concern, including parent companies and their subsidiaries, franchisors and
franchisees, local distributors of international companies, partners and other
entities in relevant business relationships. In some of these cases, further research
by OHCHR revealed relevant business entities, such as parent companies or
subsidiaries, that were not initially named in the submissions received in notes
verbales from Member States or through the open call for submissions from
interested stakeholders.
11.
In assessing
“business
enterprises”, for the purposes of this report, OHCHR
considered the nature and substance of the functions and activities of the relevant
3
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commercial entities, irrespective of their specific corporate form or structure, or
characterization as a matter of national law of States of domicile.
(b)
“Involved”:
12.
OHCHR identified as
“involved”,
for purposes of this report, substantial and
material business activity that had a clear and direct link to one or more of the listed
activities, encompassing the following business forms:
A business enterprise itself engaged in a listed activity in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory;
A parent company owning a majority share of a subsidiary engaged in a listed
activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Where a business enterprise
owns a minority share in a subsidiary that business enterprise is not considered
to be
“involved” for the purposes of this report;
A business enterprise granting a relevant franchise or license to a franchisee or
licensee engaged in a listed activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
13.
In temporal terms, OHCHR required such involvement to have been during the
period 1 January 2018 to 1 August 2019.
(c) Listed activities:
14.
As noted in resolution 31/36, the Council defined the specific activities to be
reflected in the database by reference to those activities set out by the fact-finding
mission in paragraph 96 of its report (see paragraph 6 above).
15.
Due to the specific formulation of certain listed activities, the following
additional considerations were taken into account:
Listed activities (a), (b), (c), and (d);
activities of “supply”:
16.
Activities listed in categories (a), (b) and (d) require
acts of “supply” of
equipment, services or materials for certain purposes, uses or effects.
3
The notion of
“supply”
was considered to encompass, as relevant, processes of manufacture, provision
and/or distribution of equipment, services and/or materials that, have been employed for
those purposes, uses or effects.
17.
In relation to listed activity (c), the formulation of the listed activity is phrased
more restrictively, identifying that the relevant equipment must be specifically supplied
“for” the
particular activities of demolition or destruction of the forms of property set
out in the activity (c).
Listed activity (g):
18.
Listed activity (g) covers the use of natural resources, in particular water and
land, for business purposes. As such, it is considered to include business enterprises that
are physically located on land in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in addition to those
that benefit commercially from the use of natural resources located in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory, irrespective of such business enterprises’ physical presence.
3
(a) The supply of equipment and materials facilitating the construction and the expansion of
settlements and the wall, and associated infrastructures; (b) The supply of surveillance and
identification equipment for settlements, the wall and checkpoints directly linked with
settlements; (c) The supply of equipment for the demolition of housing and property, the
destruction of agricultural farms, greenhouses, olive groves and crops; and (d) The supply of
security services, equipment and materials to enterprises operating in settlements.
4
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D.
Methods of work
19.
In executing the present mandate pursuant to resolution 31/36, OHCHR applied
a comprehensive methodology, as initially outlined in its previous report. OHCHR’s
work in producing the database, in full compliance with resolution 31/36, is not, and
does not purport to constitute, a judicial or quasi-judicial process of any kind or legal
characterization of the listed activities or business enterprises’ involvement therein.
Rather, the Council requested factual determinations as to whether businesses
enterprises were involved in the listed activities.
4
20.
OHCHR’s contact directly
with all screened business enterprises, in consultation
with the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations
and other business enterprises, offered procedural fairness and facilitated consistency of
conclusions reached.
21.
Following the previous report, further analysis of the 206 business enterprises
assessed resulted in 188 business enterprises for additional consideration. Enterprises
were set aside, in particular, due to insufficient factual basis in the submissions or in the
public domain to support the contentions of involvement in the listed activities. These
business enterprises were contacted between September 2017 and October 2018.
22.
In a letter sent to each of the 188 business enterprises, OHCHR informed them
of the listed activities that they appeared to be involved in, based on the totality of
information reviewed by it, and set out the basic facts of the
enterprises’
alleged
involvement in the listed activity or activities. Business enterprises were requested to
respond in writing within 60 days with an initial response, providing any clarification
or update of the information. Business enterprises were informed that they could request
that the substance of their written responses be kept confidential; a number of enterprises
made such a request.
5
In some cases, lengthier processes of dialogue developed between
OHCHR and business enterprises. In other cases, no response was received.
23.
At the conclusion of this process, on the basis of the totality of information
available to it, OHCHR assessed against the definitions of the three necessary elements
stated in paragraph 9 above, whether, as a factual matter, the standard of reasonable
grounds to believe involvement in the listed activities had been met.
E.
OHCHR engagement with business enterprises
24.
OHCHR engaged with business enterprises throughout all stages of its work on
the database. The direct communication facilitated an exchange of information and
offered business enterprises opportunity to provide views on the alleged involvement in
listed activities. In several instances, business enterprises confirmed that there was no
involvement in the listed activities. These business enterprises were not included in the
database. In some cases, business enterprises requested further information on the
methodology and mandate, to which OHCHR responded.
25.
As noted in OHCHR’s previous report (A/HRC/37/39), responses from business
enterprises included those that (a) objected to the mandate of OHCHR and declined to
provide a substantive response to the information presented; (b) rejected the information
presented and objected to being included in the database; (c) confirmed the information
presented concerning their involvement in one or more of the listed activities, and
4
5
A/HRC/37/39, para. 8.
A/HRC/37/39, para. 20.
5
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provided explanations; and/or (d) provided updated information that indicated they were
no longer involved in one or more of the listed activities.
26.
OHCHR responded to business enterprises addressing queries as to
the Council’s
mandate, and, as necessary, further detailed information presented concerning their
alleged involvement in listed activities.
27.
Business enterprises that met the standard of proof for inclusion in the database
were each informed in writing, and of the procedure by which they could be removed.
OHCHR invited enterprises to continue their engagement with the Office in line with
the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
6
28.
OHCHR re-screened all business enterprises prior to the submission of this report
to confirm that the activity for which they were included in the database met the
applicable standard of proof, during the relevant temporal period.
29.
A number of business enterprises communicated with OHCHR that they were no
longer involved in the relevant activity, or that the involvement was of a different nature
outside the scope of mandate. In these cases, OHCHR assessed the information provided
and discontinued consideration of those business enterprises no longer assessed as
involved in the listed activities.
30.
Where business enterprises did not provide additional information or
clarifications, OHCHR relied on desk research to assess the information received from
Member States and stakeholders.
F.
Database of business enterprises
31.
OHCHR identified that 112 of the 188 business enterprises considered for
inclusion in the database met the required standard of reasonable grounds to believe
involvement in one or more of the listed activities. These are set out immediately
following. Seventy-six of the 188 business enterprises did not meet the standard of
proof, and were not included in the database.
7
(a) Business enterprises involved in listed activities
No.
Business Enterprise
Category of
listed activity
State concerned
1
2
3
4
Afikim Public Transportation Ltd.
Airbnb Inc.
American Israeli Gas Corporation Ltd.
Amir Marketing and Investments in
Agriculture Ltd.
Amos Hadar Properties and Investments Ltd.
Angel Bakeries
E
E
E, G
G
Israel
United States
Israel
Israel
5
6
G
E, G
Israel
Israel
6
7
Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United
Nations “Protect,
Respect and Remedy” Framework, (2011).
With respect to three listed activities (c), (i) and (j), OHCHR did not identify any business
enterprise satisfying the standard of reasonable grounds to believe involvement consistent with
the definitional approach set out above.
6
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7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Archivists Ltd.
Ariel Properties Group
Ashtrom Industries Ltd.
Ashtrom Properties Ltd.
Avgol Industries 1953 Ltd.
Bank Hapoalim B.M.
Bank Leumi Le-Israel B.M.
Bank of Jerusalem Ltd.
Beit Haarchiv Ltd.
Bezeq, the Israel Telecommunication
Corp Ltd.
G
E
G
G
G
E, F
E, F
E, F
G
E, G
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Booking.com B.V.
C Mer Industries Ltd.
Café Café Israel Ltd.
Caliber 3
Cellcom Israel Ltd.
Cherriessa Ltd.
Chish Nofei Israel Ltd.
Citadis Israel Ltd.
Comasco Ltd.
Darban Investments Ltd.
Delek Group Ltd.
Delta Israel
Dor Alon Energy in Israel 1988 Ltd.
Egis Rail
Egged, Israel Transportation Cooperative
Society Ltd.
Energix Renewable Energies Ltd.
EPR Systems Ltd.
Extal Ltd.
Expedia Group Inc.
Field Produce Ltd.
E
B
E, G
D, G
E, G
G
G
E, G
A
G
E, G
G
E, G
E
E
Netherlands
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
France
Israel
32
33
34
35
36
G
E, G
G
E
G
Israel
Israel
Israel
United States
Israel
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37
38
39
40
41
Field Produce Marketing Ltd.
First International Bank of Israel Ltd.
Galshan Shvakim Ltd.
General Mills Israel Ltd.
Hadiklaim Israel Date Growers Cooperative
Ltd.
Hot Mobile Ltd.
Hot Telecommunications Systems Ltd.
Industrial Buildings Corporation Ltd.
Israel Discount Bank Ltd.
Israel Railways Corporation Ltd.
Italek Ltd.
JC Bamford Excavators Ltd.
Jerusalem Economy Ltd.
Kavim Public Transportation Ltd.
Lipski Installation and Sanitation Ltd.
Matrix IT Ltd.
Mayer Davidov Garages Ltd.
Mekorot Water Company Ltd.
Mercantile Discount Bank Ltd.
Merkavim Transportation Technologies Ltd.
Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd.
Modi'in Ezrachi Group Ltd.
Mordechai Aviv Taasiot Beniyah 1973 Ltd.
Motorola Solutions Israel Ltd.
Municipal Bank Ltd.
Naaman Group Ltd.
Nof Yam Security Ltd.
G
E, F
E, D
G
G
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
E
E
G
E, F
G, H
E, G
A
G
E
G
E, G
E, G
G
E, F
E
E, F
E, D
G
B
F
E, G
E, D
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
United Kingdom
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
64
65
66
Ofertex Industries 1997 Ltd.
Opodo Ltd.
Bank Otsar Ha-Hayal Ltd.
G
E
E, F
Israel
United Kingdom
Israel
8
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67
68
69
70
71
72
Partner Communications Company Ltd.
Paz Oil Company Ltd.
Pelegas Ltd.
Pelephone Communications Ltd.
Proffimat S.R. Ltd.
Rami Levy Chain Stores Hashikma Marketing
2006 Ltd.
Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing
Communication Ltd.
Re/Max Israel
Shalgal Food Ltd.
Shapir Engineering and Industry Ltd.
Shufersal Ltd.
Sonol Israel Ltd.
Superbus Ltd.
Supergum Industries 1969 Ltd.
Tahal Group International B.V.
TripAdvisor Inc.
Twitoplast Ltd.
Unikowsky Maoz Ltd.
YES
Zakai Agricultural Know-how and inputs Ltd.
ZF Development and Construction
ZMH Hammermand Ltd.
Zorganika Ltd.
Zriha Hlavin Industries Ltd.
(b) Business enterprises involved as parent companies
E, G
E, G
G
E, G
G
E, G
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
73
E, G
Israel
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
E
G
E, G
E, G
E, G
E
G
E
E
G
G
E
G
G
G
G
G
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Netherlands
United States
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
No. Business Enterprise
91
92
93
94
Alon Blue Square Israel Ltd.
Alstom S.A.
Altice Europe N.V.
Amnon Mesilot Ltd.
Category of listed
activity
E, G
E, G
E
E
State concerned
Israel
France
Netherlands
Israel
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95
96
97
98
99
Ashtrom Group Ltd.
Booking Holdings Inc.
Brand Industries Ltd.
Delta Galil Industries Ltd.
eDreams ODIGEO S.A.
G
E
G
G
E
E
E
E, F
G
G
G
G
E
E
B
E, D
G
Israel
United States
Israel
Israel
Luxembourg
France
Israel
Israel
United States
Israel
Israel
Thailand
Netherlands
Israel
United States
Israel
Israel
100 Egis S.A.
101 Electra Ltd.
102 Export Investment Company Ltd.
103 General Mills Inc.
104 Hadar Group
105 Hamat Group Ltd.
106 Indorama Ventures P.C.L.
107 Kardan N.V.
108 Mayer's Cars and Trucks Co. Ltd.
109 Motorola Solutions Inc.
110 Natoon Group
111 Villar International Ltd.
(c) Business enterprises involved as licensors or franchisors
No. Business Enterprise
112 Greenkote P.L.C.
Category of listed
activity
State concerned
G
United Kingdom
G.
Removal from the database
32.
A business enterprise may provide information indicating that it is no longer
involved in the relevant listed activity. Where there are reasonable grounds to believe
that, based on the totality of the information available, the business enterprise is ceasing
or no longer involved in the relevant activity, the business enterprise would be removed
from the database.
H.
Recommendation
33.
Resolution 31/36 contemplated that the database be updated annually.
OHCHR would recommend that the Human Rights Council establish a group of
independent experts, with a time-bound mandate, to report directly to the Council
for such a purpose.
10