High Commissioner for Human Rights

Palais Wilson – United Nations

Geneva, Switzerland

March 18, 2019

Re: Release of the UN database on business activities in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory in the current Human Rights Council session

Dear Ms. Bachelet,

The undersigned organizations are writing to express deep concern at the recent letter you wrote to the President of the Human Rights Council ('the Council') seeking further delay in fulfillment of the UN Human Rights Council mandate in resolution 31/36 to “produce a database of all business enterprises involved” in Israeli settlements.   

We note that Council resolution 31/36, which established the mandate for your Office to produce the database, requested that it “be updated annually, and [for your Office] to transmit the data therein in the form of a report to the Council at its thirty-fourth session.”   Continued delay in releasing the database would inhibit the Council’s ability to provide transparency to the Palestinian people, all member-states, as well as investors that require authoritative sources of data on which to make sound investment decisions.

Additional delay also does a great disservice to the work of the Council’s independent fact-finding mission to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the human rights of the Palestinian people. The findings of the fact-finding mission were the foundation of resolution 31/36, and the Council’s request to your Office to produce the database.  We recall that the fact-finding mission’s report found that “the existence of the settlements has had a heavy toll on the rights of the Palestinians. Their rights to freedom of self-determination, non-discrimination, freedom of movement, equality, due process, fair trial, not to be arbitrarily detained, liberty and security of person, freedom of expression, freedom of access to places of worship, education, water, housing, adequate standard of living, property, access to natural resources and effective remedy are being violated consistently and on a daily basis.” Furthermore, and particularly pertinent in the context of the database, the international fact-finding mission also highlighted that “some private entities have enabled, facilitated and profited from the construction and growth of the settlements, either directly or indirectly.”

For your office to now further delay release of the database would severely undermine the coming to fruition of long-awaited measure of transparency regarding business activities – activities that the Council has already established help maintain and perpetuate illegal settlements.  In addition to serving as a practical tool to end business support for illegal settlements, the database will also constitute an important example of a measure for advancing normative clarity around the responsibilities of businesses operating in other areas under occupation.

Your role as High Commissioner is pivotal in realizing human rights, even in the most challenging of situations and locations.  We urge you now to exercise your notable experience in diplomacy and political leadership to ensure that there is no further delay in releasing the database. In doing so, you will be working to support the long-standing efforts to end the ongoing human rights violations that Palestinians experience every day.

Yours sincerely,

1. ADDAMEER Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
2. African Coalition for Corporate Accountability (ACCA)
3. Al Haq
4. Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights
5. Aldameer Association for Human Rights
6. Al-Nakba Awareness Project
7. ALTSEAN-Burma
8. American Friends Service Committee
9. Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights
10. Amigos de la Tierra América Latina y Caribe
11. Amnesty International USA
12. Arab American Association of Central Virginia
13. Atlanta Jewish Voice for Peace
14. Azzad Asset Management
15. BADIL Resource Center For Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights
16. BDS-LA for Justce in Plaestinf
17. Biosocial Research Foundation
18. Broederlijk Delen
19. Buliisa Initiative for Rural Development Organisation (BIRUDO)
20. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
21. CCFD - Terre Solidaire
22. Center for Constitutional Rights
23. Centre de Recherche sur l'Environnement, la Démocratie et des Droits de l'Homme
24. Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa
25. Chico Palestine Action Group
26. Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
27. CIDSE
28. Comité Ambiental en Defensa de la Vida
29. Committee for Palestinian Rights (Howard County, Maryland)
30. Corporate Accountability Lab
31. Corvallis Palestine Solidarity
32. DCI - Defense for Children International - Palestine
33. Delawareans for Palestinian human Rights (DelPHR)
34. Dynamique des Femmes des Mines
35. Endorois Welfare Council
36. Episcopal Peace Fellowship Palestine Israel Netowrk
37. Freedom Forward
38. Friends of Palestine WI
39. Friends of the Earth International
40. Green Mountain Solidarity With Palestine
41. Hurryyat - Center for Defense of Liberties and Human Rights
42. International Federation for Human Rights- FIDH
43. Israel Palestine Mission Network Presbyterian Church PC(USA)
44. Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center
45. Jewish Voice for Peace - Bay Area
46. Jewish Voice for Peace Boston
47. Jewish Voice for Peace KC
48. Jewish Voice for Peace, member of Bay Area chapter
49. Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
50. Keep Hope Alive Bay Area
51. LA Jews for Peace
52. Labor for Palestine
53. Madison-Rafah Sister City Project
54. Maine Voices for Palestilnian Rights
55. Middle East Children's Alliance
56. MN Break the Bonds
57. Mutinta Hadunka
58. N.H. Veterans for Peace
59. National Students for Justice in Palestine
60. Observatoire d'etudes et d'appui a la responsabilite sociale et environnementale ( OEARSE )
61. Observatorio Ciudadano
62. Otros Mundos AC
63. Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum
64. Palestinian American Community Center
65. Palestinian Center for Human Rights
66. Palestinian Rights Committee of Upper Hudson Peace Action
67. Pax Christi International
68. People for Palestinian - Israeli Justice
69. Plateforme des ONG françaises pour la Palestine - Platfom of French NGO's for Palestine
70. Project on Organizing, Development, Education, and Research (PODER)
71. Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice
72. Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies
73. REDES-Amigos de la Tierra (FoE) Uruguay
74. Richmonders for Peace in Israel-Palestine
75. Sacramento Area Peace Action
76. Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights
77. Santa feans for justice in Palestine
78. Society for International Development (SID)
79. Spokane Veterans For Peace Chapter #035
80. Students for Justice in Palestine at UTSA
81. The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO)
82. The Independent Commission for Human Rights (Ombudsman Office)
83. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights
84. Trócaire
85. U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
86. United Church of Christ Palestine Israel Network
87. United Church of Christ Palestine Israel Nitwotk
88. United Methodist Upper NY AC Task Force on Peace with Justice in Palestine/Israel
89. United Methodists for Kairos Response
90. United Methodists' Holy Land Task Force
91. University United Methodist Church
92. USA Palestine Mental Health Network
93. WESPAC Foundation, Inc
94. Women Against Military Madness
95. Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
96. WoMin African Alliance