UN adds more companies to blacklist for alleged complicity in violating Palestinian rights.
The United Nations has added nearly 70 more companies to a blacklist of firms from 11 countries that it says are complicit in violating Palestinian human rights through their business ties to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The new list spotlights companies that do business that are deemed supportive of the settlements which are considered by many to be illegal under international law.
It includes an array of companies like vendors of construction materials and earth movers as well as providers of security travel financial services.
With the 68 firms added, the list now contains 158 companies, the vast majority Israeli. The others are from the United States, Canada, China, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
The blacklist stemmed from a vote by the UN Human Rights Council which has no legal authority or ability to force companies to act.
Its main goal is to name and shame businesses with ties to the settlements.
It is not clear what impact inclusion on the blacklist has had in the companies’ bottom lines.