G4S told to act on protecting human rights


June 11, 2015
Sarah Benton

This posting has these items:
1) Leigh Day: Government trade body finds G4S violating human rights obligations towards Palestinians, statement from the lawyers who represented LPHR;
2) LPHR: LPHR statement responding to G4S’ public statement on being found in breach of three key human rights obligations;
3) G4S: OECD Final Statement on G4S’s activities in Israel, happy day for G4S;
4) Links, to reports and financial press coverage;


Protesters outside G4S AGM, London, 2013. Photo from BDS.


Government trade body finds G4S violating human rights obligations towards Palestinians

UK Government trade body finds G4S continues to violate human rights obligations through its business operations in Israel and occupied Palestinian territories

Press release from Leigh Day
June 09, 2015

British security firm, G4S has been told by a UK Government trade body that it is continuing to violate human rights obligations under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (OECD Guidelines) .

These violations arise from G4S’ business operations in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) provide guidelines for multinational enterprises for responsible business conduct which governments encourage companies to observe wherever they operate.

Following a complaint by the legal charity Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights (LPHR), represented by lawyers Leigh Day, the UK National Contact Point (NCP) accepted that further examination was required under the OECD Guidelines in relation to the activities of UK registered G4S PLC and its Israeli subsidiaries, G4S Secure Solutions (Israel) Limited and G4S Security Technologies (Israel) Limited.

Today, the UK National Contact Point (NCP) published the results of their investigation into the complaint. They found significant failures by G4S in its overarching obligations to ‘respect human rights’; as well as the obligation to ‘prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to its business operations’ in the region.

The NCP findings arise from G4S’ supply, installation and maintenance of equipment at facilities and operations in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) that are associated with violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

These include contracts to service and maintain baggage scanning equipment and metal detectors used at military checkpoints, including some located along the unlawful Separation Barrier/Wall; and contracts to install and maintain security systems within Israeli Prison Service facilities.

The NCP accepted LPHR’s comprehensive evidence of material Israeli human rights violations at checkpoints and Israeli Prison Service facilities, including: substantial restrictions on Palestinians freedom of movement, with associated adverse impacts on the right to health, education, work and standard of living, caused by Israeli military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank.

These include checkpoints located along the unlawful Separation Barrier/Wall; and human rights violations against Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli Prison Service facilities in Israel and the OPT.

They include reports of torture and/or cruel and degrading treatment, solitary confinement and excessive use of administrative detention. Palestinian children are among those documented to have experienced human rights violations.

The detention of children in Israeli Prison Service facilities, during which many allege being subject to torture and/or cruel and degrading treatment, is a particular concern.

The NCP has recommended G4S take the following actions to bring the British company into compliance with its human rights obligations under the OECD Guidelines:

1. Consider how to work with business partners in Israel to address the human rights violations referred to in LPHR’s complaint;
2. Communicate to shareholders and business partners in Israel the actions it is taking;
3. Implement a contract approvals process that includes assessment of human rights risks and application of mitigations (as G4S indicated an intention to do when commenting on the NCP’s Final Statement).

Tareq Shrourou, LPHR Director said: “By reason of its business relationship with the Israeli state agencies who violate international law, G4S has been found in breach of its human rights obligations under the OECD Guidelines.

“The reality is that the track record indicates the only effective action G4S can take to prevent all involvement in Israel’s serious, systemic and sustained human rights mistreatment of Palestinians is for G4S to end those business relationships with immediate effect.”

Leigh Day solicitors and Tim Cooke-Hurle of Doughty Street Chambers represented LPHR in connection with the complaint.

Shubhaa Srinivasan, partner at Leigh Day said:

“My client welcomes the NCP’s decision. It’s time for G4S to stop hiding behind Israeli State policies and actions which legitimizes violation of Palestinian human rights. The worst thing G4S can do after this finding is to continue with its operations in Israel and the OPT as if it’s ‘business as usual’ with Israeli state/agencies. G4S and other British companies like it must understand it can never be good business to be associated with such grave human rights violations. They must do everything in their power to change the way they conduct business in that part of the world.”



LPHR statement responding to G4S’ public statement on being found in breach of three key human rights obligations

London 10 June 2015

LPHR notes with concern that G4S’ public statement singularly fails to acknowledge that it has been found by the UK National Contact Point (NCP) to be in breach of three fundamental human rights obligations under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (OECD Guidelines) in relation to it operations in Israel and Palestine. Some recent media reports have, in turn, failed to accurately convey the extent of the NCP’s findings.

For the avoidance of any doubt, the relevant extracts from the NCP’s Final Statement hold:

“that [G4S’] actions are not consistent with its obligation under Chapter IV, Paragraph 3 of the OECD Guidelines to address impacts it is linked to by a business relationship…” The obligation to address impacts is part of the overall obligation to respect human rights in Chapter IV, Paragraph 1 and Chapter II, Paragraph 2. Because of this, the inconsistency with Chapter IV Paragraph 3 makes the company’s actions technically inconsistent with these provisions also.” (paragraphs 76-77 of the NCP Final Statement)

G4S’ statement, in response to the NCP’s findings, that “there is no evidence that any G4S equipment or services cause or contribute to adverse human rights impacts” is therefore disingenuously selective of the nature and scope of the NCP’s findings. Similarly, media headlines such as “G4S cleared of human rights breach in Israel” are grossly factually inaccurate and plainly misrepresent the NCP’s serious findings of human rights breaches of the OECD Guidelines.

Daniel Machover, LPHR founder and a human rights lawyer, has said: “G4S has conveniently ignored the three adverse findings made today by the NCP…Taken together with its long-standing lack of transparency about its activities in the West Bank and its unparticularised claims of being in dialogue with its Israeli counterparts, this is a further worrying indication that G4S is not taking seriously its human rights obligations under the OECD Guidelines.”

Whilst unfortunately, and as LPHR has already stated, the Final Statement is wanting in terms of clarity and, at times, logic, one area which cannot be disputed is that G4S has been found in breach of three human rights provisions of the OECD Guidelines. These provisions are informed by the United Nations Guiding Principles, which are widely respected and comprise fundamental human rights standards which companies are required to respect in their operations.

In short, the recent NCP’s final statement is very far from the ‘clean bill of health’ that has, regrettably, been suggested over recent hours. In the interests of fair and accurate reporting, it is imperative that this is accurately conveyed in any media statements and reporting going forward.



OECD Final Statement on G4S’s activities in Israel

Press release from G4S
June 09, 2015

G4S, the world’s leading security company, welcomes the Final Statement published today by the OECD’s UK National Contact Point (NCP) on the group’s business activities in Israel.

The Final Statement follows an extensive assessment by the NCP during which it has received submissions from G4S, interviewed representatives of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, examined evidence from NGOs and reviewed material provided by Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights.

In its Initial Assessment published in June 2014 the NCP concluded that there is no evidence that any G4S equipment or services cause or contribute to adverse human rights impacts and that the company carries out extensive due diligence and on-going review of the potential human rights risks of its business.

In its Final Statement published today, the NCP stated that:

The UK NCP does not find any general failure by the company to respect the human rights of the people on whose behalf the complaint is made or any failure to respect human rights in regard to its own operations.”
“The UK NCP considers that there is evidence that G4S has leverage, and could take action such as: lobbying immediate business partners and/or government and legal representatives, sharing best practice (with business partners, stakeholders and the wider sector), and committing to new practices in regard to future contracts.

In response to the NCP’s Final Statement, Debbie Walker, G4S Group Communications Director said:

G4S welcomes the findings of the UK National Contact Point and will to continue to work with customers and business partners to safeguard human rights and ethical standards in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and best practice.

Contacts: For more information please contact Nigel Fairbrass on 07799 894265 or nigel.fairbrass@g4s.com, or Matthew Magee on 07841 982838 or matthew.magee@g4s.com



Links
UK NCP final statement: Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights (LPHR) and G4S PLC, findings and recommendations

20 page pdf file, issued by Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, June 9th, 2015.

G4S cleared after probe into activities in Israel

G4S, the world’s biggest security company by market capitalisation, has been cleared of causing “adverse human rights impacts” through its business activities in Israel by a body that investigates possible guideline breaches by multi-national companies. Financial Times, June 9th 2015

G4S cleared of human rights breaches in Israel operations
Hargreaves Lansdowne, financial advisers, June 9th, 2015

G4S cleared
G4S cleared of Israel human rights breaches in Israel operations
Yahoo Finance

G4S cleared of Israel human rights breach

Nicosia Money News

© Copyright JFJFP 2024