Veolia in Israel: Veolia Environnement
is a French multinational company that profits directly from the Israeli occupation of
Palestinian territory. It holds full control of Veolia Environnement Israel,
which is actively involved in Israeli construction on Occupied Palestinian
lands providing services to the illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied
Palestinian Territories.
Jerusalem Light Rail Project: Veolia has been
involved in the construction and operation of a light
rail linking illegal Israeli settlements in East
Jerusalem with Israel for many years. The light rail is
a major infrastructure project serving illegal
settlements; it therefore normalises the occupation
The UN Global Compact
Since 2002 Veolia
Environnement has been a member of the United
Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest
corporate citizenship initiative. The Compact asks
companies to embrace, support and enact a set of
ten core principles. The first two core principles state
that businesses should:
Principle 1: Support and respect the
protection
of
internationally
proclaimed human rights; and
Principle 2: Make sure that they are
not complicit in human rights
abuses.
Resources:
Palestinian BDS Movement
www.bdsmovement.net
Who Profits? The Israeli Occupation Industry
www.whoprofits.org
UN Global Compact www.unglobalcompact.org
and makes the illegal Israeli settlements an
increasingly permanent aspect of the landscape,
undermining chances of a just peace for the
Palestinian and Israeli people. In April 2010 the UN
Human Rights Council declared the Jerusalem Light
Rail and its operation to be illegal (A/HRC/RES/13/7
of 14 April 2010).
The BIN VEOLIA CAMPAIGN AUSTRALIA strongly
urges that Australian businesses, Local Councils, and
Local/ State/Federal Government authorities:
1. Recognise that Veolia is involved in business
activities which support and extend the illegal Israeli
occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories,
and which make Veolia complicit in Israel’s violations
of United Nations Resolutions and international law;
2. Ensure that your good corporate citizenship
principles are not compromised by rewarding Veolia’s
complicity in human rights abuses.
3. Act to ensure that no new contracts or renewal of
any existing contracts be signed with Veolia whilst
this company is complicit in Israeli breaches of
international law, so long as refusing to enter such
contracts would not be in breach of any relevant local
or national legislation.
The Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949):
“The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
“...businesses that are profiting from the Israeli settlement enterprise should be boycotted, until they bring their operations
into line with international human rights and humanitarian law and standards. ...In short, businesses should not breach international
humanitarian law provisions. Nor should they be complicit in any breaches. If they do, they may be subject to criminal or civil
liability...”
– Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, 25 October 2012
(UN OHCHR Media Centre)
BIN VEOLIA CAMPAIGN AUSTRALIA
www.binveoliacampaignau.wordpress.com | binveolia@hotmail.com | Twitter @bvcaustralia
02/2013