UN report on companies with settlement ties delayed

Israel denounces attempt at creating a blacklist

GENEVA (Reuters) – A United Nations report on establishing a database of companies with business interests in Israeli settlements in the West Bank is set to be delayed until later this year, diplomats and activists said on Friday.

The UN human rights office had been due to present its first report on the politically charged issue at a session that opens on February 27, which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is also due to address.

But the report is not ready and will be deferred for many months, at least until September, the sources said, adding that an announcement was expected on Monday.

“There is a need for more time, it is a very complex issue,” a Western diplomat told Reuters. “You need to have a clear vision of how you list the companies, what are the exact criteria.”

The issue is sensitive because companies appearing in such a database could be targeted for boycotts or divestment aimed at stepping up pressure on Israel over its West Bank settlements. Goods produced there include fruit, vegetables and wine.

Israel assailed the UN Human Rights Council last March for launching the initiative, calling the database a “blacklist” and

accusing the 47-member state forum of behaving “obsessively” against Israel.

The council had voted in favor of creating the database after 32 states backed a proposal by Pakistan, while 15 abstained, including Britain, France and Germany.

The United States had no vote, but voiced strong objections. US human rights ambassador Keith Harper said at the time that the resolution was “far outside” the council’s mandate and highlighted its “one-sided nature”.

Jeremie Smith, director of the Geneva office of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, said: “We’ve heard unofficial reports that there is strong pressure by states who did not support the creation of this database to try to delay its release and bury its findings.”

The UN council said last year that businesses had “enabled, facilitated and profited” from the growth of settlements, including through investments, loans, provision of utilities and exploitation of natural resources. Some settlement products had been labeled as originating from Israel.

It called for a list of enterprises to be updated annually on the “human rights and international law violations involved in the production of settlement goods.”