Joint Statement: UK corporate accountability network reiterates UN call for legal consequences for companies involved in human rights violations against the Palestinian people

27 August 2025: The undersigned 23 civil society organisations, dedicated to ending corporate abuse of human rights, labour rights and the environment, welcome the new UN report, From economy of occupation to economy of genocide, written by the Special Rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese.(1) The report highlights the failure of corporations to respect international human rights and humanitarian law by undertaking business activities that sustain Israel’s illegal occupation and the ongoing genocide in Gaza. This report builds on decades of previous research highlighting actual and potential adverse human rights impacts by businesses in the occupied Palestinian territory.(2)

The Corporate Justice Coalition has long called for the UK Government to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)(3) through binding domestic legislation that would require UK companies and the public sector to take all reasonable steps to prevent harm in their operations and value chains, including by carrying out human rights and environmental due diligence, and deliver consequences for those failing to do so. Despite this, the UK government continues to rely on voluntary action(4) – at great costs to workers, families and the environment here in the UK and around the world, including in the occupied Palestinian territory.

As the Special Rapporteur emphasises, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights under the UNGPs exists independently from and in addition to the State duty to protect human rights.(5) Corporations are expected to conduct periodic human rights due diligence and, in the context of armed conflict or occupation, heightened human rights due diligence.(6) As the Special Rapporteur points out, any corporate entity conducting proper human rights due diligence should have ended its involvement with the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory long ago to avoid profiting from and enabling human rights violations and crimes.(7) Corporate activities in these contexts can never be ‘neutral’ and a failure to act in accordance with heightened risks can lead to complicity and criminal liability under international law.(8)

Referencing the prohibition of the use of force and the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, the International Court of Justice found Israel’s presence in the entirety of the Palestinian territory, occupied since 1967, to be illegal.(9) The Court further found that Israel’s discriminatory laws and policies violate international law on preventing, prohibiting and eradicating racial segregation and apartheid.(10)

Corporations may be found to have knowingly contributed to the violation of the Palestinian right to self-determination; the annexation of Palestinian territory; maintenance of an unlawful occupation and therefore the crime of aggression and associated human rights violations; crimes of apartheid and genocide; and other ancillary crimes and violations.(11)

Corporations and individuals can be held to account in both domestic and international courts for violating international humanitarian law or international criminal law. For example, individual executives in charge of corporations can be held criminally liable before international tribunals, such as the International Criminal Court, for the actions of their corporations.(12) In domestic courts, corporate accountability can be enforced by applying international law, domestic criminal laws, and adjacent domestic legislation such as proceeds of crime legislation.(13) Liability can also arise for complicity in international crimes through the provision of logistical, financial or operational support.(14)

The UN report exposes the role of military, tech, building and construction, extraction, water and agriculture, retail, tourism, finance and academic sectors in causing, contributing to or being directly linked to human rights violations, international crimes and environmental destruction. Importantly, the Special Rapporteur’s report singles out specific UK entities for their reported involvement in activities related to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory or genocide in Gaza, building on and complementing the work of others, including years of work by Palestinian researchers and a UN database which records firms involved in relevant activities.(15)

As well as failing to hold UK entities accused of involvement in Israel’s occupation and the genocide in Gaza to account, the UK’s broader trade relationship with Israel has also helped to normalise violations of international law. The UK Government continues to allow UK firms to trade with and invest in businesses based in illegal settlements on the West Bank. These economic relations help to make such enterprises profitable, boost the settlement economy, maintain the system of apartheid, and sustain Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Illegal Israeli settlements and outposts, and the policy that drives them, are inextricably linked to numerous human rights abuses and environmental destruction. This includes, among many others, the demolition of Palestinian homes,(16) the restriction of movement for Palestinians to access other villages and farmland by blocking roads and installing checkpoints;(17) the appropriation of natural resources, including land and water, to the detriment of Palestinians;(18) the destruction of Palestinian agriculture and environment through settlement pollution, wastewater and hazardous waste transferred from Israel;(19) and settler violence against Palestinians.(20)

The UK has failed to suspend, or even review, its existing trade agreement with the Israeli state, despite the text of the deal itself adopting “respect for human rights” as an “essential element”.(21) The International Court of Justice found that all states are under an obligation to take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory.(22) The UK’s failure to take action to address its trade relations with the Israeli state contributes to the impunity enjoyed by Israel with a lack of significant consequences for breaches of international law.

The undersigned organisations reiterate the Special Rapporteur’s calls to Member States and corporate entities to comply with their existing obligations under international law. The UNGPs must urgently be implemented into binding law to ensure that human rights are better protected against violations by businesses and that access to remedy is improved. Additionally, the corporate entities and individuals who are complicit in the atrocities committed against the Palestinian people must be held to account. The continued violation of Palestinian rights and any action enabling or profiting from it has to come to an immediate end.

The UK Government must:

(a) Impose an arms embargo on Israel covering any products, technology and services, including dual-use items and civilian heavy machinery, where there’s a risk they could be used to assist Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory or its genocidal attacks on Gaza;

(b)Ban trade and economic relations with and investment in Israel’s illegal settlements, and suspend the UK-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement;

(c) Expand sanctions, including asset freezes, on all entities and individuals involved in activities that may endanger the Palestinians;

(d)  Enforce accountability, ensuring that corporate entities and executives within UK jurisdiction face legal consequences for any involvement in serious violations of international law including benefiting from the proceeds of crime;

(e)  Adopt a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act to bring the UNGPs into binding legislation and improve access to remedy for those impacted by corporate human rights and environmental abuses in the UK and around the world, including the occupied Palestinian territory.

UK corporate entities must:

(a) Promptly cease all activities that cause or contribute to human rights violations and international crimes against the Palestinian people, and terminate business relationships directly linked to such violations in accordance with international standards applicable to companies.

Signed:

1. Amnesty International

2. AmosTrust

3. Anti-Slavery International

4. Business & Human Rights ResourceCentre

5. Campaign Against Arms Trade(CAAT)

6. Corporate Justice Coalition

7. Corporate Watch

8. Earthsight 19.

9. Environmental Justice Foundation

10. Friends of the Earth (England, Walesand Northern Ireland)

11. Global Justice Now

12. Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)

13. 13.GlobalWitness

14. International Centre for Justice for Palestinians

15. ICAHD UK

16. Labour Behind the Label

17. London Mining Network

18. Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID)

19. Scottish Fair Trade Forum

20. The Circle

21. Trade Justice Movement

22. Trócaire

23. Water Witness International

    
    

Read the full annex here References

1 UN Human Rights Council, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese: From economy of occupation to economy of genocide’ (advance edited version; 30 June 2025) UN Doc A/HRC/59/23.

2 For example: UN Human Rights Council, ‘Report of the independent international fact-finding mission to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem’ (7 February 2013) UN Doc A/HRC/22/63; Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (Mandate of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises), ‘Statement on the implications of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in the context of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory’ (6 June 2014); UN Human Rights Council, ‘Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Database of all business enterprises involved in the activities detailed in paragraph 96 of the report of the independent international fact-finding mission to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem’ (1 February 2018) UN DOC A/HRC/37/39; UN Human Rights Council, ‘Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Database of all business enterprises involved in the activities detailed in paragraph 96 of the report of the independent international fact-finding mission to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem’ (28 February 2020) UN DOC A/HRC/43/71; Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘OHCHR update of database of all business enterprises involved in the activities detailed in paragraph 96 of the report of the independent international fact-finding mission to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem’ (30 June 2023).

3 UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011) UN Doc HR/PUB/11/04 (UNGPs).

4 Question for Department for Business and Trade by John McDonnell (UIN 54597, tabled on 30 May 2025; answered on 9 June 2025).

5 UN Human Rights Council, ‘From economy of occupation to economy of genocide’ (n 1) Annex paras 7 and 39.

6 ibid Annex para 10; UNGPs principle

7, 17, 20.7 UN Human Rights Council, ‘From economy of occupation to economy of genocide’ (n 1) paras 3 and 92. 

8 ibid Annex paras 16-17.

9 Legal Consequences Arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (Advisory Opinion; 2024) paras 261-264.

10 ibid paras 226-229.

11 UN Human Rights Council, ‘From economy of occupation to economy of genocide’ (n 1) para 20.

12 ibid Annex para 19.

13 ibid Annex paras 22-29.

14 UN Human Rights Council, ‘From economy of occupation to economy of genocide’ (n 1) Annex paras 17 -21.

15 Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘Database of Business Enterprises Pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolutions 31/36 and 53/25’ available on <www.ohchr.org/en/business/bhr- database> (accessed 8 August 2025).

16 UN General Assembly, ‘Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan’ (12 September 2024) UN Doc A/79/347 paras 39-40.

17 ibid para 47.

18 UN Human Rights Council, ‘ Report of the United National Hight Commissioner: Allocation of water resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem’ (15 October 2021) UN Doc A/HRC/48/43; UN General Assembly, ‘ Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel (14 September 2022) paras 35-39; Legal Consequences Arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (n 9) paras 126-129.

19 UN General Assembly, ‘Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan’ (12 September 2024) UN Doc A/79/347 para 49; UN General Assembly, ‘ Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel (14 September 2022) paras 72, 74; Legal Consequences Arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (n 9) paras 130.

20 UN Human Rights Council, ‘Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan’ (15 March 2023) paras 36-48; Legal Consequences Arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (n 9) paras 149-154.

21 The provisions of the EU-Israel Trade Agreements concerning human rights are incorporated into the UK- Israel Agreement, mutatis mutandis, without modification. Accordingly, the UK-Israel Agreement provides that respect for democratic principles and human rights constitute an essential element of the Agreement. 

22 Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (Advisory Opinion) 2024 para 278.

23 Mandates of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises et al, ‘BAE Systems’ (17 May 2014) AL OTH 41/2024 available on <https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=28891> (accessed 20 August 2025).

24 UN Human Rights Council, ‘Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Database of all business enterprises involved in the activities detailed in paragraph 96 of the report of the independent international fact-finding mission to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem’ (28 February 2020) UN DOC A/HRC/43/71; Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘OHCHR update of database of all business enterprises involved in the activities detailed in paragraph 96 of the report of the independent international fact- finding mission to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem’ (30 June 2023).

25 UN Human Rights Council, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese: From economy of occupation to economy of genocide’ (advance edited version; 30 June 2025) UN Doc A/HRC/59/23.