Reacting to the announcement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights of delay of issuing the report and database on firms linked to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi called for the release of the database without any delay.

“The Palestinian leadership is alarmed and disappointed by the UN High Commissioner’s failure to release the long overdue database exposing firms linked to the illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem,” said Ashrawi in a statement.

“This new delay is an unacceptable disservice to the standing of international human rights standards, including corporate responsibility to respect human rights and obligation not to profiteer from violations of human rights. It also sends an alarming message of acquiescence to the mounting politicized pressure that has been levied on the Council with the intent of shielding Israel and its corporate accomplices from legal and moral accountability for rampant and grave human rights violations.”

Ashrawi said the Human Rights Council mandated the disclosure of companies and firms that have profited from the prolific human rights abuses in Palestine and the occupied Syrian Golan, particularly those involved in the illegal Israeli settlement regime.

“We expect the High Commissioner of Human Rights to discharge this mandate expeditiously and without prejudice. We expect her not to succumb to political pressure and release the list without further delay,” she said.

“The issue of corporate responsibility to respect human rights is neither a novelty nor an anomaly in the rules-based international system. In fact, this issue has enjoyed worldwide consensus for years.

The situation in Palestine is not an exception to this moral and legal responsibility,” said the Ashrawi speaking on behalf of the PLO.

“Human rights violators must not enjoy protection from accountability.

The Palestinian leadership will continue to work with international partners and the human rights community to ensure companies profiteering from the grave violations of our people’s human rights are exposed and held accountable.”