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Businesses have an obligation to respect human rights
• YOUR report (Town hall land sales allowed £140m contract to fall into lap of waste giant, April 16) raises searching questions about the way by which Veolia was rewarded a seven-year extension of its waste disposal contract.
Veolia’s parent company, a French multinational, is a leading partner in a consortium which was contracted to build a light railway system linking Israel to Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem.
The British government has repeatedly stated that Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank contravene international law. The railway project will exclusively serve Israeli settlers and be built on land confiscated from the inhabitant Palestinians
The OECD guidance for multinationals states that enterprises should “respect the human rights of those affected by their activities consistent with the host government’s international obligations and commitments”
The UN Global compact (2000), of which Veolia is a member, makes a similar point regarding businesses’ obligations to respect human rights.
I raised these issues in an email sent to all Camden councillors (March 30), asking them to reconsider the decision to extend Veolia’s contract.
The Camden Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (of which I am a member) applied for deputation to put the case concerning Veolia to the full meeting of the council on April 20. Unfortunately the deputation was refused by the mayor.
It was not considered that the actions of Veolia in East Jerusalem and Maale Adumin settlement were matters in which the local authority had functions or which directly affected the area over which Camden had jurisdiction.
I find the mayor’s refusal quite inconceivable.
Perhaps Camden should take a leaf from other municipal bodies in Europe and Britain, such as Stockholm, Bordeaux and Sandwell which exclude any bidding by Veolia, or Dublin, which refused to provide training for Veolia operators in the West Bank as well as financial bodies in Oslo and Holland which have recently decided to divest from Veolia following an intensive campaign by local residents and human rights NGOs.
Ruth Tenne
Goldhurst Terrace, NW6
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