What Is the UN’s Israeli-Settlements Business Database?

The UN’s Israeli-Settlements Business Database is essentially a list of businesses operating in or otherwise connected to Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem and the occupied Syrian Golan. It’s not a blacklist in the traditional sense, nor is it designed to impose sanctions. Instead, its primary purpose is to increase transparency and accountability regarding the human rights implications of business activities in these settlements. Think of it as an information tool intended to help states and businesses understand the potential human rights risks associated with these operations, aligning with their responsibilities under international law.

The Database’s Origins and Mandate

This database didn’t just appear out of nowhere; it’s the result of a specific UN resolution and a growing concern within the international community.

Genesis of the Database

The database was established by UN Human Rights Council resolution 31/36, adopted on 24 March 2016. This resolution expressed particular concern about the activities of businesses in Israeli settlements and their contribution to human rights violations. The Council asked the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to produce a report on these activities and to “update the database annually, and to transmit the data therein in the form of a report to the Human Rights Council.” So, it’s a direct mandate from the UN’s top human rights body.

What the Mandate Entails

The mandate is quite specific. The OHCHR was tasked with:

Identifying businesses involved: This involves researching companies that directly or indirectly enable, facilitate, or profit from the existence and expansion of settlements. This can include anything from providing services and infrastructure to using natural resources from the occupied territories.
Listing these businesses: The actual database is a list of these identified entities.
Explaining the methodology: The OHCHR is also required to explain how they determine a company’s involvement, which is crucial for the database’s credibility.
Reporting to the Human Rights Council: The database is updated periodically and submitted as a report to the Human Rights Council, keeping member states informed.

It’s important to stress that the OHCHR’s role is to collect and verify information, not to pass judgment or prescribe action. The database itself is the outcome of this information-gathering process.

What Constitutes “Involvement”?

Understanding what kind of business activities lead to inclusion on the database is key to grasping its purpose. It’s not just about having an office in a settlement.

Defining Business Activities

The OHCHR’s methodology outlines various types of activities that can lead to a business being identified. These categories are derived from the original Human Rights Council resolution and broader international human rights law principles. They include:

Supplying equipment and materials for the construction and expansion of settlements and the wall: This could be anything from cement manufacturers to suppliers of heavy machinery used in construction projects within settlements.
Supply of surveillance equipment and other security infrastructure: Businesses providing technology or services that maintain security around or within settlements, which can contribute to the separation and control of Palestinian populations.
Provision of services and utilities supporting settlements, including transport: This is a broad category encompassing services like public transport networks connecting settlements, electricity supply, water utilities, and communication services that specifically cater to settlement populations.
Banking and financial operations facilitating the development, expansion, or maintenance of settlements: Financial institutions providing loans, mortgages, or investment services to businesses or individuals involved in settlement activities.
Use of natural resources, in particular water and land, for business purposes: Companies that extract resources like stone, minerals, or agricultural products from land in the occupied territories for commercial gain, particularly if these operations benefit settlements or contribute to resource depletion for Palestinians.
Pollution and waste disposal impacting Palestinian populations: Businesses whose operations in or near settlements result in environmental damage that disproportionately affects Palestinian communities.
Operating in settlements, including branches or subsidiaries, and providing services to the “settlement population”: This covers a wide range of businesses, from supermarkets and petrol stations to medical clinics and schools that operate within the geographical confines of settlements and primarily serve their residents.
Use of workers from the settlements: Companies that specifically employ individuals residing in settlements, which can be seen as contributing to the economic viability and normalisation of settlements.
Provision of services to the Israeli security forces or police operating in the settlements: Businesses that support the security apparatus responsible for maintaining control and order within settlements.

These categories highlight the multifaceted ways businesses can contribute to, or benefit from, the settlement enterprise, even if their direct intention isn’t to violate human rights. The focus is on the impact of their operations.

Geographical Scope

The database specifically focuses on businesses operating in or with ties to Israeli settlements in:

The occupied Palestinian territories (oPt): This primarily refers to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The occupied Syrian Golan: This is another area occupied by Israel where settlements have been established.

It does not cover businesses operating within Israel’s internationally recognised borders. The distinction is crucial and reflects the international legal status of these territories as occupied.

The Database’s Legal and Ethical Underpinnings

The database is firmly rooted in international law and widely accepted ethical business principles.

International Law Framework

The foundation of the database rests on several key aspects of international law:

International Humanitarian Law (IHL): This body of law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibits an occupying power from transferring its own population into occupied territory. Israeli settlements are widely considered by the international community (with the exception of Israel itself) to be a violation of IHL. Businesses operating in or supporting these settlements are therefore seen as contributing to a situation that contravenes IHL.
International Human Rights Law (IHRL): This framework obliges states to respect, protect, and fulfil human rights. While businesses don’t have the same direct obligations as states, there’s a growing consensus that they have a responsibility to respect human rights, often articulated through the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Operations in settlements can be seen as contributing to or being directly implicated in human rights violations, such as restrictions on freedom of movement, arbitrary land confiscation, destruction of property, and denial of access to natural resources for Palestinians.
Security Council Resolutions: Numerous UN Security Council resolutions, such as 446 (1979), 452 (1979), 465 (1980), and notably 2334 (2016), have affirmed that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal under international law and a major impediment to peace. The database indirectly reinforces the international community’s position on the illegality of settlements.

The database doesn’t create new law; rather, it highlights how existing international law applies to business activities in a specific, contentious context.

UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)

The UNGPs, endorsed by the Human Rights Council in 2011, provide a global standard for preventing and addressing business-related human rights abuses. The database serves as a practical application of the “corporate responsibility to respect human rights.”

Due Diligence: The UNGPs recommend that businesses conduct human rights due diligence to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for how they address their human rights impacts. The database, by listing companies, essentially flags areas where enhanced due diligence is particularly critical. It suggests that operating in or with settlements carries inherent human rights risks that businesses should be aware of and actively manage.
Adverse Impacts: Businesses are expected to avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their own activities and to address such impacts when they occur. They are also expected to seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products, or services by their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts. The database highlights that involvement in settlement activities can constitute such adverse impacts or be directly linked to them.

For businesses, being listed doesn’t automatically mean they are breaking the law, but it does signal that their activities are scrutinised under the lens of human rights responsibilities and potentially contribute to a situation deemed illegal under international law.

Implications and Impact of the Database

The database isn’t a punitive measure, but it does carry significant weight and has various implications.

For Businesses on the List

For companies appearing on the list, the direct consequences are primarily reputational and financial:

Reputational Damage: Being publicly identified by a UN body as involved in activities linked to illegal settlements and potential human rights violations can significantly harm a company’s public image. This can affect consumer trust, brand loyalty, and relationships with business partners.
Investor Scrutiny: Ethical investors, pension funds, and asset managers increasingly use ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) criteria to guide their investment decisions. Inclusion on the UN database can trigger divestment campaigns, make a company less attractive to responsible investors, and increase pressure from shareholders concerned about ethical practices. Some funds have indeed divested from companies on similar lists or those with settlement ties.
Increased Due Diligence Requirements: Banks and other financial institutions may become more cautious about lending to or doing business with listed companies due to heightened compliance risks, particularly concerning anti-money laundering and responsible financing policies.
Pressure from NGOs and Activist Groups: Human rights organisations and solidarity groups often use such lists as a basis for advocacy, public campaigns, and shareholder activism, urging companies to withdraw from settlement-related activities.
No Direct Legal Sanctions: It’s important to reiterate that the UN database itself doesn’t impose legal sanctions, fines, or trade restrictions. It’s an informational tool. However, individual states or regional blocs could use this information to inform their own policies or regulations, though this is not a direct consequence of the database itself.

For States and Policymakers

For governments and international bodies, the database serves several purposes:

Informing Policy Decisions: The database provides objective, verified information that states can use to formulate their foreign policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly regarding trade, investment, and economic relations with Israeli entities operating in the occupied territories.
Encouraging Corporate Responsibility: It acts as a concrete tool for reminding states of their own obligations to ensure that businesses domiciled in their territory or under their jurisdiction do not contribute to human rights abuses abroad. States are encouraged to provide guidance to their businesses on operating responsibly in conflict-affected areas.
Promoting Transparency: By listing companies and the nature of their involvement, the database increases transparency about the economic dimensions of the occupation, allowing for more informed public debate and policy-making.
Reinforcing International Law: It subtly reinforces the international community’s stance on the illegality of settlements and the importance of adhering to international humanitarian and human rights law.

For Human Rights Advocacy

The database is a powerful resource for human rights organisations:

Targeted Advocacy: It allows NGOs to focus their advocacy efforts on specific companies and sectors, providing credible evidence for their campaigns.
Raising Awareness: It helps to educate the public and decision-makers about the specific ways in which business activities can be implicated in human rights concerns in conflict zones.
Holding to Account: While not a legal court, it serves as a form of public accountability, placing companies in the spotlight and creating pressure for them to review their operations.

Criticisms and Controversies

Metric	Description	Data/Value
Database Name	Official title of the UN database	UN’s Israeli-Settlements Business Database
Purpose	Primary objective of the database	To list companies involved in Israeli settlements in occupied territories
Established	Year the database was launched	2020
Number of Companies Listed	Total companies identified as operating in settlements	Over 100
Geographical Scope	Areas covered by the database	West Bank, East Jerusalem, Golan Heights
Types of Business Activities	Categories of business involvement	Construction, financial services, utilities, transport, agriculture
UN Body Responsible	UN entity managing the database	Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Legal Basis	UN resolutions underpinning the database	UN Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016)
Update Frequency	How often the database is updated	Periodic updates as new information becomes available
Access	Availability to the public	Publicly accessible online

Like any initiative touching on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the database has not been without its share of criticisms and controversy.

Arguments Against the Database

Discriminatory Focus: A primary criticism from Israel and its allies is that the database unfairly targets Israel. They argue that there are many other situations globally where businesses operate in disputed or occupied territories, yet only Israel is singled out with such a specific UN database. This is often framed as evidence of a perceived anti-Israel bias within the UN Human Rights Council.
“Blacklist” Designation: Critics often refer to it as a “blacklist,” despite the OHCHR’s insistence that it is merely a database of identified entities. This terminology is used to imply that the database is punitive and designed to encourage boycotts and divestment, which critics argue is discriminatory and harmful to Israel’s economy.
Undermining Peace Efforts: Some argue that the database, by isolating companies, creates an obstacle to peace by making economic cooperation more difficult, rather than fostering conditions for dialogue and resolution. They suggest it demonises companies rather than encouraging engagement.
Economic Harm to Palestinians: A contentious argument is that if businesses withdraw from settlements due to the database, it could lead to job losses for Palestinians employed by these companies. While proponents argue that genuine Palestinian economic development is stifled by the occupation itself, critics highlight potential immediate negative impacts on Palestinian workers.
Lack of Due Process: Some companies and states have criticised the process for inclusion, arguing that there isn’t sufficient opportunity for companies to present their case or contest information before being listed. The OHCHR maintains a rigorous methodology but acknowledges the challenges in engaging with all listed entities.

OHCHR’s Response to Criticisms

The OHCHR has consistently defended the database by:

Emphasising its Mandate: They reiterate that the database is a direct consequence of a Human Rights Council resolution, making it a legitimate UN activity.
Clarifying its Purpose: They stress that it’s an informational tool for transparency and accountability, not a “blacklist” or a call for boycotts. Its aim is to provide clarity on human rights risks, aligning with the UNGPs.
Highlighting Universality of Human Rights: The OHCHR asserts that the principles of international humanitarian and human rights law apply universally, and the focus on Israeli settlements reflects the specific mandate given by the Human Rights Council, not a selective targeting of Israel.
Methodological Rigour: They detail the extensive research, verification, and engagement processes undertaken to ensure the accuracy of the information presented.

Ultimately, the debate around the database reflects the broader, deeply entrenched political and legal disagreements concerning the Israeli occupation and settlements. While its proponents view it as a crucial step towards upholding international law and corporate accountability, its detractors see it as a politically motivated and biased tool.

FAQs

What is the purpose of the UN’s Israeli-Settlements Business Database?

The purpose of the UN’s Israeli-Settlements Business Database is to list companies that are involved in activities related to Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, which are considered illegal under international law.

How does the UN gather information for the Israeli-Settlements Business Database?

The UN gathers information for the Israeli-Settlements Business Database from publicly available sources, reports from non-governmental organizations, and other reliable information to identify companies operating in or with ties to Israeli settlements.

What are the implications for companies listed in the Israeli-Settlements Business Database?

Companies listed in the Israeli-Settlements Business Database may face reputational damage, potential legal risks, and pressure from advocacy groups and governments to cease their activities in Israeli settlements.

Is the Israeli-Settlements Business Database legally binding?

The Israeli-Settlements Business Database is not legally binding, but it serves as a tool for raising awareness about businesses operating in Israeli settlements and their potential contribution to human rights violations in the region.

How can companies respond if they are listed in the Israeli-Settlements Business Database?

Companies listed in the Israeli-Settlements Business Database can choose to engage with the UN to provide clarifications, challenge their inclusion, or take steps to address concerns raised about their activities in Israeli settlements.