Human Rights & Business Award Foundation: Statement of Support for the 6 Palestinian CSOs designated 'terrorist organisations' by the Israeli Govt.
Statement by Human Rights and Business Award Foundation following the Israeli Government designation of Al-Haq and other leading Palestinian human rights and humanitarian NGOs as “terrorist organizations”; 2 Nov 2021
Our independent human rights foundation joins those across the world who have expressed deep concern after the Israeli Government announced in October 2021 that it was designating six internationally-respected Palestinian human rights and humanitarian organizations, including Al-Haq “Law in the Service of Man”, as “terrorist organizations”. Al-Haq was the very deserving recipient of our 2019 Human Rights and Business Award, announced at the United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights and in our news release.
See “Statements of Support: Stand with the Six”: over 50 statements of support for Al-Haq and the other organizations, and of concern about the Israeli Government’s announcement – issued by human rights and other civil society organizations, the United Nations, the European Union Special Representative for Human Rights, and governments.
...Our foundation’s Human Rights and Business Award is for “outstanding work by human rights defenders in the Global South or former Soviet Union addressing the human rights impacts of business”. Al-Haq was founded in 1979 “to protect and promote human rights and the rule of law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”. As our 2019 news release announcing the award to Al-Haq stated, “In recent years Al-Haq has done ground-breaking work drawing attention to how certain companies operating in Occupied Palestinian Territory, including firms doing business with or in Israeli settlements, are involved in human rights abuses and breaches of international humanitarian law, notably the Hague Regulations and the Fourth Geneva Convention.”
...Our award is one of many that Al-Haq has received over the years, including
- 2019 Gwynne Skinner Human Rights Award, for Al-Haq’s significant contribution to corporate accountability.
- 2018 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic, awarded by the French Government jointly to Shawan Jabarin (General Director of Al-Haq) and Hagai El-Ad (Executive Director of B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization).
- 2009 Geuzen Award, given jointly to Al-Haq and B’Tselem: a Dutch award for those who have fought for democracy and against dictatorship, racism and discrimination. This award takes its name from a Dutch resistance group during World War II, members of which were executed by German forces.
- 1990 Reebok Human Rights Award, given to Shawan Jabarin, General Director of Al-Haq: the award honored activists under 30 who fight for human rights through non-violent means.
- 1989 Carter-Menil Human Rights Prize, given jointly to Al-Haq and B’Tselem: an award established by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter and philanthropist Dominique de Menil to “promote the protection of human rights throughout the world”.