The UN Human Rights Office has added 61 companies to its database of businesses linked to activities in Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory…reports Asian Lite News Desk
The UN Human Rights Office has updated its database of companies linked to activities in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, adding 61 businesses and removing five from the list.
The latest update, published on September 25, covers 214 companies from 11 countries and examines corporate involvement in activities connected with Israeli settlements. The database was established following a mandate from the UN Human Rights Council and was first published in 2020, with previous updates in 2023 and 2025.
The latest review focuses on businesses operating in sectors including agriculture, transport, storage, waste management, energy, food and hospitality.
The UN Human Rights Office said it received information on 596 businesses following a public call for submissions in 2024. Of those, 215 were examined in the previous reporting cycle, while the latest assessment reviewed 126 of the remaining 381 companies.
Of the 126 businesses assessed this time, 61 were added to the database. Five companies already listed were removed after the office determined they were no longer involved in the activities covered by the mandate.
The updated report also provides a classification of how companies are considered to be involved in adverse human rights impacts, using the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
The categories are causation, contribution and direct linkage. Causation refers to situations where a company’s own activities are sufficient to cause an adverse human rights impact. Contribution applies where a company’s activities combine with those of another actor to produce such an impact, while direct linkage refers to situations where a company’s operations, products or services are directly connected to an adverse impact.
For the 214 companies currently listed, the UN office found 200 were contributing to adverse impacts on the right to self-determination, while 14 were directly linked. It said no company had been established as causing such impacts on its own.
The assessment specifically concerns the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination. The office said resource limitations meant it did not assess the companies’ possible impacts on other human rights or other forms of involvement.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the update was a reminder that businesses have responsibilities under international human rights standards.
“States must take appropriate steps” to ensure access to effective remedies when business-related human rights abuses occur within their territory or jurisdiction, the report said.
The UN has previously reported that the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory is associated with a range of human rights concerns, including restrictions on Palestinians’ access to land and displacement.
The database does not itself constitute a judicial finding of liability against the companies listed. Rather, it identifies enterprises that the UN Human Rights Office considers to be involved in activities specified by the Human Rights Council’s mandate.
The office said it would continue reviewing the remaining businesses whose assessments could not be completed for the latest update.
