Comité de la Solidaridad con la Causa Árabe v. Shapir Engineering & Industry

Date filed

6 January 2020

Keywords

Countries of harm

Occupied Palestinian Territory

Current status

Rejected

Sector

Infrastructure

NCP

NCP Israel

Allegations

In January 2020, Comité de la Solidaridad con la Causa Árabe (The Committee of Solidarity for the Arab Cause) filed a specific instance against Israeli company Shapir Engineering and Industry and Spanish company Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), at the Israeli and Spanish NCPs. The complaint concerns activities of the companies in the Occupied Palestinian Territory related to construction and infrastructure work. According to the complaint, the companies allegedly formed a consortium, TransJerusalem J-Net Ltd., that won a contract to extend an existing light rail tram line (red line) and build another tram line (green line) from Jerusalem to illegal settlements in the West Bank.

According to the complaint, the work would involve extension of 27 kilometers of railroad, provision of 114 new trams and refurbishment of 48 existing trams, provision of traffic signals, power, and communication systems to support the tram lines, as well as maintenance of the tram lines during a 15-25 year period. The complainants allege that the companies breached several chapters of the OECD Guidelines in accepting and beginning the work, including in particular by failing to engage in adequate stakeholder consultation via a complete and effective due diligence process (Chapter II), failing to disclose fully the nature of the work and its foreseeable impacts on occupied peoples (Chapter III), and failing to respect the human rights of impacted rightsholders (Chapter IV, with particular focus on guidance in Commentary 40 urging companies to respect the standards of international humanitarian law during situations of armed conflict). The complaint cites several UN conventions and resolutions in support of the complainants’ arguments. The complainants are seeking mediation and a rigorous examination of the facts by the Israeli and Spanish NCPs to encourage the companies to cease participation in the project and report their withdrawal to Palestinian authorities.

Relevant OECD Guidelines

Outcome

More than a year after submission of the specific instance, the complainants raised with all NCPs their concern that neither the Israeli nor Spanish NCP had yet issued an initial assessment regarding the complaints. Such a delay represents a breach of the Guidelines’ expectation that NCPs complete the initial assessment phase of complaints within a three month period.

Around April 2021, the Israeli NCP rejected the complaint on several grounds, including that the complainants did not actually allege breaches of the Guidelines but instead focused on Israeli state policy, and that the complaint did not establish a link between the company’s planned activities and the alleged harmful consequences.

The complainants feel that the Israeli NCP made several errors in its decision. In its initial assessment, the Israeli NCP required an overly high standard of proof and rigorously analyzed the link between the company’s activities and alleged risks. The NCP misread the complainant’s allegations, making selective readings of OECD Watch’s prior substantiated submission on the subject. At the same time, the NCP did not properly evaluate the company’s leverage in connection with its assessment of its link to the impacts. Moreover, the Israeli NCP did not properly interpret the Guidelines calling for companies to meet the higher of two standards: national law and international standards.