APRODEV

Activities

• Founded in order “to strengthen the cooperation between the European development organisations which work closely together with the World Council of Churches (WCC).”
• The WCC plays a key role in mobilizing churches worldwide to support the international boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.
• According to its website, “At present, 16 [] organisations, with offices in 15 European countries, cooperate through APRODEV.”
• Member organizations include: Bread for the World (Germany), Christian Aid (UK), Church of Sweden, DanChurch Aid (Denmark), Diakonia (Sweden), FinnChurch Aid (Finland), HEKS/EPER (Switzerland), ICCO (Netherlands), Kerk in Actie (Netherlands), World Council of Churches, Lutheran World Federation, and others.
• In addition, APRODEV often partners with CIDSE, the international alliance of Catholic development agencies, which includes Broederlijk Delen (Belgium), CAFOD (UK), CCFD (France), Cordaid (Netherlands), Misereor (Germany) and Trócaire (Ireland).
• Effective January 1, 2015, APRODEV merged with ACT Alliance to become ACT Alliance Advocacy to the European Union, or ACT Alliance EU. According to its website, its “purpose will remain unchanged… The integration of the two organisations makes sense. APRODEV’s 14 member agencies are all members of ACT Alliance. More importantly, the integration… allows APRODEV and ACT Alliance to join efforts to influence global processes, combining APRODEV’s EU advocacy and policy expertise with ACT Alliance’s advocacy work in the global South and with the United Nations to help create positive and sustainable change in the lives of the poor and marginalised, the communities we seek to serve, and to safeguard their human rights.”

Political Advocacy

• Lobbies international frameworks, mainly the EU, to apply “pressure” on Israel; promotes BDS campaigns; and utilizes highly biased and politicized language demonizing Israel.
• According to it’s website, “APRODEV advocacy work on Israel-Palestine addresses the failures of the EU and its member States to implement their policies towards Israel and the Palestinians in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law. APRODEV uses lobbying, civil society mobilisations and a wide variety of non-violent tactics in coordination with an array of partner and like-minded organisations in Europe, Israel and the Palestinian Occupied Territory.”
• A section on its website, “APRODEV agencies’ response to the war in Gaza (July 2014),” includes statements and position papers by Diakonia, Dan Church Aid, Christian Aid, Norwegian Church Aid, many of which ignore Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians and present an inaccurate and highly biased narrative of Israeli aggression and sole responsibility.
• Agnes Bertrand, advocacy officer at APRODEV, served as a “witness” for the Russell Tribunal on Palestine’s (RToP) “Extraordinary session” on “Israel’s Crimes in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.”  The RToP has no judicial basis and exploits a legal facade in order to create an appearance of neutrality and credibility. RToP sessions regularly demonize Israel, making false allegations of “apartheid,” “collective punishment,” and “war crimes.”
• Promotes the 2012 report, “Trading Away Peace: How Europe helps sustain illegal Israeli settlements,” which repeats the BDS agenda, calling on the EU and national governments to wage political warfare through various forms of economic sanctions on Israel.
• Together with the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN), published a 2012 position paper, “EU-Israel Relations: Promoting and Ensuring Respect for International Law,” (funded by the Church of Sweden and Open Society Foundations), which “focuses on the pressure that the EU can apply on Israel so that both parties can comply with their obligations under international law.” The paper directs the EU to: “Condition its relations with Israel on respect for IHRL and IHL”; “Adopt a coherent and comprehensive reporting mechanism, on IHRL and IHL violations”; “Address Israeli human rights violations in all aspects of its dialogue with Israel” and “Protect Israeli and Palestinian civil society organizations and consult with them at all stages of development in EU-Israel relations.”
• Calls for the suspension of the Israel-EU Association Agreement due to Israel’s “material breaches…and [violations of] provisions of human rights, democratic principles, on respect for Charter of the United Nations and provisions on trade.” APRODEV alleges that “Israel has carried out systematic violations of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories” and “imposes collective punishment on Palestinian civilians”; “indiscriminately shells residential areas”; “extensively destroys and confiscates Palestinian property”; “prevents freedom of movement to people and goods through internal and external closures”; “prevents the movement of food and medical supplies”; “gravely undermines public health”; “attacks medical and hospital establishments and services, schools, mosques and churches”; “undermines the right to education and freedom of religion”; “illegally detains and tortures Palestinian citizens, including children”; and “ systematically practices extra-judicial killings targeting Palestinian civilians, including high representatives of the National Palestinian Authority.”