CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and the role of NGOs in BDS Divestment Campaigns in Europe

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Individual Country CSR Reports

• Norway Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report
• Sweden Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report
• Denmark Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report
• United Kingdom Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report
• Ireland Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report
• France Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report
• Belgium Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report
• The Netherlands Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report
• Germany Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report

Overview

• A network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and CSR companies are active in promoting boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaigns in Europe, by lobbying institutions and corporations to divest from Israel.
• In order to advance their BDS agenda, these groups assert false factual claims and distort legal narratives to accuse Israel of human rights violations and erroneously argue that conducting business with Israel amounts to furthering these alleged violations.
• These campaigns are based on double standards.  In many instances, the Arab-Israeli conflict is the only armed conflict addressed. Massive labor and human rights violations occurring in oil-rich and economically powerful countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and China are virtually ignored by NGOs and European CSR companies.
• The NGOs and the CSR partners behind these campaigns deny the context of terrorism, often seeking to sanction companies that provide Israel with products and services to defend civilian populations from attack. These groups ignore international legal obligations on countries to protect their citizens and to prohibit material support for terrorism. The refusal by the NGOs and CSR groups to acknowledge this context in their decision-making processes, their selective approach to international law, and their disregard of Israel’s legal right to self-defense are themselves unethical and immoral.
• CSR comprises policies, norms, and standards that combine finance and business with environmental, human rights, and ethical standards. However, the examples in this report show that political perspectives on the Arab-Israeli conflict, not ethics or international legal standards, determine CSR-related initiatives targeting Israeli companies and companies that do business in Israel.
• A central feature of CSR/BDS campaigns by NGOs is false legal arguments, such as:
  • The claim that private corporations are subject to international humanitarian law (IHL). In actuality, every court ruling on this issue has confirmed that only states are subject to this body of law.
  • The claim that conducting business over the 1949 armistice line is illegal. In fact, courts in France, Canada, and the UK have explicitly found no such prohibition under international law. In this vein, the Netherlands advertising board ruled it defamatory to claim a company selling goods or operating over armistice lines was acting “illegally” or in violation of international law.
  • The claim that building the Light Rail train in Jerusalem violates international law. On this issue, a French court noted that occupation law allows for the building of transportation infrastructure.
  • Reliance on the discredited 2004 International Court of Justice “advisory opinion” on Israel’s security barrier. The decision, which has no binding force in international law, has been criticized by many legal scholars for being based on a one-sided conclusory mandate, procedural irregularities, completely ignoring the Palestinian suicide bombing campaign (and the role of the security barrier in preventing attacks), and faulty interpretations of international law. Moreover, the opinion does not address liability of corporate activity.
• NGOs and interest groups lobby ethical committees in governments (Ethical Councils) and corporations in an effort to divest from Israel by referring to positions and studies carried out by CSR companies. Often, these actors have strong ties with governmental institutions, raising the possibility of conflicts of interest and doubts about their independence.
  • For example, some members of the Norwegian Ethical Council also work in the same CSR companies that advise the Council. CSR company SIGLA’s founder and director, Ylva Lindbergh, is currently a member of the Norwegian Ethical Council, which advises the Ministry of Finance on divestment decisions. Among its clients are other divestment actors: the companies Hydro and Nordea, as well as a CSR company, Ethix, which is involved in Danish divestment campaigns.
• The European NGOs involved in CSR attacks include:
  • The “European Coordination Committee and Associations for Palestine,” a network that includes Norwegian, French, and Irish NGOs. Also linked to major Palestinian and Israeli NGOs that share a commitment to BDS against Israel.
  • In 2013, Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS) partnered with Intal (Belgium) for a campaign against the Dexia bank.
  • In Ireland, the Catholic association Trócaire and the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign cooperate on several anti-Israel advocacy projects, including pressing for sanctions against Israel in the OECD. Trócaire is member of the UK-based Ecumenical Council on Corporate Responsibility, promoting divestment campaigns in the UK.
  • In 2012, the French FIDH (Fédération Internationale des Droits de l’Homme) and CCFD-Terre Solidaire helped publish “Trading Away Peace,” which repeats the BDS agenda, calling on the EU and national governments to wage political warfare through various forms of economic sanctions on Israel. The publication was drafted in cooperation with several other NGOs, such as Diakonia (Sweden), Norwegian People’s Aid, Christian Aid (UK), and Trócaire (Ireland).
• Decision makers – banks, corporations, governmental authorities – often rely on an extremely narrow set of sources, which are not fully disclosed, in deciding upon economic sanctions. They also fail to demonstrate the existence of violations of international norms or connections between corporate activity and the alleged violations. The lack of transparency, coupled with the distorted legal arguments mentioned above, reflect the political nature of BDS campaigns that aim to delegitimize Israel.
• The quasi-judicial procedures of the Ethical Councils do not fully respect due process:
  • It is unclear the extent to which the Councils attempt to obtain company participation in the process, despite the reputational and economic damage of a negative decision.
  • It is unknown to what extent “investigated” companies are given the opportunity to present a defense.
  • Details on appeals processes or procedures for “de-listing” are not publically available.
• Divestment actors mobilize activists to become shareholders in a targeted company in order to advance divestment motions through a practice called “shareholders’ activism”:
  • The German NGO Kritische Aktionäre, in cooperation with other groups, used shareholders’ activism to promote divestment campaigns at Deutsche Bank and Thyssen Group.
  • Belgium activists became shareholders in Dexia in order to participate in Dexia’s 2011 annual meeting; half of the three-hour meeting was consumed by discussion of Dexia’s investments in Israel.
  • The Swedish Ethical Council uses shareholders’ activism to pressure corporations to comply with its standards or face divestment.
• Through divestment campaigns, NGOs reinforce Palestinian rejectionism and anti-normalization policies (i.e., opposition to cooperation with Israelis) and act as a disincentive for efforts by the parties in the conflict to overcome their divisions and seek a peaceful solution based on compromise.

BDS Actors

Major BDS Campaigns