Earlier this month, the newly appointed United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk received a submission asking for Montréal-based WSP Global Inc. (WSP) to be included in a UN database of businesses operating in illegal Israeli settlements.
The September 15 submission by the Palestine human rights NGO, Al-Haq and Canadian based Just Peace Advocates was endorsed by 105 international organizations. Joining in endorsing were former Canadian Member of Parliament Libby Davies, former UN Special Rapporteurs Michael Lynk, John Dugard, and Richard Falk, activist and musician Roger Waters, Noam Chomsky, and Canadian author Yann Martel, along with academics, lawyers, faith leaders and others endorsed the submission.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has indicated they have received the submission and will examine it carefully.
WSP and the rail project
WSP, an engineering professional services firm, is contracted to plan, design, maintain, and extend the Jerusalem Light Rail (JLR) system. The JLR is an Israeli public tramway that contributes to the maintenance of illegal Israeli settlements in occupied and annexed East Jerusalem.
In 2018, WSP agreed to provide contractor coordination and project management services for 10 years under a USD $233-million contract secured in October 2014. Currently, WSP’s Israel team is responsible for the monitoring of Israel Railways’ Five-Year Development Plan and for the electrification of Israel Railways’ system, including the Jerusalem-Tel-Aviv line.
The report submitted to the UN explained that WSP facilitates the practice of forcible transfer of settlers into Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) through its construction and servicing of the JLR, while deepening the physical, social and economic integration of the settlements.
WSP has not disclosed its involvement in the JLR on its website or through other releases, despite this information being available through the government of Israel and other sources.
WSP’s own published Code of Ethics indicate that the company has a commitment to respect, support and safeguard human rights by making sure their work is “in compliance with the human rights standards established within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” as well the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
The submission to the UN outlines that the through the construction of the JLR, WSP is complicit with Israel’s extensive destruction and appropriation of Palestinian property. It indicates that as a member of the UN Global Compact, WSP must cease its activity in the OPT, in accordance with its internal policies and values.
The WSP request follows a similar request in 2020 to have another corporation involved in the construction of the JLR to be added to the UN database.
In 2019, the Jerusalem Transportation Masterplan Team awarded a €1.8 billion contract for the expansion of Israel’s JLR system to TransJerusalem J-Net Ltd, a consortium formed by Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), a Spanish manufacturer of railway vehicles, and the Israeli construction company Shapir (which is listed in the UN database).
In December 2020, 31 prominent human rights organizations, networks and trade unions from Palestine and Europe submitted a report to the OHCHR in Geneva demanding that CAF be included in the UN database for its involvement in the JLR project.
The UN database
The UN database was released on February 12, 2020, as part of the annual report of the UN high commissioner for human rights. The database is of business enterprises involved in specific activities relating to settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory and was produced in response to a specific request in 2016 by the UN Human Rights Council.
There are 112 companies included on the UN list. Information released in the lead-up to the publication of the database indicated that it was expected two Canadian companies would be listed. However, once it launched, no Canadian company was included.
Despite being mandated to be updated annually, the UN has failed to keep its commitment and the list has not been updated since its release in 2020.
The joint report submitted by Al-Haq and Just Peace Advocates along with asking for adding WSP to the UN database, called on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to update the UN database annually and uphold Human Rights Council resolution 31/36 (2016) in its entirety, listing all business enterprises engaged in certain Israeli settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in consultation with the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises.
Canada and Quebec Public Pension investments in WSP
WSP’s major shareholders include the Canada and Quebec Public pensions. In 2021, WSP made up more than one-half of the Canada Public Pension Investment Board (CPPIB)’s Canadian portfolio value, with almost $3B investment as of March 31, 2022. This is perhaps not surprising as nearly seven percent of the CPPIB’s total investment supports companies involved in Israel’s illegal settlement industry and other forms of state violence.
As of March 31, 2022, the CPPIB had $524M (up from $513M in 2021) invested in 11 of the 112 companies listed in the UN Database as complicit with violations of international law. In addition to the companies identified by the United Nations and WSP, as of March 31, 2022, the CPPIB is invested in 27 companies, (valued at over $7 billion) identified by AFSC Investigate as complicit with Israeli human rights and international law violations.
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) as of December 31, 2021, had almost $4B investments in WSP. The December 31, 2021 CDPQ year-end report also shows investments in 10 companies with $3B fair-market value on the UN Database along with about $10 B in other companies complicit with Israeli war crimes, and majority ownership in Allied Universal which purchased G4S.
Canada’s complicity
The appropriation of Palestinian land and destruction of Palestinian property executed for the construction and maintenance of the JLR violates Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. In accordance with international law and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, WSP must comply with international humanitarian law and human rights law. WSP is expected to act with enhanced due diligence when conducting business at home and abroad. As such, Canada is the primary duty bearer in ensuring that WSP is held to account for its maintenance of Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise. Thus, Canada must fulfill its obligations to facilitate measures and remedies for the compensation of the affected Palestinian communities, whose rights to movement, property, livelihood, and family have been severely violated due to its activities.
Send a letter to the CPPIB, copying the Minister of Finance, to demand that the Canadian Public Pension should divest from investments supporting Israeli war crimes.
This is pretty dumb. In any possible future – one state, two states, three states, whatever – the population of Jerusalem will need an efficient public transport system. Israelis and Palestinians and tourists. People from Rehavia and Me’ah Shearim and German Colony, from Silwan and Abu Tor and Sheikh Jarrah , will need to be able to get to work and to school, to hospitals and clinics, to shopping and entertainment. Isn’t the Light Rail preferable to being stuck in unhealthy, polluting traffic jams?