You may have heard that this summer, Swedish Radio revealed that the Swedish furniture company IKEA, through its local franchisee in Israel Northern Birch Ltd. makes home deliveries to Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. They refuse to deliver to Palestinian communities nearby.
The settlements are illegal according to international law, and considered illegal also by the EU. Delivering furniture to the settlers means giving legitimacy to the dual system called apartheid by many operated by the Israeli government.
At the same time IKEA takes pride in being considered as one of the frontrunners of CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility. The company has an extensive Code of Conduct, based on the eight core conventions defined in the Fundamental Principles of Rights at Work, ILO declaration June 1998, the Rio Declaration on Sustainable Development 1992, The UN Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development and the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact 2000. IKEA recognises the fundamental principles of Human Rights, as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations 1948).
Swedish renowned professor of international law, Mr. Ove Bring, stated after reviewing the case that IKEA is breaching the spirit of the universal human rights by its delivery policy.
No comments:
Post a Comment