Joint Response to the UNHRC Blacklist: A Legal Perspective

The undersigned are a coalition of international legal experts, specializing in international public and humanitarian law, international commercial law and the Israeli-Arab conflict.

This brief aims to provide legal guidance in relation to the HRC's database on companies operating in Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem ("disputed territories") with the intention of aiding targeted businesses and their investors to understand their full legal rights and risks . This brief will advise on the following points:

A. The HRC's lack of mandate; as well as issues of inherent bias, selective prosecution;
B. Dangerous interference in the international economy and the financial markets;
C. Methodology lacking in accepted and objective standards;
D. Comparison of the situation in the disputed territories with business practices in other territories considered occupied or disputed;
E. National cases on legality of economic activity in disputed territories;
F. Legal analysis of state anti-discrimination and anti-boycott laws implicated;
G. Public procurement policy; and
H. The case study of Airbnb.