UN Women becomes 5th UN agency in Jordan to drop contracts with G4S

AMMAN — The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) in Jordan has dropped its contracts with the world’s largest security firm, G4S, a British multinational security services company, which is operating on occupied Palestinian land, according to a statement from BDS Jordan.

The move is part of an ongoing BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) campaign over the firm’s role in Israel’s violations of human rights, the statement said.

In the statement, Jordan BDS said that it “welcomes UN Women’s decision and salutes the agency for taking a principled step in line with its core values of promoting human rights and human dignity”. 

UN Women has become the fifth UN agency in Jordan to drop its contracts with “occupation profiteer” G4S alongside WFP, UNOPS, UNICEF and UNHCR, according to the statement. 

G4S has a track record in human and refugee rights violations in many countries across the world, which led dozens of universities, unions, pension funds and more to drop their contracts with the company as well as divest their shares from it following calls by the BDS movement worldwide, the statement read. 

The #UNDropG4S campaign began in 2015, in which Jordan BDS took an active part through organising actions and lobbying with different UN agencies, the latest of which was a demonstration outside UN Women office in Amman in commemorating Al Nakbeh in partnership with multiple Jordanian civil society organisations. 

Jordan BDS demands the local and regional offices of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP and UNDP MENA) — the last UN office in Jordan to hold contracts with G4S — to follow the lead of the five UN agencies that showed a firm commitment to human rights.

“Our demand is based on UN documents, which UNDP is breaching, including the UN Supplier Code of Conduct, the UN Special Rapporteur for OPT report, and the UN Global Compact. 

“It is truly shocking that UNDP persists with its breach until now and continues to dismiss the values and principles that the agency itself proclaims to defend,” the movement said in the statement. 

Jordan BDS said that its campaign against G4S will continue, in parallel with the regional campaigns in Lebanon, Kuwait and Morocco as well as globally, until G4S stops profiting from the occupation and fully withdraws from its remaining contracts in Israel including its agreement with the Israeli Police Academy (Policity) in occupied Jerusalem.