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Co-op will take Israeli products off shelves due to ‘violations of international law & human rights abuses’

In May, the vast majority of Co-op members voted to stop the sale of Israeli products at the supermarket. And in a 24 June announcement, the organisation confirmed that the Co-op Group Board has officially approved a policy to “stop sourcing relationships with countries where there are internationally recognised community-wide human rights abuses and violations of international law”, such as Israel.

Phasing out from this month

The policy makes it clear that the supermarket will strive to avoid products “from 17 countries of concern, which have been identified by the international community”. Among these, the announcement said, were “products and ingredients… which are clearly and solely sourced from the country of origin”, including “carrots from Israel”. The Co-op will begin to phase out these products from this month.

The announcement noted that:

Over recent years, Co-op members have made clear through surveys, engagement and motions that conflict is one of their biggest concerns and that their Co-op should do all it can to advocate and build peace.

It added:

Responding to this clear call from members, the Co-op Board initiated a review of Co-op’s role in building peace leading to the launch of the “Hate Divides Communities, Co-operation Builds Them” campaign. The review also included the development of a sourcing policy aligned with established co-operative values, upholding human rights and the rule of law to promote fair trading and peace.

And it clarified that the “17 countries of concern identified from independent assessments” are:

Afghanistan, Belarus, Central African Republic, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Haiti, Iran, Israel, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Yemen

The Co-op’s “sourcing policy statement” explains that:

We do not conduct primary research into global human rights situations. Instead, we rely on six recognised and authoritative sources. These are:

  1. UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) list of human rights priority countries
  2. UN Special Rapporteurs with country-specific mandates
  3. UN Human Rights Council investigations
  4. UN Security Council sanctions regimes
  5. UK Government financial sanctions
  6. UN Security Council resolutions concerning humanitarian law or military aggression

“A major BDS victory!”

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign called the Co-op’s decision “a major BDS victory”. As the BDS movement says:

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity.

It added:

All supermarkets must now follow suit. By selling Israeli products, shops are supporting Israel’s genocide, military occupation and apartheid against Palestinians. All Israeli goods must be taken off the shelves.

By Ed Sykes

This post was originally published on Canary.