Beirut protest calls on UNICEF to #DropG4S over Israeli prison contracts
by samidoun
The Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel in Lebanon
protested in Beirut on Tuesday, 5 April, outside the offices of UNICEF.
Protesters called on UNICEF to stop doing business with G4S, the
security conglomerate that provides security systems, equipment and
control rooms to Israeli prisons, checkpoints and police training
centers.
They
called on UNICEF to immediately cancel their contracts with G4S and
refuse to renew them until G4S is entirely withdrawn from its contracts
with the Israeli state. In March, after growing international boycotts
following calls from Palestinian organizations and Palestinian
prisoners, and the loss of significant contracts in Jordan and Colombia,
G4S announced
that it would, in the next one to two years, sell off its Israeli
subsidiary and end its operations in Israel. It also pledged to sell off
other "reputationally damaging" businesses like youth incarceration in the US and UK.
However,
Palestinian organizations emphasized the importance of continuing to
pressure G4S until they are no longer providing the mechanisms by which
Palestinians are imprisoned, oppressed and occupied. One of the most
prominent campaigns is an international call on United Nations embassies
to stop doing business with G4S; while UNICEF works on children's
issues, G4S provides the security systems for the imprisonment of
Palestinian children - as well as children in the UK and US.
Dr.
Samah Idriss spoke at the outdoor protest, while Dr. Abdul Malik
Sukkari delivered a letter on behalf of the Campaign to the UNICEF
representative in Lebanon. The event was covered by Arabic satellite
channels, including Palestine Today and Al-Mayadeen.
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