Around 40 human rights demonstrators gathered outside Brent Civic Centre last night as a petition signed by hundred of Brent residents was presented to the Brent Executive calling for Veolia to be excluded from the Public Realm contract procurement process. The contract worth up to £250m over 16 years will be awarded by the Brent Executive at their October 14th meeting.
Exclusion is sought on the grounds that Veolia in its operations in the occupied territories of Palestine is colluding in the maintenance of illegal settlements and this infringing the human rights of Palestinians.
Veolia has been short-listed alongside Enterprise and Serco for the contract.
After hearing the speech from Liz Lindsay, Secretary of Brent and Harrow Palestine Solidarity and an activist in the Bin Veolia in Brent Campaign, the Executive referred the petition to FionaLedden, head of procurement for consideration.
Liz Lindsay's speech was warmly applauded from the crowded public gallery.
THE CASE AGAINST VEOLIA'S INCLUSION IN THE
BRENT PUBLIC REALM PROCUREMENT
Just as pension funds are concerned about ethical
investment we believe the council should be concerned about ethical
procurement.
The public would not want the council to give contracts to companies involved in
the exploitation of child labour or the arms trade.
Veolia who are bidding for the Public Realm
contract are serving the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East
Jerusalem.
The UK Govt and UN do not recognise Israel’s
annexation of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Veolia helps support Israel’s illegal occupation of
Palestinian land by
- Supporting the Jerusalem Light Rail between West
Jerusalem and an illegal settlement
- Running bus routes along the Apartheid road 443
that link illegal Israeli settlements .
- Owning the
Tovlan landfill site that takes refuse from illegal settlements and Israel.
Veoila therefore profits by actively
supporting Israel’s continued violation of international humanitarian law
Under Public Contracts Regulations, a public body
may exclude a bidder or reject a bid where it is found the organisation has
‘committed grave misconduct in the course of their business’
In 2009, the UN General Assembly called on Israel
to cease the dumping of waste in
occupied Palestinian land.
In 2010, UK was one of countries that voted in
support of the UNHR Council resolution that stated JLR operated by Veolia is in
clear violation of International Law and relevant UN resolutions.
In 2012, Richard Falk UN Special Rapporteur on
Human Rights in the OPT concludes that
– Veolia’s grave breaches of the UN Global
Compact make it an inappropriate partner for any public institution, especially
as a provider of public services.
Also, Veolia was forced to withdraw JLR recruitment
advertisements because they discriminated against Palestinians.
Locally,
WLWA, Ealing, Harrow, Richmond did not select Veolia as the preferred
bidder and all had been involved in discussions with anti-Veolia campaigners.
Veolia withdrew after 2 years from the final stages
of the £4.5bn NLWA procurement when they were one of only two bidders left.
As Veolia has become the target of worldwide
campaigns, Veolia has tried to
waive responsibility, claiming in 2011 for example that it had sold Tovlan.
However, on
the 17th Jan 2013, the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection
–in response to FOI by a Women's Peace Group in Tel Aviv confirmed that
Veolia is the sole owner and operator of Tovlan.
We informed Brent Council of this on the 14th
March but Veolia repeated its claim on 21st May 2013.
The Council does not appear to have challenged this
misrepresentation.
In June 2013, an Israeli Court fined Veolia 1.5
million shekels for burying mixed waste to avoid higher fees and for keeping
inconsistent records.
Brent Council should seriously question any
information that Veolia provides in its defence in its bid to win the contract.
One argument used against exclusion has been that
Veolia in Israel and in the UK are separate entities. There is ample
evidence available that Veolia is one commercial entity.
Also, Justin Brazier, Tory MP, facilitated a
meeting between Veolia Executive, Robert Hunt and Canterbury Campaigners at
which Robert Hunt confirmed that Veolia was one commercial entity.
Francis Maude on the 23rd May, 2012
stated explicitly, regarding illegal
settlements that companies that have committed ‘an act of grave professional
misconduct in the course of their business may be excluded from a tender
exercise’
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR BRENT COUNCIL?
Brent Council is particularly proud of representing a diverse population and is
committed to equality and opposed to racism as demonstrated
recently by their stand against the 'racist van' and the UKBA raids.
Human rights issues are at the core of the Council's
values.
Our campaign has been supported by members
from many religions and non-religious residents, by members of the Labour, Lib
Dem and Green parties, by Brent TUC, trade unions, GCs of Brent Central, and
Hampstead and Kilburn Labour Parties and local members of Jews for Justice for
Palestinians.
We call on the Executive to take a principled stand on the issue of Veolia's
collusion in the abuse of the human rights of Palestinians in the occupied
territories and to take action by excluding Veolia from the £260m Public Realm
contract.
Bishop Tutu said what he saw in occupied Palestine could
describe apartheid South Africa.. Nelson Mandela, now a Freeman of Brent, said
he would not be truly free until the Palestinian people are free. Respect them
- BIN VEOLIA!.
