Write to your MP and urge them to oppose the government's anti-boycott Bill
We encourage Caabu members, supporters and friends, to write to their Members of Parliament (MPs),calling them to vote against the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill (dubbed as the BDS bill), which was presented to parliament on 19 June. The Bill will have its second reading in parliament on Monday 3 July. We need MPs to vote against it.
We also encourage you to write to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Michael Gove and Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.
Caabu and an increasing coalition of organisations, have numerous grave concerns with this dangerous bill.
You can find your MP and their contact details by entering your postcode here. Correspondence to Michael Gove can be sent to [email protected] and the Prime Minister here.
Many argue that public bodies including local government should be encouraged not prevented from disinvesting from regimes with appalling human rights records.
Under this bill, public bodies will not be able to take a decision (or seek to influence a decision) concerning public procurement or investment when that decision has “regard to a territorial consideration in a way that would cause a reasonable observer of the decision-making process to conclude that the decision was influenced by political or moral disapproval of foreign state conduct (Section 1.1).”
The bill makes according for legitimate “political or moral disapproval” concerns actions by a state on territory where it violates international law or commits war crimes or crimes against humanity. It is concerning that many regimes with appalling human rights records or companies that have a track record of labour law violations or environmental recklessness will feel that this bill would enable them to continue without consequence. The law would outlaw any decision concerning a possible investment in an Israeli settlement in the Occupied Palestinian Territory which infringed article 5 of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334.
