Labour drops G4S due to human rights concerns
Labour’s executive has voted to boycott G4S, the firm which has been providing security at the party’s conferences for more than a decade, according to the Guardian.
But Vox Political readers will be interested to learn that this is because of concerns that the company has breached human rights obligations, rather than concerns that a major shareholder may be married to Home Secretary Theresa May.
Stories that the Home Secretary’s businessman husband have been widespread on the social media since 2012 but factual evidence regarding any such connection has – coincidentally? – disappeared or been removed.
According to the Graun:
G4S has been involved in controversy over its links to Israel.
Jennie Formby of Unite, who was at the NEC meeting, said: “The issue of G4S was raised during an agenda item reviewing the annual party conference. It was therefore the appropriate opportunity for the NEC to discuss the use of G4S to provide security for future conferences. More than half the NEC was present for this discussion.
“The decision to end the security contract with G4S was taken because of concerns that this company has acted unethically and has been found to be in breach of the human rights obligations of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Companies.”
The G4S contracts in Israel which have been the subject of criticism include servicing and maintenance of baggage scanning equipment and metal detectors used at checkpoints, and installation and maintenance of electronic security systems, such as closed circuit television (CCTV), access control systems and public address systems within a number of Israeli prisons.
Source: Politics Live – The Guardian.
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I’m a bit apprehensive about commenting this decision as I do not know as much as I ought to when posting a comment. However, it does seem that this is a good decision, but for the wrong reason; or, at least, not the most important one?
shant
No, it’s a very good reason because of the links G4S has with aiding Israel in imprisoning Palestinians, and human rights abuses in their prisons and checkpoints.