Caabu welcomes the confirmation from Superdrug that it has removed Ahava, a skincare brand from its website, after suspected cosmetic ingredients, were seen at an Israeli settlement in the West Bank.
Settlements are a violation of international law, and companies that partake in settlement activity are complicit in such violations.
Ahava is featured on the UN database of companies involved in activities particularly harmful to occupied Palestinian territory, and activities that help maintain, enable, and legitimise illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Through settlement trade, companies are breaching their own legal obligations, as well as contributing to human rights and international law violations that sustain the settlement enterprise. It should be bare minimum that they refuse to trade with illegal settlements, and follow the example of the Co-op Group’s Trade Policy.
Campaigns and Communications Officer at Caabu, Malaka El-Gammal said that “Whilst Caabu campaigns, with many others, for the UK government to introduce a full and complete ban on all trade and dealings with Israel’s illegal settlements and will continue to do so, it remains incumbent on all companies to avoid any economic activity with settlements, as a moral, ethical and legal duty, so that they do not participate in this unlawful occupation.”
From Superdrug website in March. (Sky News)
