UN Lists 214 Companies Linked to Israeli Settlements, Urges Action on Human Rights

The database, mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, was first published in 2020 and updated in 2023 and 2025 to identify businesses involved in settlement-related activities specified by the Council.

The UN Human Rights Office has listed 214 companies from 11 countries in its updated database of businesses involved in specified activities connected to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, raising questions about how their operations affect Palestinian rights. The latest update adds 61 companies and removes five that the Office found were no longer involved in the activities covered by the database. Its findings call for businesses to address the human rights impacts of their work and for governments to ensure people affected by business-related abuses have access to effective remedies.

What the latest review examined

The database, mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, was first published in 2020 and updated in 2023 and 2025 to identify businesses involved in settlement-related activities specified by the Council. This review concentrates on agriculture, transport, storage, waste management, energy, food and hospitality providers, covering sectors whose operations can connect everyday goods and services to broader human rights concerns. Inclusion relates to the activities covered by that mandate, with the Office assessing companies against the scope established by the Council.

A public call for information in 2024 brought submissions concerning 596 businesses, creating a workload that the Office has been reviewing in stages within its available resources. Last year's report examined 215 enterprises, including companies already on the database, leaving 381 for further assessment. The latest update screened 126 of those remaining businesses and identified 61 for inclusion. Five previously listed companies were removed because their involvement in the covered activities had ended, bringing the current total to 214. Assessments that could not be completed for this report remain under review.

How companies are connected to harm

This year's update introduces information explaining each listed company's involvement in adverse human rights impacts through three categories drawn from the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. "Causation" describes circumstances in which a company's activities are sufficient on their own to affect people's enjoyment of a right, and "contribution" covers activities that combine with those of another actor to produce that effect. "Direct linkage" applies when a company's operations, products or services are directly connected to adverse human rights impacts, distinguishing that relationship from causing or contributing to the harm.

The assessment examines the right to self-determination, placing the focus on how business involvement affects the Palestinian people's ability to determine their political status and pursue their development. Of the 214 companies listed, 200 were assessed as contributing to adverse impacts on that right and 14 as directly linked, with no causation-level involvement established. Resource limitations meant the Office did not assess impacts on other rights or companies' forms of involvement in those impacts, a boundary that matters when interpreting what the findings establish.

Businesses and governments face calls to act

Companies involved in the listed activities are urged to meet internationally recognised responsibilities to respect human rights and take appropriate action to address the harm connected to their activities. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said the findings underline businesses' responsibility to conduct human rights due diligence so their work does not become involved in violations or abuses. The update follows separate UN Human Rights reporting examining business and economic interests connected to adverse human rights impacts during the current conflicts in Sudan and Myanmar.

Governments have a responsibility to ensure that people affected by business-related abuses within their territory or jurisdiction can obtain effective remedies, according to the report. Its recommendations call for judicial, administrative, legislative or other appropriate measures consistent with international law, placing access to remedy alongside the expectation that companies examine and address their own involvement in harm.