(AFP Photo)
19 Non-Governmental Organisations from Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine have called for a boycott of Security Company G4S because it provides security services to Israel.
The group of NGOs published a signed statement on Tuesday. The signatories of the statement called on Arab nations and the European Union to stop dealing with G4S due to its “involvement in the support system of the occupation and Israeli repression in the face of the Palestinian people”. They also point out that G4S supply Israeli prisons and equipment used at checkpoints in the West Bank.
According to the statement, Egyptian organisations that signed the statement include the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights, the Hisham Mubarak Centre for Law, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression.
The statement said that G4S did “not comply with the Palestinians’ demands to stop its involvement in Israel’s crimes and violations of human rights and its involvement in Israeli apartheid”. The signatories also called on the EU and the EU parliament to stop using G4S for security services.
G4S currently operates in Egypt, most notably on Cairo’s Metro. According to the company’s website G4S Egypt was established in 2001, is the only fully licenced security service provider in Egypt, and provides 5,000 jobs in eight branches across the country.
