G4S welcomes the Final Statement by the OECD’s UK National Contact Point (NCP) on the group’s business activities in Israel

Posted on 12, June 2015 by | This entry was posted in Business, Electronics & Machinery, Management, Security & Safety, United Kingdom and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

WEST SUSSEX, 12-6-2015 — /EuropaWire/ — The Final Statement follows an extensive assessment by the NCP during which it has received submissions from G4S, interviewed representatives of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, examined evidence from NGOs and reviewed material provided by Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights.

In its Initial Assessment published in June 2014 the NCP concluded that there is no evidence that any G4S equipment or services cause or contribute to adverse human rights impacts and that the company carries out extensive due diligence and on-going review of the potential human rights risks of its business.In its Final Statement published today, the NCP stated that:“The UK NCP does not find any general failure by the company to respect the human rights of the people on whose behalf the complaint is made or any failure to respect human rights in regard to its own operations.”

“The UK NCP considers that there is evidence that G4S has leverage, and could take action such as: lobbying immediate business partners and/or government and legal representatives, sharing best practice (with business partners, stakeholders and the wider sector), and committing to new practices in regard to future contracts.”

In response to the NCP’s Final Statement, Debbie Walker, G4S Group Communications Director said:

“G4S welcomes the findings of the UK National Contact Point and will to continue to work with customers and business partners to safeguard human rights and ethical standards in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and best practice.”

Contacts:  For more information please contact Nigel Fairbrass on 07799 894265 or nigel.fairbrass@g4s.com, or Matthew Magee on 07841 982838 or matthew.magee@g4s.com

Notes to editors:  

G4S provides:
Servicing and maintenance of baggage scanning equipment and metal detectors used at checkpoints, including a small number of checkpoints along the separation barrier.

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.

G4S employees do not operate the equipment, play any part in prison regimes, or have any interaction with prisoners or those travelling through checkpoints along the separation barrier.

The latest independent review commissioned by G4S (June 2014), concluded that the company has no causal or contributory role in human rights violations.

Following a complaint brought to the OECD, the UK NCP’s initial assessment concluded that G4S equipment does not cause or contribute to adverse human rights impacts and that the company carries out extensive due-diligence and ongoing reviews of the potential human rights risks of its business.

The G4S Board made a commitment in 2011 that when certain contracts expired we would not renew them.  That position has not changed.

Some contracts have already ended and others end between now and 2017.

ABOUT G4S

G4S is the leading global, integrated security company, specialising in the provision of security services and solutions to customers. Our mission is to create material, sustainable value for our customers and shareholders by being the supply partner of choice in all of our markets.

G4S is quoted on the London Stock Exchange and has a secondary stock exchange listing in Copenhagen. G4S is active in over 110 countries and has 623,000 employees. For more information on G4S, visit www.g4s.com.

 

 

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