Question reference: S6W-21585
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
- Date lodged: 21 September 2023
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Current status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 October 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-00207 and S6W-00208 by Ivan McKee on 27 October 2021, whether it will publish (a) a list of any companies that it has written to due to their appearing on the UN Human Rights Office list, (b) a summary of each response, and (c) details of any further actions that it or its agencies have taken as a result.
Answer
In December 2021 the Scottish Government wrote to Public Bodies in Scotland to ask that they consider the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ (OHCHR) list of companies involved in listed activities in illegal Israeli settlements, as part of their Human Rights Due Diligence processes. We also asked Public Bodies to report any existing relationships with companies on the list.
In June 2022, the then Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise wrote to the companies that had been identified, asking what action they had taken or were planning to take to cease those listed activities. The Minister wrote to those companies again in March 2023 to advise them that we would write to Public Bodies again, following the publication of any revised list.
The Scottish Government’s response to FOI 202200334471 , issued on 9 February 2023, sets out the letters written to the companies in June 2022 and the responses received at that point. The Scottish Government has no plans to publish any further correspondence, pending the publication of a revised list.