Daily Press Briefing – Delay in Publishing OHCHR Database of all Business Enterprises Engaged in Certain Settlement Activity in the oPt (Excerpts)

Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

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Question:  I have another question on a different matter, if I can.  We had an interesting news conference from the head of Human Rights Watch, Ken Roth, in the last 24 hours.  In that news conference, he raised a long‑standing issue, which is the database that the High Commissioner for Human Rights was supposed to come up with, detailing the companies doing business with Israeli settlements.  And he said that had been sit… had been completed and was sitting on the High Commissioner’s desk and had been for 15 months, and he speculated that it was the SG worried about retaliation from [Donald] Trump.  And he said, if the SG wanted, he could get that released tomorrow.  Can you tell us about why that database hasn’t been published and does the Secretary‑General want something that the Human Rights Council has requested to be published?

Spokesman:  That is a question for the Human Rights High Commissioner.  The high… the Human Rights Council mandated the High Commissioner to publish such a database, and I will leave it at that.

Question:  Does the Secretary‑General have any problem with it being published?

Spokesman:  We are given a mandate by the Human Rights Council, and it’s a question to refer to the High Commissioner.

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