BYM petitions PM on right to boycott
‘This will halt progress in areas such as divestment from fossil fuels and boycotts of goods from illegal settlements in occupied Palestine.’
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) staff joined others to hand in a petition at 10 Downing Street urging the prime minister to scrap the anti-boycott bill.
Grace Da Costa, public affairs and media manager for BYM, joined the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Unite the Union, and War on Want to share the petition against the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill. Almost 18,000 people have signed the document, including many Quakers.
Grace Da Costa said: ‘Boycotts and divestments are key tools in the campaign for equality, peace and sustainability.
‘The government must withdraw this bill to protect human rights in the UK and around the world.’
The government says the bill is designed to make sure public bodies follow UK foreign policy in their purchasing, procurement, and investment decisions.However, according to BYM, ‘in reality, it will prevent local authorities and universities from making investment and procurement policies that align with their environmental and human rights obligations’.
‘This will halt progress in areas such as divestment from fossil fuels and boycotts of goods from illegal settlements in occupied Palestine’, BYM said on the Quakers in Britain website.
The bill is about to start the committee stage in the House of Commons, where a group of MPs examine it line-by-line.
BYM has submitted evidence to the committee highlighting the bill’s negative impact and calling for it to be scrapped.
Quaker Roots has also joined BYM in signing a joint statement with over seventy other civil society organisations against the bill.
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