Declaration of Commitment to an Apartheid-Free Zone

We, Friends of the Earth Ireland, as an NGO committed to social and climate justice, declare our intention to work towards making this space an Apartheid-Free Zone (AFZ). We affirm our support for the growing international movement for Palestinian rights and for freedom, justice, and equality for all.

We commit to aligning our actions with the principles of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, following the lead of Palestinian civil society. We will actively work to do all in our power to challenge and dismantle Israel’s apartheid regime and settler-colonial occupation by ensuring that our policies, partnerships, and financial engagements reflect these values.

As an Apartheid-Free Zone, we strive to:

● Reject Israeli apartheid as defined by international human rights law and engage in advocacy initiatives aligned with international law to promote justice and equality for Palestinians.

● Promote Palestinian rights through our communications, education, and public engagement activities.

● Challenge the impacts of settler colonialism in Palestine and globally by promoting decolonial education and countering narratives that erase Palestinian dispossession.

● Review and adjust our financial and professional relations to ensure we are not complicit with Israeli institutions and corporations involved in apartheid, illegal occupation, and military industries.

● Develop and strengthen ethical procurement and partnership policies that actively seek to end any complicity in Israeli apartheid systems or the global arms trade.

● Work towards ending complicity with Israel’s regime of oppression by supporting and engaging in BDS campaigning.

● Respect the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) by refraining from participation in or promotion of activities, projects, or events that pinkwash, greenwash, or otherwise whitewash or legitimise Israeli apartheid.

● Reject funding and sponsorship from the Israeli government, complicit Israeli institutions, or Israeli lobby groups in relation to the development of our social activities and projects.

● Adhere to the Palestinian consensus-based anti-normalization guidelines and commit to continuously re-evaluating our stance and actions to ensure we uphold the principles of an AFZ.

● Ensure our board and governance structures integrate AFZ principles and establish regular policy reviews to maintain accountability and assess our

partnerships, financial investments, and activities in alignment with this declaration.

By making this commitment, we recognise that achieving an Apartheid-Free Zone is an ongoing process. We will take concrete steps to uphold these principles and continually assess and strengthen our approach to ensure our actions reflect our values.

Friends of the Earth Ireland has been working towards these aims prior to the release of this statement and, through this declaration, publicly commits to continuing this work and reiterates our support for the international BDS movement.

Further, we wish to highlight the work of our colleagues in the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON- FoE Palestine), who are operating within this genocide and ecocide. Donations can be made here to support their work to serve the Palestinian environment hand-in-hand with social justice causes while integrating social, economic and cultural rights as a part of environmental protection and defence.

 

Source: BDS Apartheid Free Zone Toolkit, August 2024, available: https://bdsmovement.net/sites/default/files/AFZ_Toolkit.pdf

Cover image credit: Bianka Csenki- The Artivist Network