Apartheid-profiteers have no place in Scottish services
The Scottish Greens have urged the SNP government to remove Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles S.A (CAF) from the shortlist of bidders for the new ScotRail suburban train fleet.
CAF has been named in the United Nations Human Rights database as a company involved in activities connected with illegal Israeli settlements.
A proposal brought forward by the Scottish Greens 12 months ago made Scotland the first country in the world to back Palestinian civil society’s calls for a range of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) measures against the state of Israel and companies complicit in crimes against Palestinians.
ASLEF rail union, RMT and STUC have previously called for the company to be rejected.
It comes as the Edinburgh Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee has called a protest against the decision for today at 1pm.
Campaigners will march to Bute House, urging First Minister John Swinney to properly implement BDS in Scotland by dropping CAF as a shortlisted bidder.
Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie said:
“Allowing CAF to be short-listed for a Scotrail contract is a clear breach of the boycott policy that the Scottish Parliament voted for.
“Campaigners are right to call on John Swinney to take action and stop Scotland from backing companies profiting from apartheid, genocide or human rights abuses.
“If a company has been named by the UN for profiteering from the repression and abuse of Palestinians, it should not be competing for public contracts in Scotland.
“If this contract is awarded to CAF then it is clear that the Scottish Government are intent on taking no action to implement the boycott and refusing to listen to trade unions and rightly outraged campaigners.
“It’s beyond time for John Swinney to intervene and bring in the boycott in full.”