BOYCOTT ZIONIST IKEA

[creampie]

Ikea has said it "deeply regrets" the use of political prisoners as forced labour in communist East Germany by some of its suppliers.

The Swedish furniture giant asked accountants Ernst & Young to look into the matter, dating back 25-30 years.

The study indicates that political and criminal prisoners were involved in manufacturing for Ikea suppliers.

It also said that Ikea representatives at the time knew that political prisoners were possibly used.

In the past Ikea had given contracts to the East German (GDR) government.

Former political prisoners of the Stasi, the feared secret police, said they worked on the furniture, leading to Ikea commissioning the Ernst & Young report in May this year.

Those former prisoners may now expect compensation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20356945
BDS Action: Protest IKEA, which Delivers to Israeli Colonies but not Palestinian Cities in West Bank
02 November 2010
IKEA Don’t Buy into Occupation! Campaign
You may have heard that this summer, Swedish Radio revealed that the Swedish furniture company IKEA, through its local franchisee in Israel Northern Birch Ltd. makes home deliveries to Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. They refuse to deliver to Palestinian communities nearby.
The settlements are illegal according to international law, and considered illegal also by the EU. Delivering furniture to the settlers means giving legitimacy to the dual system called apartheid by many operated by the Israeli government.
At the same time IKEA takes pride in being considered as one of the frontrunners of CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility. The company has an extensive Code of Conduct, based on the eight core conventions defined in the Fundamental Principles of Rights at Work, ILO declaration June 1998, the Rio Declaration on Sustainable Development 1992, The UN Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development and the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact 2000. IKEA recognises the fundamental principles of Human Rights, as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations 1948).[1]
Swedish renowned professor of international law, Mr. Ove Bring, stated after reviewing the case that IKEA is breaching the spirit of the universal human rights by its delivery policy.[2]
Shortly after IKEA Israels delivery policy was revealed, a campaign was launched in Sweden and spread to other countries. The campaign was inspired by the non-violent struggle against the Israeli occupation and oppression of Palestine and in particular the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) call made by the Palestinian civil society in 2005. Throughout the summer letters were written to IKEA, pickets were organized outside IKEA stores and IKEAs management was contacted on several occasions. Much of the campaign material can be found on the blog: bdsikea.wordpress.com.
IKEA certainly felt the pressure but it did not make them change their policy. In statements, IKEA said: “We as well as our Israeli franchisee regret any limitations preventing any customer from visiting the IKEA stores or from using the services offered by the IKEA partners.” IKEA is referring to competition legislation in Europe that forbids them “to instruct anyone to prevent delivery of goods to end-consumers located in other countries/territories when the end-consumer has visited the IKEA Store to make their purchases”.
It is now time to step up the campaign and we encourage you to join the protests to put pressure on IKEA. IKEA is a worldwide company with 314 stores in 38 countries (all info can be found at www.ikea.com). Together we can potentially make IKEA stop contributing to the occupation. This can also deter other companies from doing the same.
We need your help with the following:
1. Do you have any judicial contacts that may be of use, particularly with knowledge of the European Unions legal system? As IKEA is referring to EU competition laws we need to investigate further whether these laws in fact absolve IKEA from any legal responsibility or not.
2. Do you have any contacts with expert knowledge of international law? To us it appears extremely problematic that EU competition laws contradict international humanitarian law but again, this needs to be investigated thoroughly.
3. Do you have anyone within or outside your organization that would be able to help with layout and print design?
4. Ideas for how we could approach and influence IKEA. Note that some suggestions for flyers and letters to IKEA is available at: bdsikea.wordpress.com
Please share with us any information and material that could be useful for the campaign such as video, photo or written material to: [email protected] This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Sincerely,
The IKEA, Dont buy into occupation! campaign
bdsikea.wordpress.com