ACT Alliance EU

Profile

Country/TerritoryEuropean Union
Websitehttp://www.aprodev.eu/
Founded1990 as APRODEV. In 2015 "APRODEV integrated its activities with those of ACT Alliance to become ACT Alliance Advocacy to the European Union."
In their own words“influence decision-making processes in the European Union institutions as these affect developing countries, in order to promote justice and peace, and the eradication of poverty.”

Funding

  • Act Alliance EU does not include any financial data, donor information, or sources of funding on its website, reflecting a complete lack of transparency and accountability.

Activities

  • Effective January 1, 2015, APRODEV merged with ACT Alliance to become ACT Alliance Advocacy to the European Union, or ACT Alliance EU. According to its website, its “purpose will remain unchanged… The integration of the two organisations makes sense. APRODEV’s 14 member agencies are all members of ACT Alliance. More importantly, the integration… allows APRODEV and ACT Alliance to join efforts to influence global processes, combining APRODEV’s EU advocacy and policy expertise with ACT Alliance’s advocacy work in the global South and with the United Nations to help create positive and sustainable change in the lives of the poor and marginalised, the communities we seek to serve, and to safeguard their human rights.”
  • Founded in order “to strengthen the cooperation between the European development organisations which work closely together with the World Council of Churches (WCC).”
  • According to its website, “ACT Alliance EU consists of 14 member organisations with offices in 11 European countries.”

Political Advocacy

  • Lobbies international frameworks, mainly the EU, to apply “pressure” on Israel; promotes BDS campaigns; and utilizes highly biased and politicized language demonizing Israel.
  • Act Alliance EU acts as a platform to promote the publications of a number of highly biased and politicized NGOs active in the Arab-Israeli conflict including: Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence, Gisha, and Diakonia.
  • Agnes Bertrand, advocacy officer at APRODEV, served as a “witness” for the Russell Tribunal on Palestine’s (RToP) “Extraordinary session” on “Israel’s Crimes in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.”  The RToP has no judicial basis and exploits a legal facade in order to create an appearance of neutrality and credibility. RToP sessions regularly demonize Israel, making false allegations of “apartheid,” “collective punishment,” and “war crimes.”
  • Promotes the 2012 report, “Trading Away Peace: How Europe helps sustain illegal Israeli settlements,” which repeats the BDS agenda, calling on the EU and national governments to wage political warfare through various forms of economic sanctions on Israel.
  • Together with the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN), published a 2012 position paper, “EU-Israel Relations: Promoting and Ensuring Respect for International Law” (funded by the Church of Sweden and Open Society Foundations), which “focuses on the pressure that the EU can apply on Israel so that both parties can comply with their obligations under international law.” The paper directs the EU to: “Condition its relations with Israel on respect for IHRL and IHL”; “Adopt a coherent and comprehensive reporting mechanism, on IHRL and IHL violations”; “Address Israeli human rights violations in all aspects of its dialogue with Israel” and “Protect Israeli and Palestinian civil society organizations and consult with them at all stages of development in EU-Israel relations.”
  • Calls for the suspension of the Israel-EU Association Agreement due to Israel’s “material breaches…and [violations of] provisions of human rights, democratic principles, on respect for Charter of the United Nations and provisions on trade.” APRODEV alleges that “Israel has carried out systematic violations of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories” and “imposes collective punishment on Palestinian civilians”; “indiscriminately shells residential areas”; “extensively destroys and confiscates Palestinian property”; “prevents freedom of movement to people and goods through internal and external closures”; “prevents the movement of food and medical supplies”; “gravely undermines public health”; “attacks medical and hospital establishments and services, schools, mosques and churches”; “undermines the right to education and freedom of religion”; “illegally detains and tortures Palestinian citizens, including children”; and “ systematically practices extra-judicial killings targeting Palestinian civilians, including high representatives of the National Palestinian Authority.”

Members

  • Bread for the World-EED (Germany)
    • In June 2017, BfW-EED issued a press release in which it stressed “For Bread for the World any promotion ends with the denial of Israel’s right to exist, calling for the boycott of goods from Israel, or promotion of antisemitism” (NGO Monitor translation). Contrary to this claim, BfW funds radical and politicized NGOs that promote Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) and “lawfare” campaigns against Israel.
    • In July 2014, BfW- EED and Misereor, the aid framework of the Catholic Church in Germany, held a conference in Berlin on “The ICJ’s Wall Opinion Revisited: Towards its effective Implementation.” The event addressed “the impact of the wall … on the human rights of the local population, … attempt to clarify the role of the United Nations and …the role of third parties in ensuring the implementation of the legal obligations described in the advisory opinion.” Contrary to the narrative at the conference, the security barrier was built in response to terror attacks emanating from the West Bank and has saved countless lives since its construction.
  • Christian Aid (UK)
  • Church of Sweden
    • Focuses on international advocacy, stating that “advocacy work targets those with economic and political power in Sweden, the EU and the UN.”
    • In August 2016, Church of Sweden sponsored a “Kairos Palestine summer camp” aimed at “ramping up the pressure on Israel by increasing the Church’s support of and participation in the BDS movement.” Anna Karin Hammar, the head of the camp and a Rev. Dr. for Church of Sweden, gave a presentation at the camp where she stated, “BDS may be the only chance to liberate both Palestinians and Israeli Jews from the occupation.  We should have nothing to do with the Israeli banking system” and there should be “no military cooperation between Sweden and Israel.”
  • DanChurchAid (Denmark)
    • Funds DanWatch, which promotes BDS under the guide of “business ethics.” DanChurchAid specifically funds DanWatch’s project “Business on Forbidden Land,” focusing on Danish companies allegedly conducting business in Israeli settlements and opposing the marketing of Israeli goods produced in the West Bank.
    • In June 2017, to mark “50 years of occupation,” DanChurchAid organized a panel with Shawan Jabarin, director of Al-Haq,  and Hagai El-Ad, Executive Director of B’Tselem.
  • Diakonia (Sweden)
    • Diakonia’s “International Humanitarian Law” (IHL) program, which has its own online “Resource Center,” exploits international law, demonizes Israel, and promotes anti-Israel lawfare campaigns and a narrative based solely on Palestinian victimization. The IHL program focuses exclusively on Israel, and Diakonia does not conduct similar types of programs in terms of content or resources involving any other conflict region in the world.
    • The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine Israel (EAPPI) “extend[ed] a special thanks to Diakonia for providing their expertise on international law in contribution” to EAPPI’s core publication, “Faith Under Occupation” (jointly published with the World Council of Churches and the Jerusalem Inter-Church Centre). The publication places sole blame on Israel for the difficulties faced by Christians in the Holy Land and seeks to “disprove” what it calls “unfounded Israeli and Christian Zionist propaganda that Palestinian Christians are depopulating due to Muslim fundamentalism in Palestinian society.”
  • FinnChurch Aid (Finland)
  • HEKS/EPER (Switzerland)
  • World Council of Churches
  • Lutheran World Federation
    • Utilizes highly biased and politicized rhetoric, placing primary blame for the continuation of the conflict on the “Israeli occupation…Restrictions on movement [that] continue[s] to hamper [Palestinian] growth prospects…” The statement omits Palestinian terror attacks against Israeli civilians, the legitimate right of the state of Israel to self-defense, and the complexities of the conflict.
    • In June 2016, the Lutheran World Federation held a meeting in Germany calling for “urgent international efforts to resolve the region’s conflicts through negotiation rather than further violence” as well as for “the cessation of all Israeli settlement activities in the occupied territories.”

Partners

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