Palestinian civil society and solidarity organizations worldwide strongly condemn the United Nations International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) shameful partnership in its so-called “AI for Good” summit with tech companies, particularly Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Cisco, Oracle, and IBM, that, in providing cloud infrastructure and AI technologies to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, are deeply complicit in atrocity crimes (including apartheid and genocide). We call for global pressure on the UN and its member States to:
- End the UN’s partnership with these and similarly complicit tech corporations in this summit and open the summit to critical analyses of AI, particularly by credible representatives of communities that are most affected by its unregulated use in the commission of international crimes; and designate AI and Cloud technologies as dual-use, given their proven use in facilitating Israel’s military aggression, ethnic cleansing, and genocidal attacks on Palestinians;
- Cancel all UN contracts with Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Cisco, Oracle, Palantir and IBM whenever feasible; end all relations with corporations that are implicated in grave human rights violations, war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide anywhere when viable alternatives exist; and exclude these complicit corporations from all future UN contracts by adopting a robust ethical procurement policy in accordance with international law, to replace the current UN’s weak-by design supplier code of conduct;
- Demand that the UN Secretary-General open an investigation into corporate capture of the UN and not work with Microsoft’s UN Affairs offices in Geneva and New York given that Microsoft knowingly provides Israel with customized technology, including AI, that enables its atrocity crimes.
UN tech partners Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Cisco, Oracle, Palantir and IBM are knowingly and persistently failing to meet their responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the UNDP Guide on Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence for Business in Conflict-Affected Contexts, while exacerbating violations of International Humanitarian Law, International Human Rights Law, and even the UN supplier code of conduct. Aside from their involvement in human rights violations worldwide, tech sponsors of this UN conference have been exposed for enabling Israel’s “plausible” genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, as determined by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in January 2024, and its illegal occupation and apartheid, as ruled by the ICJ in July 2024 (see background and annex). Despite ample evidence and knowledge of Israel’s countless violations of international law and cruel conduct against Palestinians, including through authoritative reports by human rights organisations and their own employees, the afore-mentioned companies have demonstrably taken no action to prevent their products from being used towards further genocidal acts or international crimes at large. On the contrary, in many cases, they have dramatically increased their sales to Israel throughout its ongoing genocide.
All States and the UN have legal obligations to end this egregious corporate complicity in international crimes. By contracting them, accepting sponsorships from them or offering speaking platforms to them, the UN betrays its very mission–to uphold global peace and justice as well as ensure respect for international law and for UN conventions and institutions. It also whitewashes these corporations’ complicity in atrocity crimes thus emboldening their criminal behavior.
These UN corporate partners are the technological backbone of Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid regime. They sell unregulated AI and cloud technologies overtly used by Israel’s occupation forces to perpetrate genocide in the illegally occupied and besieged Gaza Strip (see annex). The UN celebrating “AI for Good” with such corporations is the infamous culmination of decades of aggressive corporate capture of UN institutions and regulatory mechanisms. Describing AI purposes, as seen by these companies, as “good” whitewashes their involvement in digital colonization, including mass surveillance and unauthorized manipulation of personal data. It also divorces the moral judgment of their impact on humanity from their commitment, or lack thereof, to human rights and international law.
Per the Genocide Convention Article III, complicity in genocide is as punishable as directly committing genocide, making the corporations aiding Israel’s genocide, as well as their managers and directors, criminally liable for aiding the state perpetrating it. By failing to regulate AI and cloud technologies, the UN and its member States empower tech companies to develop illegal applications of these technologies for use in committing grave human rights violations worldwide, posing a serious threat particularly to the most affected communities in the Global South.
As critical cyber security expert Dr. Anwar Mhajne writes, “Israel’s use of AI reveals the consequences of relying on individual states to regulate new technologies and safeguard human rights. A lack of international ethical guidelines and legal frameworks for AI, in other words, will strengthen authoritarian governments.”₁ South Asian law scholar Sadaf Naushad argued that “the Geneva Convention … must extend its coverage on the limits of AI weaponry, particularly limitations on development, production, and use.” These warnings and calls for regulating AI are echoed by many experts. Japanese engineering and robotics specialist Dr. Haruki Ueno recently called for AI to be regulated as dual-use technology, cautioning, “artificial intelligence is too attractive a game-changing technology for powerful countries not to consider its use in military conflict.” Kenyan AI expert Dr. Nderu writes, “while fairness in AI models is important, the [African] continent must confront the realities of dual-use technologies that threaten security, human rights, and sovereignty. Policymakers, researchers, and civil society must advocate for regulatory frameworks that govern not just how AI is trained but also how it is used in both civilian and military contexts. The future of AI in Africa must be one of empowerment, not subjugation.”
The UN and its 193 member States already committed to implementing regulatory legal frameworks for ethical AI in the landmark 2024 Pact for the Future, Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations. The pact states, “we commit to advance equitable and inclusive approaches to harnessing artificial intelligence benefits and mitigating risks in full respect of international law, including international human rights law, and taking into account other relevant frameworks such as the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.” [Emphasis added] We demand that the UN follow through on this commitment.₂
AI’s impact on human rights is not limited to Palestinians. But as the “test subjects” for militarized technologies exported globally and as survivors of Israel’s ongoing, AI-assisted genocide, Palestinians are a canary in the coal mine warning the world of the catastrophic future of weaponized AI.
With both civilian and military applications, AI (particularly agent-based AI) is at the forefront of a significant shift in weapons development and poses risks to international peace, security and human rights. Addressing and challenging the egregious abuses of unregulated militarized AI and cloud technologies and the possible corporate capture of the UN by tech oligarchs are urgent for human rights and the pursuit of justice and peace globally. Now is the time for member States and the international community to heed this critical call from the most affected nations and communities.
Signatories:
- Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC)₃
- General Union of Palestinian Workers (GUPW)
- Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO)₄
- Palestinian Union of Postal, IT & Telecommunications Workers
- Federation of Independent Trade Unions
- Palestinian Federation of New Unions
- Medical Association - Jerusalem Center
- Palestinian Bar Association
- General Union of Palestinian Teachers (GUPT)
- Agricultural Engineers Association - Jerusalem Center
- Veterinarians Syndicate - Jerusalem Center
- General Union of Palestinian Women
- General Union of Palestinian Peasants
- General Union of Palestinian Writers
- Union of Palestinian Farmers
- Palestinian National Institute for NGOs
- Women Campaign to Boycott Israeli Products
- Global Palestine Right of Return Coalition
- Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Initiative (OPGAI)
- Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (STW)
- Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)
- Civic Coalition for the Defense of Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem
- Coalition for Jerusalem
- National Committee to Commemorate the Nakba
- Union of Palestinian Charitable Organizations
- Fight for the Future
- Adalah Justice Project
- Tech Divestment Network
- No Tech for Apartheid Google and Amazon Workers
- No Azure for Apartheid Microsoft Workers
- Majal (social justice through tech in the Southwest Asia and North Africa)
- Tech for Palestine
- Bridge to Humanity: Cisco Workers of Conscience
- Oracle Employees for Palestine
- Numun Fund (supporting feminist technology ecosystem towards a more just world)
- Apples Against Apartheid (Apple workers for of conscience)
- Intel Workers for Palestine (UNCAGE)
- Tech Workers Coalition
- Jewish Voice for Peace
1- Anwar Mhajne, “Israel’s AI Revolution: From Innovation to Occupation,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, November 2, 2023. https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/2023/11/israels-ai-revolution-from-innovation-to-occupation?lang=en
2 - See also clause 20(b) of A/RES/78/213 of the UNGA as another example of UN resolutions in the works to protect against the worst iterations of AI “To prevent harm to individuals caused by artificial intelligence systems and to refrain from or cease the use of artificial intelligence applications that are impossible to operate in compliance with international human rights law or that pose undue risks to the enjoyment of human rights, unless and until the adequate safeguards to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms are in place”.
3- PHROC members are :Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association, Al Dameer Association for Human, Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human, The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Defence for Children International – Palestine, Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies, Hurryyat Centre for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights, Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights.
4 - Civil Society coalition of 135 Palestinian NGOs.