Liam Burns, President of NUS, has written to the Principal of King's College London, Richard Trainor, asking for urgent reconsideration of the institution's involvement in a European Union research project which includes Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories. This comes after the NUS Executive Council, along with the University of London Union and KCL Students' Union, overwhelming voted to support the campaign to pressure King's to withdraw from the NanoReTox project.

"A swift resolution"

Ahava is a cosmetics company which uses, in part, resources from occupied Palestinian territories. Burns pointed to Ahava as being "deeply complicit with violations of international law, specifically concerning declaration of their products origins within occupied Palestinian territories." He goes onto say that "a swift resolution, which we believe involves severing ties with the NanoReTox project whilst Ahava is still a partner, with the ultimate aim of Ahava complying with international law, is in everyone’s best interests." Considering NUS' strong record in ethical procurement and constructive engagement, an offer was made to support King's in responding to students' concerns.

This comes barely a year after the international scandal surrounding the London School of Economics and their institutional  links to the human rights abusing regime of the Gaddafi family. The students' union continues to have constructive meetings with the Principal regarding the issue. The full letter can be found here.

Vice President Society and Citizenship, Dannie Grufferty has also written to the European Commission to relay NUS concerns about the prevalence of EU funds supporting research projects with companies based in Israeli settlements. You can read the letter here.

For more information, contact Dannie Grufferty, NUS Vice-President (Society & Citizenship)