Bulldozer genocide

In 2021, Amnesty International highlighted how the UK construction company, JCB, which manufactures bulldozers, had not taken adequate steps within the company’s means to prevent its machinery from being used to demolish Palestinian homes and construct illegal Israeli settlements on the seized Palestinian land. It described this as “a failure that puts the firm in breach of its responsibilities under international human rights standards.”

Now a new report, Stop JCB’s Bulldozer Genocide, produced by a coalition of groups, describes how the Indian government of Narendra Modi “has consistently used JCB bulldozers to demolish Muslim homes, shops and places of worship across various Indian states in an ongoing project disturbingly named ‘bulldozer justice’.”

The report is published by the South Asia Solidarity Group, South Asia Justice Campaign, Nijjor Manush, South Asians for Palestine and Stop JCB Demolitions Campaign.

JCB bulldozers, says the report, “have been used to carry out both punitive and arbitrary demolitions. In the punitive demolitions the homes of people accused of crimes, which include protesting against the [governing] BJP, are destroyed. Arbitrary demolitions are illustrated by experiences such as that of Hasina Bi, a 56 year old widow from the state of Madhya Pradesh: ‘Everyone at home was asleep that noon, om the fatigue of fasting for Ramzan. Suddenly we heard a lot of commotion outside. We came out and saw four or five JCB machines coming towards our house. The machines directly attacked our house. We weren’t given any notice, nothing’.”

An Amnesty International report in February 2024 investigated 63 of 128 demolitions across Assam, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi between April and June 2022, and confirmed the use of JCB machines in 33 instances. All 63 demolitions – residential buildings, shops, and mosques – were carried out without following due process, and amounted to forced evictions.

The report sets out the similarities in the policies of the Israeli and Indian governments. It highlights the campaign ‘JCB: Stop Bulldozer Genocide’ and its two central demands:

1. JCB must end its relationship with the Israeli Ministry of Defence and cease all activities in occupied Palestine.

2. JCB must commit to ensuring that its products are not used for human rights violations in India and Kashmir through robust monitoring and prevention systems. This includes making compulsory the use of its existing LiveLink technology to trace and locate JCB machines.

In Palestine, as well as destroying Palestinian homes and other vital structures, including educational and healthcare facilities, and constructing illegal Israeli settlements, JCBs have also been used to construct Israel’s Separation Wall, declared illegal in 2024, and other illegal Israeli infrastructure. A 2023 report by Corporate Occupation found that between 2019-22, JCB machinery was used to displace or directly impact at least 41,251 Palestinians.

“The deployment of JCB machinery in the demolition of Palestinian homes and infrastructure constitutes a clear breach of international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention,” argues the new report. The United Nations has also repeatedly declared Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories to be unlawful.

“Companies like JCB have a duty to uphold human rights, even in challenging contexts such as conflict zones,” concludes the report. “The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which were endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011, clearly define the responsibilities of businesses to avoid contributing to or enabling human rights violations.”

An extended version of this report can be found at https://southasiajusticecampaign.org

The report is being launched on Saturday 25th January 2025 at 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm, near Russell Square,  London,  WC1B 5EH. Registration details here. Venue available on registration. Details of speakers here.