This article examines the use of misleading conduct law to challenge false or deceptive business claims about their human rights practices and impacts. It does so in the context of recent developments in the field of business and human rights including the introduction of non-financial reporting, disclosure and human rights due diligence that have seen an increase in business communications about their human rights impacts. The article uses the Protect, Respect and Remedy framework of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to analyse the EU Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices (2005/29) and the Australian Consumer Law. Each prohibit misleading conduct by business. The article argues that, to differing extents, these legislations partially address the accountability gap that has emerged in the context of corporate human rights claims and practices.

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Displaced Palestinians flee after an evacuation order by the Israeli military in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on October 23, 2024. 
© 2024 Rami Zohud/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

(Beirut, October 26, 2024) – Israel’s renewed northern Gaza offensive is displacing and endangering hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, Human Rights Watch said today. Videos, photographs, satellite imagery, media reports, and UN agency reports analyzed by Human Rights Watch show that civilians are at grave risk of mass forced displacement and other atrocities as the last remaining places of refuge in northern Gaza, including shelters and hospitals, come under fire.

Since early October 2024, Israel has renewed mass evacuation orders for Gaza’s north, largely ordering civilians to move south, including to the “humanitarian” zone in al-Mawasi. The overcrowded area lacks adequate food, shelter, water, sanitation, and medical care. Israeli forces have also frequently attacked the zone, killing civilians. 

“Israeli forces in northern Gaza are issuing evacuation orders after having done everything to ensure that there is no safe place to go in Gaza,” said Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Unsafe evacuations are cruel and unlawful and a set up for further crimes against civilians.”

Israel, as the occupying power in Gaza, is under a duty to ensure that civilians are evacuated in satisfactory conditions of health and safety and with proper accommodation for the displaced. Its failure to do so makes the displacement unlawful. 

Israeli forces have been ordering Palestinians in northern Gaza to leave, including from schools turned shelters, detaining men and then burning, attacking, or militarily occupying those shelters. Reports allege and videos reviewed by Human Rights Watch also show that Israeli forces have killed civilians, including children, in these shelters in recent days. 

Photographs and videos posted to social media between October 19 and 23, verified by Human Rights Watch, show Israeli forces rounding up thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza for evacuation or detention. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that more than 60,000 people have been further displaced in northern Gaza in October alone, primarily from Jabalia, Beit Lahia, and Beit Hanoun.

A series of videos from in and around one school compound in Jabalia, next to a small wastewater pond, which was being used as a shelter, shows the chaos and danger of the situation.

In one video taken next to the school shared on social media on October 21, the buzzing sound of what appears to be a drone can be heard as a broadcast announcement instructs people in Arabic to “head south to al-Awda street,” around which Israeli forces are staging and appear to be screening and detaining people. 

The incident matches descriptions from news and social media reports and evacuation orders from the day. Researchers were unable to find the video on social media before October 21. 

Israeli quadcopters were used to issue orders on October 21 to evacuate the school compound near the wastewater pond area, the BBC reported. Minutes later, a medic told the BBC that Israeli forces struck the compound.

The medic, Nevine al-Dawawi, who filmed the attack’s aftermath on her phone, said the quadcopter “descended on the school at nine in the morning, giving us an ultimatum to get out by 10.” Ten minutes later, she said, Israeli forces attacked. 

In response to a question about whether Hamas was using human shields, al-Dawawi said no, adding that “they were protecting us and standing with us.”

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Satellite imagery from October 14, 2024 shows tent shelters along al-Awda street in northern Gaza as well as within the courtyards of the Kuwait School, Aleppo School, Hamad bin Khalifa School, and Beit Lahia Girls’ Preparatory School used to shelter displaced civilians. Satellite Image: October 14, 2024
© 2024 Planet Labs PBC. Analysis and Graphics © 2024 Human Rights Watch.

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Satellite imagery from October 24, 2024 shows that tent shelters along al-Awda Street and within the school courtyards near the Indonesian Hospital have been damaged or removed. The Kuwait and Aleppo schools show clear signs of damage. At least 20 Israeli armored military vehicles are on the other side of Beit Lahiya Street – a route used by large crowds of people evacuating or being made to leave a day earlier. As of October 24, these crowds are no longer visible, nor are there people in the courtyard of the Kuwait School. Satellite Image: October 24, 2024
© 2024 Planet Labs PBC. Analysis and Graphics © 2024 Human Rights Watch.

Three videos shared on X on October 21 and analyzed by Human Rights Watch show a woman carrying a bag of medical supplies and filming the aftermath of an apparent attack on or near that same school complex. The videos show bloody and gravely injured and dead men, women, and children. A group of people can be seen walking away from the shelter with their belongings. In Beit Hanoun, northeast of Jabalia, the Israeli military had been rounding up Palestinians for evacuation or detention for days around al-Awda street near the Indonesian Hospital and a series of schools used as shelters. On October 19, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, shared drone footage on X showing Israeli forces rounding up Palestinians outside one of those schools, the Kuwait School.

By October 20, photographs posted to social media and verified by Human Rights Watch showed that school ablaze. In one photograph, three people with uniforms and equipment consistent with the Israeli military watch the school burn. Drone footage shared by Adraee on October 23 on X shows the ruined school blackened by fire with people amassed in front of it as others walk past flattened buildings, newly razed ground, and Israeli military vehicles.  

A photograph posted to X on October 21 and geolocated by Human Rights Watch shows the Aleppo School, on the opposite side of the street, also on fire.

Medics from the hospital said Israeli troops stormed a school next to the hospital and detained men, then set the school on fire, Reuters reported.

Satellite imagery captured on October 23 and analyzed by researchers shows several additional school compounds and other informal shelters across Jabalia with signs of razing, damage, and fires. Many were filled with tents on satellite imagery captured on October 14 and reviewed by Human Rights Watch. However, by October 23, satellite imagery shows that most tents are gone or damaged, and military vehicles are in or around the courtyards.

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Satellite imagery from October 14, 2024 shows a large camp for displaced civilians in northern Gaza, which was established in July 2024, less than 100 meters from Salah al-Din Road. The camp is next to an area with visible earthen berms and Israeli military vehicles. Satellite Image: October 14, 2024
© 2024 Planet Labs PBC. Analysis and Graphics © 2024 Human Rights Watch.

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Satellite imagery from October 24, 2024 shows that tent shelters within a large camp along Salah al-Din Road have been removed, and Israeli military armored vehicles instead occupy the area. Imagery captured one day earlier shows large groups of people moving south along Salah al-Din Road in Gaza. However, by October 24, the road appears empty. In addition, agricultural fields on both sides of the road have been cleared compared to a satellite image 10  days earlier. A nearby school compound, which previously housed displaced civilians, now shows visible damage, with military vehicles stationed in the courtyard. Satellite Image: October 24, 2024
© 2024 Planet Labs PBC. Analysis and Graphics © 2024 Human Rights Watch.

Photographs on social media and published by Israeli press on October 22 show Israeli military leaflets, said to be dropped over northern Gaza, warning people in hospitals and shelters that they “are in a dangerous combat zone” and ordering them to “move towards the Indonesian Hospital” via al-Awda Street. This is the same area where shelters appear to have been destroyed by fire the previous day.  

A video posted to the Qassam Brigades’ Telegram channel on October 22 shows an Israeli tank driving over what the caption claims is an explosive device approximately 100 meters away from the Indonesian Hospital.  

Satellite imagery collected in the early morning of October 23 shows crowds of people in the courtyard of the Kuwait School walking toward southern Gaza along the razed main road of Beit Lahia and Salah al-Din Road, flanked by Israeli armored vehicles. 

A photograph and video shared on social media on October 22 and 23 by Israeli journalists show Israeli soldiers blindfolding and detaining barefoot Palestinian men, dressed in white jumpsuits with hands bound behind their backs, in front of the Kuwait School.

As of October 23, satellite imagery also shows that a large camp for displaced Palestinians set up in July next to Salah al-Din Road has been razed and replaced by Israeli military vehicles; agricultural fields have been also razed along both sides of the road compared with a satellite image 10 days earlier.

Palestinians across Gaza have faced scores of evacuation orders over the past year. Recent Human Rights Watch reporting shows that previous evacuation orders did not take into account the needs of children and adults with disabilities. 

Yet Israeli authorities deliberately cut off access to humanitarian assistance in northern Gaza for two weeks in October, and only a trickle of aid has entered since. The World Health Organization on October 23 cancelled a polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza due to “intense bombardments, mass displacement, and lack of access.”  

Human Rights Watch has documented Israel’s use of collective punishment and starvation as a weapon of war, which are war crimes. 

The laws of war require parties to a conflict to “take all feasible precautions” to avoid or minimize the incidental loss of civilian life and damage to civilian objects. These precautions include doing everything feasible to verify that the objects of attack are military objectives and not civilians or civilian objects, giving “effective advance warning” of attacks when circumstances permit, and avoiding locating military objectives in or near densely populated areas. 

Even if an evacuation order or warning has been given or a military objective is present, the attacking party is not relieved from its obligation to take into account the risk to civilians, including the duty to avoid causing disproportionate harm. Civilians who do not evacuate do not lose their status as civilians and their protections under international humanitarian law.

Temporary evacuations may be lawful if required by imperative military necessity or civilian safety. However, evacuations that are not justified under those grounds or fail to ensure safety, basic necessities, and the ability to return as soon as possible, are prohibited as forced displacement. Forced displacement with criminal intent—intentionally or recklessly—is a war crime. Several Israeli officials have called for new Jewish settlements in Gaza and “taking territory” from the Palestinians.

“Forcing people to evacuate again without ensuring their safety is unlawful, and intentional forced displacement is a war crime,” Fakih said. “When a party that has committed war crimes makes statements and takes action suggesting it’s willing to commit more crimes, we need to see a more serious response from the international community.”

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Joe Stork.
© Human Rights Watch

Joe Stork, a beloved mentor and friend to human rights activists across the Middle East and a treasured colleague whose career at Human Rights Watch spanned more than three decades, died unexpectedly on October 23, 2024, at his home in Washington, DC. He was 81.

Stork, who joined Human Rights Watch in 1996 as the Middle East and North Africa Division’s advocacy director and later became the division’s deputy director, played a pivotal role in shaping the division into what it is today. One of his first assignments with Human Rights Watch was to document rampant abuses in Bahrain, a country on which he continued to do research and advocacy for decades.

“Anyone who had the pleasure of crossing paths with Joe will remember him not just for his brilliant mind and shrewd advocacy, but as a humble, warm, encouraging, and kind colleague and friend,” said Tirana Hasan, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “To many of us, myself included, Joe was not just a colleague but a mentor, too.”

During his time at Human Rights Watch, Stork contributed extensively to groundbreaking reports on Israel/Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, and the Gulf states.

He was a lifelong advocate for the rights of Palestinians and the author, among his many contributions, of a major report in 2002 on suicide bombing attacks against Israeli civilians.

Stork was also the rare Middle East expert who took an active interest in every country in the region. He made countless working trips to countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa during and after his many years at Human Rights Watch. 

Stork was a tenacious investigator with a deep understanding of the region and its issues.  He also had uncanny timing, coincidentally landing in Cairo on January 25, 2011, as the Arab Spring uprisings unfolded that year. Stork’s editing was rigorous and informed by his knowledge of the subject matter and the polemics surrounding it. 

He was willing to help colleagues wherever and at whatever late hour he was needed and responded effectively and with sharp judgment to the many diverse crises in the Middle East and North Africa.

Joe Stork had a master’s degree in International Affairs/Middle East Studies from Columbia University.

Before joining Human Rights Watch, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Turkey. He went on to co-found the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) and from 1971 to 1995 was the chief editor of Middle East Report, its bimonthly magazine. He joined the Gulf Center for Human Rights Advisory Board in 2011 and served as the board chair from 2019 until 2022.

Stork testified numerous times before congressional committees, including on the human rights conditions in Bahrain during the government’s violent crackdown on pro-democracy and anti-government street protests in 2011. But as Stork himself noted, it was in the field where he “felt most keenly the worth of the work we do,” because he was able to work “hand in hand” with local activists, many of whom became close friends over the years.

“Joe was a mensch, a mentor, and a major intellectual figure in Middle East reporting and analysis,” said Joost Hiltermann, Middle East and North Africa program director for the International Crisis Group and a close friend of Stork’s for 40 years. “He founded MERIP/Middle East Report, taught countless young scholars and activists through his editing and his example, and he and his wife, the late Priscilla Norris, opened their house to anyone ready for an animated conversation and a mouth-watering meal.”

As word of his passing spread, tributes began pouring in from across the Middle East.

“This is a deeply sad day as I mourn a mentor, a teacher, and a great friend,” said Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. “Joe was also a close family friend, and during the seven long years I spent in prison, he stayed in contact with my family, offering them comfort and support. His presence, even from afar, gave me hope and strength in those difficult times.”

Sayed Alwadaei, advocacy director at the UK-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said that working with Stork affected him deeply: “To me, Joe was not just a mentor but a true expert on the Middle East—a master of the craft. He taught me to question every detail to make sure things are reported accurately and to always remember my duty to victims first. The Bahraini people have lost a true friend and dedicated advocate.”

Eric Goldstein, who worked closely with Stork for many years in Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, said that Stork and his wife frequently hosted people from the region in their home.

“Joe seized every opportunity to travel and made lifelong friends and admirers wherever he went,” Goldstein said. “His and Priscilla’s long dining table was a never-ending procession of Middle Easterners, colleagues, and friends discussing the region over copious meals served on Palestinian hand-painted dishware.”

Stork attempted to retire in November 2017, sending a farewell email to colleagues at Human Rights Watch with a photograph of himself kicking back in a lawn chair beside a lake, a hat pulled over his eyes. But the bucolic leisure did not last long. Stork rejoined Human Rights Watch as an acting deputy director and later senior editor focusing on work in the Gulf until January 2024.

“Over the time we shared at Human Rights Watch, Joe was truly my partner, mentor, guide, and shoulder to cry on, and as I told him as often as he would hear it, I could not have survived in that job without him,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, former director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, who was originally hired by Stork. “He tried and tried to retire, but we kept bringing him right back to work with us, because no one wanted him to leave, ever!”

After his departure from Human Rights Watch, Stork continued to follow the situation of human rights activists whose work he had supported and whose safety deeply concerned him. 

Stork is survived by his daughters Nora Stork Sivo, Zafra Stork, and Leila Wright, and his grandchildren Jason Sivo, and Neila, Sekai, and Adira Wright.

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A guard stands in a tower on the perimeter of the Number 3 Detention Center in Dabancheng in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on April 23, 2021.
© 2021 AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

(Sydney) – The Australian government should take the lead with other governments to continue to publicly criticize grave human rights abuses in China, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. An Australian-led joint statement at the United Nations General Assembly on October 22, 2024, expressed ongoing concerns about the Chinese government’s serious human rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s criticism of the General Assembly statement and of Australia in particular highlights the importance of countries raising these matters in public forums.

“The Chinese government’s human rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet have continued unabated in recent years and in some respects have gotten even worse,” said Daniela Gavshon, Australia director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s crucial for Australia to work with other concerned governments to take strong, coordinated action to hold the Chinese government to account.”

In August 2022, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released a landmark report on Xinjiang that found that the Chinese government had committed serious human rights violations against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims that “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.” Two years after the report’s publication, Chinese authorities have made no meaningful efforts to carry out the recommendations or stem their relentless abuses against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims, instead dismissing the report as “illegal and void.”

The High Commissioner’s Office stated in August that “many problematic laws and policies remain in place” and identified a lack of access and risk of reprisals against people engaging with the UN as key barriers in ongoing monitoring efforts.

The human rights situation in Tibet is also very alarming, the organizations said. Multiple UN human rights bodies have expressed concern over the Chinese government’s forced assimilation of Tibetans into Chinese society and its moves to erase Tibet’s distinct identity.

These include the marginalization of the Tibetan language in favor of Mandarin Chinese as the medium of instruction in primary schools. The government has also engaged in massive involuntary relocations that have disrupted the lives of Tibetan farmers and nomads, compelling them to abandon traditional livelihoods for manufacturing and construction work.

“For years, China has severely restricted the access of independent international observers to Tibet,” said Ry Atkinson, Amnesty International’s strategic campaigner. “If there is truly nothing to hide, China must allow Australian government officials and other international actors unrestricted access to assess the human rights situation on the ground.”

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International urge the Australian government to continue to promote a coordinated international response to press the Chinese government to account for all those missing and arbitrarily detained in Xinjiang, end cultural assimilation in Xinjiang and Tibet, and take concrete action in response to the General Assembly statement and the UN human rights office’s report.

“Australia and other countries should not be deterred by the Chinese government’s transparent attempt to bully them into silence,” Atkinson said. “No state, no matter how influential, should be shielded from accountability for human rights violations.”