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'UNHCR not using G4S security contractor'

By Muath Freij - Nov 30,2015 - Last updated at Nov 30,2015

AMMAN — UNHCR is not using the G4S company to provide security services; it is using a local security company, an agency official said on Monday. 

Andrew Harper, the UNHCR representative to Jordan, stressed that the UN agency is using a local company called Shark, not the UK-based G4S, which Jordanian activists have criticised for providing security services to Israel. 

Harper's comments came after a number of Jordanian women and men gathered outside UNDP premises on Sunday, calling on the UN agency to revise its contract with G4S. 

A statement sent to The Jordan Times by the event's organisers said that five UN agencies — UNDP, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNOPS and WFP — use G4S services, but Harper stressed that they are using a different security company. 

Shark is a local company that provides its clients in Jordan and the Middle East with security solutions, according to its website. 

The G4S official website showed that it is providing security services for a number of clients, including UN offices in the Kingdom. 

In a statement released on Sunday, US-based grass-roots activist group CODEPINK said the UN purchases “more than $22 million in G4S contracts each year”.

 

“Today, on November 29, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Palestinian human rights organisations joined by over 220 solidarity groups, trade unions, human rights organisations and migrant solidarity groups from around the world renew the call and urge the UN to cancel its contract with G4S,” the statement said.

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