The UN Human Rights Council. Photo: UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – An upcoming United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) report that would establish a database of companies with ties to Israeli settlements has been delayed until later this year.

“There is a need for more time, it is a very complex issue,” a Western diplomat told Reuters. “You need to have a clear vision of how you list the companies, what is the exact criteria.”

Israel has described the UNHRC database, which was originally commissioned last March, as a “blacklist,” while accusing the 47-member nation agency of acting “obsessively” against the Jewish state. Critics of the report fear that the database will be used to implement boycotts of Israeli businesses.

Jeremie Smith, director of the Geneva office of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, told Reuters that countries opposing the UNHRC report are attempting to delay it.

“We’ve heard unofficial reports that there is strong pressure by states who did not support the creation of this database to try to delay its release and bury its findings,” Smith said.

The Pakistan-led proposal to create the report on settlement ties was backed by 32 countries. The US, which does not have a vote in the UNHRC, voiced strong objections to the proposed report.