Trinity College has been referred to the United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories over alleged complicity in “international crimes related to Israel’s unlawful occupation” of Palestinian territories.

The College’s investments been submitted as evidence in a report by the UN Human Rights Council on the role of the private sector in the Israeli offensive in Gaza. The evidence was submitted by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP).

The report focuses on how private businesses and universities are potentially complicit in the occupation of Palestinian territories, and how Trinity may be “aiding and abetting international crimes against Palestinians, violating Palestinians’ fundamental human rights and disregarding human rights due diligence requirements”.

This comes after the College’s undergraduate (TCSU) and postgraduate (BA Society) student unions launched an open letter campaign, urging the College to cut ties with arms companies.

The letter, published on Friday (29/11), calls on Trinity to “immediately divest and sever all ties with companies complicit in the war in Gaza,” along with establishing an “oversight committee” to implement an ethical investment policy, and hold an open meeting to address student concerns around divestment.

The letter follows the news last month that Trinity had not divested from any arms companies, despite previous reports that the College had divested.

Students were allegedly told that “Trinity will be and is in the process of divesting” in Easter term. However, in a recent meeting with the TCSU and the BA Society, Sally Davies, the College’s Master, stated that Trinity had “no interest in divesting from arms companies”.

Trinity currently holds investments in multiple arms companies, according to Freedom of Information requests. This includes Elbit Systems, which produces 85% of the drones and land-based equipment used by the Israeli army.

Trinity was issued a legal notice over potential “complicity” in “war crimes” over their investments in Elbit Systems in Lent term, due to their ties to “plausible genocide” in Gaza.

During Davies’ meeting with the College student unions, students also asked whether the College would introduce a humanitarian response fund for the war in Gaza, similar to its response to Ukraine. In response to this, Davies indicated that she “regretted” the support the College gave to Ukraine due to the precedent that it set for responses to humanitarian crises.

This news led to fresh student outrage, with activists protesting outside the College last month, calling on them to divest. During a recent protest outside Greenwich House, one speaker labelled Davies’ comments as “unconscionable evil”.

A spokesperson from the ICJP told Middle East Eye: “Our submission to the call for input highlights cases from ICJP’s work, including Trinity College and JNF UK, as complicit third sector organisations”.

“By shining a spotlight on third sector complicity, the UN Special Rapporteur has an opportunity to help fill the accountability gap that currently exists in the UK,” they continued.

Trinity College was contacted for comment.