- Farnborough International arms fair to take place between 11-15 July
- 61 military delegations attended in 2014, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Turkey
- Protest against the event will take place outside the Science Museum in London at 6pm on Monday 11 July when it hosts the official ‘welcome reception’
- Further protests planned throughout the opening day
This week, between July 11-15, the UK will be hosting Farnborough International 2016, an arms fair with a particular focus on aircraft. The event will bring some of the world’s biggest arms companies together with a number of government and military delegations that have been accused of human rights abuses.
The list of the military delegations invited to attend has not been published yet, but among those invited to attend the event in 2014 were Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Libya and Algeria.
Most of the world’s major arms companies will have a significant presence, with many exhibiting a range of weaponry that includes missile systems, armoured vehicles and drones.
Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade said:
UK arms exports to Saudi are subject to a judicial review, yet the government is pulling out all stops to promote and sell more weapons. The government is always talking about human rights and democracy and telling us how rigorous and robust its arms export criteria is, but nothing could be further from the truth. The sort of arms on sale at Farnborough have been central to the devastation of Yemen.
Military delegations are invited by UKTI Defence & Security Organisation (UKTI DSO), the civil service trade body that exists to promote arms exports. At present two thirds of UK military exports go to the Middle East, with the largest buyer being Saudi Arabia.
UKTI DSO will have private meetings with representatives from countries to which it wants to promote exports. In 2015 UKTI DSO had meetings with representatives from 35 countries, including UAE, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar and Nigeria. You can see a full list here. For the third Farnborough International running, the event will be attended by David Cameron.
Andrew continued:
Events such as Farnborough International are the oil in the machinery of the international arms trade. They wouldn’t be possible without government support. Civil servants and arms dealers will be using it as a chance to promote arms sales to human rights abusers and dictatorships like Qatar, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.
The Science Museum will be hosting the official welcome reception to mark the first day of the event on Monday 11 July. According to the event briefing, it will include 1200 guests, including “Government Officials – Exhibitor CEO’s – International civil & military delegations – Key industry players.” A demonstration has been called for outside the museum on Monday 11 July at 18:00 to protest against the event.
ENDS
For further information please contact Andrew at media(at)caat·org·uk or call 020 7281 0297 or 07990 673232.
