- Cross-party committee of MPs question legality of arms exports to Saudi Arabia
- UK has licensed over £3.3 billion worth of arms to Saudi regime since bombing of Yemen began in March 2015
- UK arms exports to Saudi Arabia are subject to a judicial review following an application by Campaign Against Arms Trade
Last night, Newsnight revealed that a draft report by the House of Commons Committee on Arms Export Controls (CAEC) has questioned the legality of UK arms exports to Saudi Arabia.
The draft, expected to be finalised by the committee later today, is reported to say “the weight of evidence of violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) by the Saudi-led in Yemen is now so great that it is very difficult to continue to support Saudi Arabia while maintaining the credibility of our arms licensing regime.”
The report assesses that “it seems inevitable violations of IHL by the coalition [in Yemen] would involve arms supplied by the UK.” It goes on to say that sales of arms to Saudi for use in Yemen were “very possibly in contravention of UK’s legal obligations… while such doubt and uncertainty about IHL compliance exists, the default position of the UK government should not be to continue to sell weapons.”
But, as parliamentary pressure against the sales build, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister is visiting Parliament today – just hours before the Committees meet – to personally lobby for the weapons sales to continue.
Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade said:
This makes clear how central UK arms are to the Saudi bombardment and how complicit the UK government has been in the devastation of Yemen. 10,000 people have been killed, yet the message sent out by ministers is that their lives are less important than arms company profits.
Since the bombing campaign began last March, the UK has licensed £3.3 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia, including:
- £2.2 billion worth of ML10 licences (Aircraft, helicopters, drones)
- £1.1 billion worth of ML4 licences (Grenades, bombs, missiles, countermeasures)
- £430,000 worth of ML6 licences (Armoured vehicles, tanks)
Andrew continued:
The government is always telling us how rigorous and robust its arms export system supposedly is. This report exposes that nothing could be further from the truth. The UK has continued to arm the Saudi regime, despite its atrocious human rights record and the terrible assault it has inflicted on Yemen.
UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia are currently subject to a judicial review, following an application by CAAT. The claim calls on the government to suspend all extant licences and stop issuing further arms export licences to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen while it holds a full review into if the exports are compatible with UK and EU legislation. A three day review will take place in front of two judges no later than 01 February 2017.
ENDS
For further information please contact Andrew at media(at)caat·org·uk or call 020 7281 0297 or 07990 673232.
