Theresa May will be attending the NATO summit today in Brussels with Donald Trump and other global leaders. The summit is expected to focus on military spending and increasing military interventionism in Iraq, Syria and beyond.
Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade said:
Whether it is the destruction of Iraq or the breakdown of Libya, it is civilians who suffer in war. The last 16 years of interventionism have not made any of us safer. They have failed in their own terms; having further destabilised an already unstable region while killing hundreds of thousands of people and contributing to the spread of extremism.
The summit follows Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, in which he signed-off on an arms deal worth over $110 billion. Many of the NATO countries are among the largest arms exporters in the world.
At present, two thirds of UK arms exports are going to the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is by far the largest buyer. The UK has licensed over £3 billion worth of fighter jets and bombs since it began its bombardment of Yemen two years ago. A recent government audit found that the US had lost over $1 billion worth of arms in Iraq.
Andrew continued:
One way NATO countries, including the UK, can play a positive role in the Middle East is to stop arming and supporting human rights abusing regimes and pouring weapons into the region. We don’t know where these weapons will end up, who will obtain them or who they will be used against.
ENDS
For further information please contact Andrew at media(at)caat·org·uk or call 020 7281 0297 or 07990 673232.
