- 70% oppose the promotion of arms sales to human rights abusing regimes
- 64% oppose arms exports to Saudi Arabia, the largest buyer of UK arms, including 58% of Conservative voters
- 60% oppose government organising arms fairs attended by human rights abusers
On the opening day of Defence & Security Equipment International 2019 (DSEI), one of the biggest arms fairs in the world, Campaign Against Arms Trade has published new polling results that show the scale of public opposition to the arms trade.
The polling of over 2000 adults, carried out by Opinium LLP, shows that 70% of UK adults oppose the government’s role in promoting arms exports to countries with poor human rights records (7% disagree).
Similarly, 62% of people oppose arms sales to countries that are NOT democracies (9% disagree), and almost seven in ten (69%) believe that the government should NOT promote arms sales to buyers that have been accused of violating International Humanitarian Law (9% disagree).
DSEI is organised by Clarion events, with the support of the Ministry of Defence and Department of International Trade. 60% believe that the government should NOT be involved in organising arms fairs that human rights abusing regimes are invited to (with 11% supporting).
The guest list features 68 countries in total. This includes delegations representing a number of governments with very poor human rights records, including Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey. The public overwhelmingly opposes arms exports to these countries.
- 64% oppose arms sales to Saudi Arabia (with 16% supporting)
- 62% oppose arms sales to Turkey (with 15% supporting)
- 58% oppose arms sales to Egypt (with 22% supporting)
The guest list includes representatives from 8 Governments that feature on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s list of ‘human rights priority countries.’ The countries that feature on the watch list are Bahrain, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Israel, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan.
This opposition is consistent across supporters of all political parties (party political polling is available upon request).
Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade said:
Particularly when there is an election on the horizon, it’s time for the politicians to listen to the people and finally stop putting arms company profits ahead of human rights.
DSEI will see all of the biggest arms companies brought together with many of the world’s most authoritarian regimes. It exists for one reason only, and that is to sell even more weapons, regardless of the appalling consequences. None of this could happen without the complicity and support of the UK Government. It will be UK civil servants that are welcoming buyers, and UK Ministers will be using it as a platform to sing the praises of arms companies and the dictatorships in attendance.
Over the last four and a half years UK-made weapons have played a central role in the brutal Saudi-led bombardment of Yemen. The arms sales being negotiated in London this week could be used in atrocities and abuses for years to come.
The full results of the poll are available upon request. If you are writing about DSEI then CAAT can provide case studies, background information and analysis of the arms trade.
ENDS
For further information please contact Andrew at media(at)caat·org·uk or call 020 7281 0297.
