Join us in taking a stand against UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia and stand in solidarity with Yemen!
Between 2015 and 2022, during the Saudi-led bombing campaign against Yemen, CAAT campaigned for an end of arms exports to Saudi Arabia.
This included two legal challenges, the government’s defense in which demonstrated the appalling lengths they will go to to avoid conceding that violations of International Humanitarian Law are being committed, and to ensure the arms sales continue.
In September 2026, the UK Government announced it would provide what it described as “defensive military support” to Saudi Arabia. By October 12th 2026, the Prime Minister statedthat 14 “operational missions” had been completed.
The UK has an appalling recent record of complicity in war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law against the people of Yemen. The Government’s decision to provide “defensive” military support to Saudi Arabia creates an imminent danger of direct UK involvement in further atrocities. We are calling for an immediate arms embargo on Saudi Arabia.
For the most up-to-date information on Saudi Arabia, see our country profile.
Reparations for Yemen
Between the start of the bombing in March 2015 and the truce in April 2022, there were £7.1bn worth of published arms sales licensed to Saudi Arabia alone, in addition to a further £2.4bn to Saudi coalition partners, particularly the UAE. This figure does not include the ongoing maintenance and support provided by BAE Systems, which is covered by unlimited, “open” licences issued by the government that do not carry a financial value and are subject to minimal transparency.
Under international law, when an “international wrong” occurs, reparations are owed. Alongside Transition Security Project, CAAT has published research illustrating that a windfall tax on the profits of two leading British arms companies from weapons sold to Saudi Arabia during the 2015-2022 intervention could raise up to £3.9bn. BAE Systems alone made an operating profit of £3.56bn for its role in the bombing campaign, while Rolls Royce profited to the tune of £330mn.
If matched by the British state, a £7.8bn reparations sum would help address urgent humanitarian needs in Yemen and provide a foundation for economic recovery. Given the extensive violations in International Humanitarian Law committed against the Yemeni population via UK military support, this would be just one, crucial step towards justice.
Arms licenses today
Arms supplies to Saudi Arabia have not since slowed. £464.8m of arms exports were approved in the first quarter of 2026. This includes £462m in the category covering bombs, missiles, and countermeasures, including air-to-surface missiles, which were previously used in the bombing of Yemen.
The UK should never have been arming repressive Saudi Arabia in the first place. Military support for the Saudi regime makes us complicit in its crimes.
We’re calling on the UK government to issue reparations to Yemen, and to stop the arms sales now.
UK complicity in Yemen war
From 2015-2022, the war in Yemen led to an estimated 377,000 deaths through direct and indirect causes, according to the UN. The UK has supplied billions of pounds worth of fighter jets, bombs and missiles to the Saudi-led coalition for use in Yemen. At least 8,983 civilians have been killed in attacks by the coalition, which has targeted homes and farms, schools and hospitals, weddings and funerals.
Arms sales in these circumstances are prohibited by UK rules, which say they should not be allowed where there is a “clear risk” that a weapon “might” be used in a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law.
Yet the UK government continues to promote and protect weapons sales, despite the devastating human cost. In total, CAAT estimates that the UK has supplied arms worth over £23 billion to Saudi Arabia since the war in Yemen began.
Info about the court case
In 2019, legal action by CAAT forced the government to stop issuing export licences for weapons that could be used in the war in Yemen. In a landmark decision, the government was ordered to retake all its previous decisions in a lawful manner.
But in July 2020 the government resumed arms sales, claiming any violations of international humanitarian law were only ‘isolated incidents’. Since then it has licensed more than £2.2 billion additional weapons sales in support of the war.
In January 2023, we took our legal case to court again to challenge the government over the supply of UK weapons for the war in Yemen.
CAAT’s new case argued that the government’s conclusions that there were only a “small number” of violations of International Humanitarian Law committed by coalition forces, and that these did not form a “pattern”, are irrational, flying in the face of the weight of evidence to the contrary. CAAT further argued that even “isolated incidents” of violations could still involve a clear risk of further violations.
On 6 June 2023, the High Court delivered its verdict following the judicial review. The Court dismissed the grounds for challenge brought by CAAT, finding that the then Secretary of State for International Trade was not acting irrationally in their decision to licence arms sales to the Saudi-led Coalition. This decision related to assessments of the likelihood of violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) by the Saudi-led Coalition in Yemen.
Despite being disappointed by the result, CAAT remains defiant over challenging the arms sales. CAAT argues that the judgment exposes the flaws in the UK export licensing process and remains committed to achieving justice for the Yemeni people whose lives have been devastated by the Saudi-led coalition’s bombing campaign.
