New government statistics, published today, show that the UK
Government licensed £1.4 billion worth of weapons sales to
Saudi Arabian forces in the immediate aftermath of its decision
to renew arms sales to the regime in July 2020. The majority of
these licences are for ML4 licences which cover bombs, missiles
and countermeasures.
The UK government
yesterday refused calls to
follow the US lead and end arms exports for use in the war in
Yemen.
The UK is one of Saudi Arabia’s leading arms suppliers, along
with the US, and UK arms are playing a central role in the
Saudi-led destruction of Yemen. The
UK-made equipment used in the
war includes Typhoon and Tornado aircraft, Paveway bombs
and Brimstone and Stormshadow missiles.
In June 2019, the Court of Appeal ruled that the government
acted unlawfully when it licensed the sale of UK-made arms to
Saudi-led forces for use in Yemen without making an assessment
as to whether or not past incidents amounted to breaches of
International Humanitarian Law. This followed a case brought by
CAAT. The government was ordered not to approve any new
licences and to retake the decisions on extant licences in a
lawful manner.
In July 2020 the government announced that it was resuming arms
sales. This followed a review by the Department of
International Trade which concluded that any violations of
International Humanitarian Law committed by the Saudi coalition
were ‘isolated incidents’, despite the fact that hundreds of
attacks on residential areas, schools, hospitals, civilian
gatherings, and agricultural land and facilities have been
documented. Today's statistics are the first to be published
since the decision to renew sales was made.
Today's announcement means that, since the bombing of Yemen
began in March 2015, the UK has licensed £6.8 billion worth of
arms to the Saudi regime, including:
-
£2.7 billion worth of ML10 licences (Aircraft,
helicopters, drones)
-
£3.9 billion worth of ML4 licences (Grenades,
bombs, missiles, countermeasures)
The real level of exports is a great deal higher, with
most weapons licensed via the opaque and secretive Open Licence
system. The UK’s biggest arms company, BAE Systems,
has made
£15 billion in revenue
from services and sales to Saudi Arabia since 2015.
Sarah Waldron of Campaign Against Arms Trade
said: “These new figures are shocking and once
again illustrate the UK government’s determination to keep
supplying arms at any cost.
UK-made weapons have played a devastating role in the
Saudi-led attacks on Yemen, and the humanitarian crisis they
have created, yet the UK government has done everything it can
to keep the arms sales flowing.
The arms sales are immoral, and we believe that the
decision to renew them was illegal, which is why we have filed
a case to challenge it.
Now even the US is curbing its arms sales, while the UK
government is continuing to fuel the war. They must change
course now and work to support meaningful peace."
