In a previous post, we congratulated the German government on halting arms exports to Saudi Arabia. However, it turns out that the Bild am Sonntag report that was at the root of this story was excessively optimistic. Further investigations have revealed that rather than halting all arms transfers to Saudi Arabia, there has been no obvious change to German policy. Indeed, the country has just recently licensed new arms exports that include border control software and shooting simulators.
However, for the moment we have no clear evidence that the German government has changed a policy that continues to equip an oppressive regime frequently criticized for their human rights record.Control Arms members continue to call on all governments who have not already done so to ratify or accede to the Arms Trade Treaty. Control Arms also specifically calls on governments including Germany, the United Kingdom, and Canada to finally take note of Saudi Arabia’s abysmal human rights record and halt all arms exports.
