On Wednesday, 23 March, the UK Parliament’s Committee on Arms Export Controls (CAEC) met for an inquiry to discuss the evidence and impact of UK weapons being used against civilians in Yemen.
Control Arms members Roy Isbister of Saferworld, Oliver Sprague of Amnesty International, and Tim Holmes of Oxfam were among those giving evidence on the UK’s role in selling arms to Saudi Arabia and the humanitarian impact on civilians in Yemen.
In his evidence to the Committee, Oliver Sprague noted that the UK had been a leader in the driver for an ATT, but now risked undermining the law it had “fought for at the UN” through its arms sales to Saudi Arabia. He said there was overwhelming evidence of repeated attacks against civilians in Yemen, putting the UK in violation of British, European, and international law by going ahead with arms sales. As a States Party to the ATT, the UK is legally obligated to deny arms sales where a clear risk of international humanitarian law and human rights violations exist.
David Mepham of Human Rights Watch, also giving evidence, noted that it is “extraordinary” that the UK government claims to have no knowledge of violations of IHL by the Saudi-led Coalition in Yemen, since these have been well documented by the UN, as well as by NGOs including HRW and Amnesty International, and that “the bombs continue to fall”.
You can watch a recording of the evidence here.
After the evidence session Oliver Sprague said:
‘It is positive that the Committee on Arms Export Controls wanted to hear evidence from us about the terrible human suffering in Yemen, and the role of UK arms transfers in this. With the overwhelming evidence of attacks against civilians and the high risk of weapons being used in violation of international law, the British government must stop arms transfers to Saudi Arabia and any warring party in Yemen”.
Just last week, the United Nations underscored the detrimental effect of Britain’s arms deals with Saudi Arabia, saying the Kingdom was ‘commissioning international war crimes’ by leading a coalition in the bombing and killing of more than 100 Yemenis. In February, Control Arms documented the human suffering in Yemen fueled by arms deals to Saudi Arabia by a number of ATT States Parties and Signatories in a new report.
Members of Parliament at the Committee also asked questions around the use of cluster munitions by Saudi Arabia – a weapon banned under the Convention on Cluster Munitions to which the UK is a States Party. The NGOs argued that the UK is not adhering to its obligations under the Convention, which oblige it to make its “best efforts to discourage States not party to this Convention from using cluster munitions.”
The next step will be an evidence session where UK Ministers will be required to answer questions from the CAEC.
Control Arms continues to call on all States to stop arms transfers to any warring party in Yemen.
