Saudi Arabia: Arms Trade

(asked on 14th September 2016) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of whether British arms exports are being used for political repression against Shia dissidents within Saudi Arabia.


Answered by
Tobias Ellwood Portrait
Tobias Ellwood
This question was answered on 11th October 2016

Each licence application for Saudi Arabia is carefully scrutinised against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria to ensure the exports are compatible with our national and international obligations. Risks around human rights violations are a key part of our assessment against the Consolidated Criteria. We have robust procedures in place and we do not export equipment where we assess there is a clear risk that it might be used for internal repression. This system of export licensing promotes the UK's prosperity by supporting responsible exports that meet the legitimate defence and security needs of other states, whilst refusing licenses of exports where to do so would be in breach of our legal obligations.

We will not pursue trade to the exclusion of human rights. They can and should be complementary.

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