UK ‘on the wrong side of law’ over arms sales

BRITAIN is “narrowly on the wrong side” of international humanitarian law over arms sales to Saudi Arabia during the conflict in Yemen, a parliamentary inquiry has warned.

The House of Lords International Relations Committee concluded it was “highly likely” that UK weaponry had caused “significant” civilian casualties in the course of the four-year civil war.

It said relying on assurances by the Saudis that they were not targeting civilians was not an “adequate way” of implementing the UK’s obligations under the international Arms Trade Treaty.

The Government has faced repeated calls to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia after it began air strikes in March 2015 against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who seized control of large swathes of the country.

Last year the United Nations Human Rights Office estimated at least 6,600 civilians had died as a result of indiscriminate bombing and another 10,000 injured, although the true figures were likely to be significantly higher.

In its report, the committee said that since the start of the conflict the UK had licensed £4.7bn of arms exports to Saudi Arabia and a further £860m to its partners in the international coalition against the Houthis. Typhoon jet fighters and associated systems accounted for the majority of exports to the Saudis.

In evidence to the committee, ministers argued that the Government’s licensing process was “narrowly on the right side of international humanitarian law”.

The committee, however, said: “Although conclusive evidence is not yet available, we assess that it is narrowly on the wrong side.”