Critical questions about the UK’s arms export licenses have been raised by a cross-party Parliamentary group.
The Commons Committee on Arms Export Controls (CAEC) asked the government whether 600 licenses to Arab countries complied with the UK’s government policy.
The CAEC - made up of MPs from the business, defence, foreign affairs and international development committees – urged for sales of arms to be reviewed to ensure that authoritarian regimes did not use equipment to repress citizens.
Ministers were also strongly rebuked for equipment such as sniper rifles and armoured fighting vehicles being classified as “crowd control goods.”
The committee’s Scrutiny of Arms Exports report said that the revocation of 158 licenses since the start of the Arab Spring showed that the process of issuing licenses was flawed.
"Whilst the promotion of arms exports and the upholding of human rights are both legitimate government policies, the government would do well to acknowledge that there is an inherent conflict between strongly promoting arms exports to authoritarian regimes whilst strongly criticising their lack of human rights at the same time," the report said.
Read Channel 4’s analysis of the report here.
