Liz Truss' appalling record on UK arms exports cause for alarm

Image: http://theirworld.org/places/yemen

On 6 September, Liz Truss took office as the UK's new Prime Minister, following Boris Johnson's resignation. Campaign Against Arms Trade, along with numerous activists, handed in an open letter to Downing Street, signed by 7385 people, calling on the new Prime Minister to stop arming the Saudi-led coalition.

The war on Yemen has been made possible by weapons supplied by the UK and the US, sustained by their ongoing military support. Since the bombing of Yemen began in March 2015, the value of UK arms sales to the Saudi-led coalition amounts to at least £23 billion.

While a fragile truce in Yemen hangs in the balance, widespread violations of international human rights and humanitarian law continue. In the last month, attacks against civilians and other related violence have resulted in 232 civilian casualties including 57 children. The last week of July witnessed the highest increase of child casualties in one week since early 2020.

Liz Truss was Secretary of State for International Trade leading on military and security exports from 2019 - 2021. During this period CAAT took the government to court over UK arms exports to the Saudi-led Coalition. Whilst the Court of Appeal found in CAAT's favour, in July 2020, Liz Truss issued a written statement saying the government had completed the review ordered by the Court of Appeal, and had determined that any violations of international law were "isolated incidents". This was issued despite there being evidence of hundreds of cases where the Saudi-led coalition had targeted schools, funerals and homes. In the time since Liz Truss made this statement, the government has approved licences worth £2.2 billion as well as 46 open licences, of unlimited value, to the Coalition.

The UK is on the wrong side of history: urgent action is needed to end this deadly conflict. Campaign Against Arms Trade and all those who have joined the demo in solidarity with Yemen are calling for the new Prime Minister and the UK government to end arms sales for use in the war on Yemen, increase resources to end the humanitarian crisis created by the war, and support efforts to build a sustainable peace.

The demo which took place outside of Downing Street yesterday included speaker Andrew Feinstein, author of 'The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade', campaigner and former ANC MP, who has stated: "The UK arms the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen and is, thus, complicit in violations of international humanitarian law and war crimes. The UK's deadly, corrupt trade in weapons is making billions for its weapons makers, arms dealers and politicians, while causing the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians and the suffering and immiseration of millions more. Anyone who feels empathy for the suffering in Ukraine must oppose the UK's arms sales to Saudi Arabia which are causing even greater harm and devastation in Yemen."

Amber Rose-Dewey of Campaign Against Arms Trade said: "The imposition of Liz Truss as Prime Minister marks a worrying turning point for the war on Yemen, amongst other issues. Truss has made it clear in her tenure as Secretary of State for International Trade that she has little concern for the people of Yemen. Not only has she admitted to an 'inadvertent' breach of the Court of Appeal ruling to halt sales of weapons to Saudi in 2019, thus breaking the law, but she has also continually sanctioned the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia. Clearly, Truss prioritises profit and trade over the lives of civilians in Yemen."

LINKS

UK Arms export data - https://caat.org.uk/data/exports-uk/overview?region=Saudi+Arabia,United+Arab+Emirates&date_from=2020-07

CAAT and Mwatana for Human Rights have been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize: find out more about what this means for our campaigning here: https://caat.org.uk/news/what-a-nobel-peace-prize-nomination-means-for-our-campaigning/