Global News

(London) – The Court of Appeal in London ruled on June 20, 2019 that the United Kingdom government’s refusal to consider Saudi Arabia’s laws-of-war violations in Yemen before licensing arms sales was unlawful, Human Rights Watch said today.

The landmark decision requires the UK government to reconsider its decision on arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The UK government has agreed to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia immediately until it makes a new lawful decision on arms licenses or obtains a new court order. France and other European countries should immediately also halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Human Rights Watch said.

“The UK government boasts of having the most robust arms control regime in the world but now the court has spelled out what this actually means,” said Clive Baldwin, senior legal advisor at Human Rights Watch. “The UK government now has to take into account Saudi Arabia’s appalling record of unlawful attacks on Yemeni civilians when it decides if it can approve arms exports to that country.”

The legal case was brought by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). Human Rights Watch, together with Amnesty International and RWUK, intervened as third parties, as did Oxfam International. The judgment addresses the standards, agreed by all EU member states, that say governments should not license arms exports when there is a clear risk that the weapons might be used in serious violations of international humanitarian law (the laws of war).

The Court of Appeal ruled that it was unlawful for the UK government not to consider whether there was a record of Saudi Arabia violating the laws of war in the conflict in Yemen, when deciding to issue licenses for arms exports. The UK Department for International Trade, responsible for approving arms exports, will now have to decide whether to carry out the court ruling by reconsidering arms export licenses, or appeal the ruling.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/06/20/uk-arms-sales-saudis-suspended-after-landmark-ruling