Two-thirds of countries classified as “not free” because of their dire record on human rights and civil liberties have received weapons licensed by the British government over the past decade, new analysis has showed.
From 2011 to 2020, the UK licensed ￡16.8 billion (US$23.32 billion) of arms to countries criticized by Freedom House, a US government-funded human rights group.
Of the 53 countries castigated for a poor record on political and human rights on the group’s list, the UK sold arms and military equipment to 39.
Photo: AP
Noteworthy recipients include Libya, which received ￡9.3 million of assault rifles, military vehicle components and ammunition.
Last week, it was the focus of international peace talks to stabilize a country where armed groups and foreign powers compete for influence.
Further analysis by the London-based Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) found that ￡11.8 billion of arms had been authorized by the British government during the same period to the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s own list of “human rights priority countries.”
Two-thirds of the countries — 21 out of 30 — on the UK government list of repressive regimes had received UK military equipment.
The British Department for International Trade has also identified nine nations as “core markets” for arms exports that groups say are guilty of many human rights abuses, including Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Turkey.
The British government has already admitted that a Saudi-led coalition has attacked Yemen using weapons made by British companies, with the UK supplying more than half of combat aircraft used by the Middle East kingdom for its bombing raids.
“Right now, UK-made weapons are playing a devastating role in Yemen and around the world. The arms sales that are being pushed today could be used in atrocities and abuses for years to come,” CAAT head of media Andrew Smith said.
Further arms deals are expected in the near future, with many of the countries on the Freedom House list expected to send representatives to September’s international arms fair in east London.
“Wherever there is oppression and conflict there will always be arms companies trying to profit from it, and complicit governments helping them to do so,” Smith said.
“Many of these sales are going to despots, dictatorships and human rights abusing regimes. They haven’t happened by accident. None of these arms sales would have been possible without the direct support of [British Prime Minister] Boris Johnson and his colleagues,” Smith added.
Russia was also among the beneficiaries of UK arms sales — in the past decade, it received ￡44 million of UK arms including ammunition, sniper rifle components and gun silencers, analysis showed.
Moscow last week said that it had chased a British destroyer out of Crimean waters with warning shots and bombs.
However, the sales to Russia and Libya were made before arms embargoes to both countries were introduced, a situation that critics say highlights the short-term thinking behind most arms sales.
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