UK – one of the main suppliers of weapons to parties to conflicts in the middle East. London since 2010, sells weapons to the 39 countries on the Freedom House list of “human rights violators”. Most British weapons given to the leader of the list, Saudi Arabia
UK is now ranked second in the world in terms of arms sales – these are the official data of the government. Two-thirds of supply going to the middle East, fueling a military conflict in the region. In the list of importers of British military technology – modes recognized by the London “authoritarian” or violating human rights. According to experts, Britain thus further increases the already high risk of terrorist attacks not only in Albion, but to all Western countries.
Statistics provided by the Ministry of trade and investment, United Kingdom, shows that over the last 10 years, the country sold more weapons than Russia, China or France. Bypass Britain according to these indicators, only the United States. The government assures that the system of licenses for the arms trade completely reliable – in favor of this, in the opinion of the Ministers, said the fact that they revoked permission for the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and to Russia.
But trade, for example, Saudi Arabia is in full swing – despite the fact that the UN has accused the Kingdom into war crimes committed during counter-insurgency operations against the Houthis in Yemen. To stop supplying Riyadh called on London and the European Parliament. However, the government stated that there is no evidence to support such violations on the part of the coalition under the leadership of the Saudis.
At the same time, with the evidence not far to seek. Documented the incidents of the war in Yemen as bombing international hospitals, working under the auspices of Doctors without borders, schools, and wedding processions. Raids on plants producing food led to starvation, documented deliberate attacks on civilian objects.
A joint study conducted by the publication of The Independent and Campaign against arms trade revealed that over the period 2010-2015 countries marked as “not free” in Freedom House’s list, sold arms worth 10 billion pounds. In addition, 8 billion British arms received state included in the list of “human rights violators” of the British foreign office. In this list, and Saudi Arabia, which received the British bombs, missiles, fighter – as well as Israel, purchasing drones and Bahrain where I was headed machines.
“Appalling figures show the hypocrisy of the foreign policy of great Britain. The government constantly reassures us that acts in the protection of human rights and democracy, but actually supports one of the most repressive regimes in the world”, – said the publication representative of the “Campaign against arms trade” by Andrew Smith.
