{"id":17452,"date":"2013-05-21T12:58:47","date_gmt":"2013-05-21T18:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=17452"},"modified":"2013-05-21T12:58:47","modified_gmt":"2013-05-21T18:58:47","slug":"uk-expedites-arms-to-saudi-arabia-while-human-rights-deteriorate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=17452","title":{"rendered":"UK expedites arms to Saudi Arabia while human rights deteriorate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"saudibeheaded\"<\/a> Public Example – Saudi Arabia Beheadings for Crimes Ranging from Apostasy to Sorcery<\/p>\n

Government continues to promote arms to Saudi Arabia as human rights deteriorate<\/strong>
\n21 May, 2013 – Campaign Against Arms Trade<\/p>\n

Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) has condemned as shameful the UK government continued eagerness to sell arms to the authoritarian regime of Saudi Arabia, despite their worsening human rights situation and almost complete lack of democratic institutions.<\/p>\n

New government data reveals that in 2012 the UK licensed weaponry worth \u00a3111.7 million to Saudi Arabia, plus \u00a35.6 million worth of \u201cdual use\u201d goods. Overall, Saudi Arabia is the largest market for UK arms, buying almost \u00a34 billion worth of weapons and military services between 2008 and 2012.<\/p>\n

In 2007, Saudi Arabia contracted to buy 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets, from arms giant BAE Systems, in a deal worth up to \u00a36 billion. Although the first 24 jets were delivered and arrangements put in place for servicing, upgrading and delivering the remaining 48 aircraft, a final price has yet to be agreed. In November 2012 David Cameron visited Saudi Arabia to help seal the deal \u2013 however, the negotiations continue.<\/p>\n

The continued arms sales drive comes despite Saudi Arabia\u2019s deteriorating human rights record:<\/p>\n

– Saudi Arabia\u2019s ranking in the The Economist Intelligence Unit\u2019s Democracy Index 2012 declined further to 163 out of 167 countries, and it was given zero points for \u201celectoral process and pluralism\u201d. The only countries ranked lower were Syria, Chad, Guinea Bissau and North Korea.<\/p>\n

– Saudi Arabia\u2019s press was assessed as \u201cnot free\u201d by Freedom House\u2019s Freedom of the Press Index 2013 which listed it as joint 182 of 197 countries listed.<\/p>\n

– Saudi Arabia was listed as a \u201ccountry of concern\u201d in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual report on Human Rights and Democracy 2012.<\/p>\n

Despite its \u201ccountry of concern\u201d label, Saudi Arabia was simultaneously listed as a \u201cpriority market\u201d by UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation (UKTI DSO), the government\u2019s arms sales unit, which regularly invites official delegations from Saudi Arabia to arms fairs and related \u201ctrade exhibitions\u201d in the UK.<\/p>\n

CAAT spokesperson Kaye Stearman said:<\/p>\n

When it comes to Saudi Arabia the UK government completely disregards any considerations of human rights in its effects to sell arms, whether they be Eurofighter Typhoons, Tactica armoured vehicles or small arms and ammunition.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister and arms company executives visit Saudi Arabia to beg for orders and routinely roll out the red carpet for Saudi delegations to the UK, as they will be doing in September for the DSEi arms fair. It\u2019s time to end this damaging and dangerous relationship and stop selling arms to this repressive and despotic regime.
\nArms export data – UK arms exports to Saudi Arabia<\/p>\n

In 2012 the UK licensed weaponry worth \u00a3111.7 million to Saudi Arabia . The main items licensed fell in the categories: \u201caircraft, helicopters, drones\u201d \u2013 \u00a381.4 million; \u201carmoured vehicles, tanks\u201d \u2013 \u00a38.8 million; \u201ctechnology\u201d \u2013 \u00a33.8 million; \u201cimaging equipment\u201d \u2013 \u00a33.5 million; \u201cother electronic equipment\u201d \u2013 \u00a33.2 million; \u201cgrenades, bombs, countermeasures\u201d \u2013 \u00a33.2 million; \u201cammunition\u201d \u2013 \u00a32.1 million; \u201cchemical, biological agents\u201d \u2013 \u00a31.5 billion; and \u201csmall arms\u201d \u2013 \u00a31.2 million.<\/p>\n

In addition, there were licences totalling over \u00a33.6 million for dual use items of \u201ctelecommunications and information security\u201d, which could be used against dissidents.<\/p>\n

In the five years 2008-2012, the UK licensed arms worth over \u00a33.9 billion to Saudi Arabia, with \u201caircraft, helicopters and drones\u201d (essentially, Eurofighter Typhoon sales and services) taking the lion\u2019s share at \u00a33.4 billion. There were also substantial amounts of other military equipment and services, including \u00a3236 million of \u201cgrenades, bombs, missiles and countermeasures\u201d, \u00a390 million of small arms and \u00a367 million of armoured vehicles and tanks. (For these and other items see full list.) In addition, the UK also licensed over \u00a3147.5 million worth of \u201cdual use\u201d goods. …source<\/a><\/p>\n

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Public Example – Saudi Arabia Beheadings for Crimes Ranging from Apostasy to Sorcery Government continues to promote arms to Saudi Arabia as human rights deteriorate 21 May, 2013 – Campaign Against Arms Trade Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) has condemned as shameful the UK government continued eagerness to sell arms to the authoritarian regime of more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[4084],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17452"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17452"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17454,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17452\/revisions\/17454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}