Alwaght- Britain's arms export to countries listed by the Country's Foreign Office as having dubious human rights records hits the record high.
Several of these repressive regimes have been accused of war crimes or suppressing popular protest.
More than $4.4 billion worth of British-made weaponry was licensed for export in 2015 to 21 of the Foreign Office’s 30 “human rights priority countries” – those listed by the UK government as being where “the worst, or greatest number of, human rights violations take place”, or “where we judge that the UK can make a real difference,” The Observer reported Sunday.
The listed regimes that made major purchases of British armaments last year include Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and Burundi, according to the report.
According to the figures accessed by the UK daily, in 2014 Britain only licensed $248 million worth of arms to 18 of the 27 countries then on the “priority countries” list. The massive surge in the arms sales in 2015 is largely attributable to sales of weapons to the Saudi kingdom, which has been accused of perpetrating war crimes in Yemen.
The largest export license granted was for $2.48 billion of fighter jets, agreed in May 2015. Additionally, the UK approved the export of $1.45 billion of air-to-air missiles to the Saudi regime in July 2015.
In September, it further approved the sale of $90.5 million worth of bombs to Riyadh. All three sales took place after the Saudi’s brutal bombing campaign of Yemen began in March 2015.
Nearly 9,800 Yemeni have been killed during the illegal aggression, with the vast majority of them being innocent civilians including women and children.
The strikes have also taken a heavy toll on the country’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, markets, schools, factories and mosques.
