Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2016-01-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the legal opinion recently commissioned by Amnesty International and Saferworld, which claims that they are breaking the law by supplying arms to Saudi

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We are aware of this legal opinion provided on instructions from certain non-governmental organisations. We are also aware of our legal obligations as regards the licensing of arms for export to Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.

The UK operates one of the most rigorous and transparent arms export control regimes in the world. All arms export licence applications are carefully assessed on a case by case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking intoaccountall relevant information, to ensure compliance with our legal obligations, including under international law. A licence will not be issued, for any country, if to do so would be inconsistent with any provision of the mandatory Criteria. This includes the export of arms to Saudi Arabia. The Government is satisfied that extant licences for Saudi Arabia are compliant with the UK’s export licensing criteria.