Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his policy is on the sale of arms by UK companies to countries with governments which consistently violate the human rights of their citizens.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

This Government supports a responsible defence and security industry that helps meet the legitimate defence needs of other states, and contributes to their security and law and order.

We take our arms export responsibilities very seriously and aim to operate one of the most rigorous and transparent arms export control regimes in the world. All defence and dual-use exports are required to meet the UK’s strict export control legislation and adhere to the UK international commitments including international treaties and obligations.

Each application for an export licence is subject to rigorous case-by-case assessment against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. Risks around human rights violations are a key part of our assessment. We do not issue an export licence if there is a clear risk that the proposed export might be used for internal repression.