10/23/2018

The European Union should stop arms exports to Saudi Arabia

Germany must stop exporting arms to Saudi Arabia, not only symbolically (Press Release)

Since 2004, the EU countries exported about 57 billion EUR worth of armaments to Saudi Arabia. Foto: Daniel Matt für GfbV

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) demands a comprehensive ban on arms exports from Europe to Saudi Arabia. "If the European Union wants to be taken seriously as a community of values, then it must also act as one. We welcome the decision of the German Federal Government to stop supplying arms to Saudi Arabia. But decisions of individual states only have symbolic significance. They won’t actually have much effect in Saudi Arabia," stated Ulrich Delius, the STP’s director, in Göttingen on Tuesday.

Since 2004, the EU countries exported about 57 billion EUR worth of armaments to Saudi Arabia. With regard to the murder of journalist Jamal Kashoggi, the human rights organization demanded that especially Britain and France will now have to underscore their commitment to democratic values, as they are Europe's most important arms suppliers to the Arab kingdom. In 2016, the United Kingdom exported arms worth about 664 million EUR to Saudi Arabia. In 2017, British arms exports to the country even reached 1.27 billion EUR. In 2017, the British government issued 126 permits for arms exports to Saudi Arabia.

Further, the STP also criticized the French arms export policy. "French President Emmanuel Macron likes to see himself as a guardian of European values. But he doesn’t seem to see arms exports as problematic," Delius stated. Today, Macron will be visiting the French arms export exhibition Euronaval in Paris. His opinion on the controversial arms deal is eagerly awaited. French shipyards are hoping for a 550-million-Euro order to build 39 speedboats for the Saudi Arabian Navy. Saudi Arabia was the second largest customer of the French defense industry between 2008 and 2017. In 2017 alone, France delivered military equipment worth 1.38 billion EUR to the Arab kingdom.

Spain is reluctant to stop its arms exports as well. In September 2018, Secretary of Defense Margarita Robles tried to prevent the delivery of 400 laser-guided missiles, but Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez rescinded the decision after Saudi Arabia threatened to cancel a 1.8-billion-Euro project to build warships in Andalusia. for STP

Header image: Daniel Matt for STP