Tuesday, the High Court of London will assess the legitimacy of a UK government decision to continue the sale of guns that could be used in the Yemen war to Saudi Arabia.
Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), a non-governmental organization located in the United Kingdom, has filed the lawsuit, accusing the government of contributing to violations of international law and the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, which has killed tens of thousands of lives.
It is anticipated that the judicial review will last until the end of the week.
The NGO filed the lawsuit after the United Kingdom stated in the summer of 2020 that it would resume military sales to Saudi Arabia.
Before the hearing, CAAT’s media coordinator, Emily Apple, accused the British government of caring more about profit than war crimes and civilian fatalities.
The NGO won its original case against the government in 2019, when the Court of Appeal found that the United Kingdom’s licensing of arms sales was illegal.
It stated that the government had failed to properly analyze whether the arms sales violated its human rights responsibilities and directed it to “reconsider the matter.”
Then, as minister of international commerce, Liz Truss conducted a study and indicated that export licenses would resume in 2020.
Despite “isolated incidents,” she emphasized that Riyadh “has the genuine intent and capacity to comply with IHL (international humanitarian law)”.
CAAT charged Truss with “lip service” regarding the need to evaluate sales.
A warning has been issued to scrap metal traders who purchase stolen copper.
Its spokeswoman criticized Truss’s reference to “isolated incidents” as “total nonsense and deeply offensive to all Yemenis whose lives have been destroyed by British weapons.”
Since 2015, the UK government has allowed the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia, including combat aircraft, guided bombs, and missiles, with a total value of £7.9 billion ($9.2 billion).
According to the report, the United Kingdom is one of the biggest suppliers of armaments to Saudi Arabia, alongside the United States.
Martin Butcher, peace and conflict expert at Oxfam, stated that Saudi airstrikes “are responsible for the majority of attacks” on Yemeni civilians.
“It is imperative that the legality of UK arms sales be investigated, and sales must cease immediately,” he stated.
In 2021, humanitarian organizations criticized the British government for cutting its humanitarian aid to Yemen by half.
According to the British government, Britain is the second greatest exporter of military equipment in the world, behind the United States. In 2020, the sector generated a revenue of $25,3 billion.
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