A DEAL WORTH DEFENDING? THE UK'S ARMS TRADE AND THE WAR IN YEMEN 01 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Research conducted by War Child UK has revealed that UK arms companies are reaping double the revenues previously estimated1 from arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of countries fighting a brutal war in Yemen, and waging a bombing campaign that has killed and maimed thousands of children. This has contributed to a humanitarian crisis that has left millions more on the brink of starvation. The Saudi-led coalition is emboldened to carry out these attacks by the military and diplomatic support it receives from countries like the UK. Yet despite this crisis, and evidence that British weapons are being used to violate international humanitarian law in Yemen,2 the UK Government continues to grant export licences for arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The only winners from this immoral trade are the big arms companies and their shareholders, reaping huge profits while children are killed, disfigured and starved to death. This must stop. Two years of civil war in Yemen has seen an estimated 1,300 children killed and 2,000 more injured, 212 schools attacked3 and medical facilities destroyed. A crippling physical and economic blockade has been imposed on the country by the Saudi-led coalition: this has destroyed the economy, stopped vital food imports, and created a humanitarian crisis that has left the country on the verge of famine and in the grip of a cholera epidemic.4 Whilst atrocities have been committed by both sides, a large majority of civilian casualties5 have been caused by Saudi-led6 airstrikes, where UK-supplied aircraft and munitions have played a role.7 UN agencies and human rights monitors, along with leading human rights organisations, have documented a pattern of violations against international law committed by the Saudi-led coalition.8,9 Between March 2015 and March 2017, the UN has verified 216 attacks on education facilities, including schools and education personnel.10 The UK government has not only ignored or denied this evidence, it has continued to provide an uninterrupted supply of arms that enable the Saudi-led coalition to continue to perpetrate such crimes.11 New estimates indicate that, since the Saudi-led coalition began its intervention in Yemen, the UK arms industry has earned revenues exceeding £6bn from its dealings with Saudi Arabia, generating profits estimated at almost £600m.12 This has resulted in a likely tax take of around £30m to the UK Treasury.13 This tax revenue figure is pitifully small and comes at the cost of thousands of children who have been killed, injured, and starved by a conflict that this trade has helped sustain. And it is dwarfed by the £139m that the UK Government will spend this year on humanitarian aid in response to a crisis that UK weapons sales have helped generate.14 1 Campaign Against Arms Trade. (2017). UK Arms Export Licences - Saudi Arabia. [online] Available at: https://www.caat.org.uk/resources/export-licences/ licence?region=Saudi+Arabia&rating=Military&date_from=2015-04&date_to=2016-09 2 Amnesty International (2015). UK-made missile used in airstrike on ceramics factory in Yemen. Amnesty Press Release, 25th November 2015. [online] Available at: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/uk-made-missile-used-airstrike-ceramics-factory-yemen 3 UN (2017). Children paying the heaviest price as conflict in Yemen enters third year. UN News, 27th March 2017. [online] Available at: http://www.un.org/apps/ news/story.asp?NewsID=56436#.WRGcU1Xyupo 4 Fews.net. (2017). Cholera outbreak grows; potential for disruption to Al Hudaydah ports remains a concern. Fews Net, May 2017. [online] Available at: http:// www.fews.net/east-africa/yemen 5 OHCHR (2016). Zeid urges accountability for violations in Yemen. OHCHR Media Centre, 25 August 2016. [online] Available at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20411&LangID=E 6 Saudi Arabia is leading a military coalition made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar (until 2017), the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan. 7 Amnesty International (2017). UK must investigate Saudi Arabia’s use of weapons in Yemen - new report. Amnesty Press Release, 7th October 2015. [online] Available at: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/uk-must-investigate-saudi-arabias-use-weapons-yemen-new-report . 8 Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict (2017). Children and Armed Conflict Monthly Update July 2017. [online] Available at: http://watchlist.org/wp-content/ uploads/watchlist-cac-monthly-update-july-2017.pdf 9 Mohamed, R. and Abdul Rahim, R. (2017). Yemen’s horror exposes the deadly hypocrisy of arms exporters including Britain and the US. [online] International Business Times UK, August 26th 2016. Available at: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/yemens-horror-exposes-deadly-hypocrisy-arms-exporters-including-britain- us-1578164 10 Save the Children (2017). Yemen’s Forgotten Children: The urgent case for funding education and child protection. [online] Save the Children, p.4. Available at: https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Yemen-Brief-FundingEducationChildProtection-April2017.pdf 11 Benn, H. (2016). Yemen: Military Intervention: Written question - 24770. [online] UK Parliament, 28 January 2016. Available at: http://www.parliament.uk/ business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2016-01-28/24770 12 War Child UK commissioned evidence from Foresight Economics, May 2017, outlined in this report 13 Foresight Economics used figures published by the main arms exporters to estimate the percentage of Saudi-related profits likely to be paid as corporation tax in the UK. This calculation is based on the proportion of the relevant companies’ profit paid as tax globally in each year, and the proportion of their global tax bill paid in the UK each year. These percentages are applied to Saudi-related profits. 14 ibid 02 By continuing to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, the UK risks tarnishing its international reputation, violating the Arms Trade Treaty15 that it led in creating, 16 and leaving itself vulnerable to accusations of hypocrisy. The UK Government’s policy of selling weapons to Saudi Arabia is: - KILLING YEMEN’S CHILDREN The military and diplomatic support the UK provides to the Saudi-led coalition is helping sustain its intervention in the conflict. This makes the UK complicit in the killing, maiming and starvation of Yemen’s children. Such is the scale of this suffering that, in 2016, the Saudi-led coalition was initially included on the UN’s list of states found to be committing grave violations against children in conflict.17 - UNDERMINING THE UK’S INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION To maintain a military and strategic alliance with a country that has been identified as a grave violator of children’s rights in conflict reflects very poorly on the UK, and undermines the credibility of the post-Brexit ‘Global Britain’ agenda.18 It also leaves the UK open to accusations of hypocrisy: how can we effectively criticise Russia, Iran and the Assad regime for their attacks on children and civilians in Syria,19 whilst simultaneously supporting and facilitating Saudi-led coalition attacks on children and civilians in Yemen? - CONTRADICTORY We are currently faced with a situation in which different UK Government departments are pursuing contradictory aims in relation to Yemen. While the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and Ministry of Defence focus on promoting arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and providing diplomatic cover and support for the Saudi-led coalition’s involvement in the war in Yemen, the Department for International Development is providing significant amounts of aid to address the humanitarian crisis fuelled by these very arms sales. - FINANCIALLY INCONSISTENT The UK reaps a minimal tax take from arms sales to Saudi Arabia, approximately £30m a year. Yet during the same period the UK spent £139m in humanitarian aid to Yemen. This means the Treasury is spending over four times in aid what it is getting back in corporation tax revenue.20 This does not represent good value for money for the UK taxpayer and, whilst this aid is undoubtedly of critical importance, flies in the face of the UK’s commitment to getting ‘value for money’ from its aid spending. 15 United Nations (2014) The Arms Trade Treaty. [online] Available: https://unoda-web.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/English7.pdf 16 Ellwood, T. (2014). Arms Trade Treaty enters into force. [online] Gov.uk, 24th December 2014. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/arms- trade-treaty-enters-into-force 17 United Nations General Assembly Security Council (2016). Children and Armed Conflict Report of the Secretary-General [online] Relief Web, 20th April 2016. Available at: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/N1611119.pdf 18 Stone, J. (2017). Britain’s support for Saudi Arabia is making it harder to hold Russia to account for alleged war crimes, Labour says. [online] The Independent, 26th September 2016. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/saudi-arabia-russia-war-crimes-labour-clive-lewis-hold-to- account-a7330506.html 19 Walker. P and Topping. A. (2016) Theresa May joins condemnation of Russia over Aleppo bombings, [online] The Guardian, 7th December 2016. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/07/theresa-may-condemnation-russia-aleppo-bombings-syria 20 This is based on corporation tax only. 03 The UK must: - Immediately suspend arms transfers and military support to Saudi Arabia which could be used to commit or facilitate further serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Yemen. - End any, and all, assistance being granted to the Saudi-led coalition in respect of its intervention in the Yemeni civil war. - Support an independent UN investigation into reported war crimes in Yemen.