Arab Spring highlights urgent need for stronger EU arms export controls
24 November 2011
European Union Member States should take a long, hard look at their current arms export control practices in light of the problems revealed by EU arms sales in the lead up to the ‘Arab Spring’. This was the message Saferworld delivered to EU members at a conference it organised in Brussels on 10 November, and in a new report launched on the same day.
EU Members are due to commence a review of the EU Common Position on arms transfer controls by the end of 2011. The Saferworld conference was attended by EU Member State officials who will be responsible for carrying out the review and NGOs from around the EU. Discussions focused on the use of arms and military equipment supplied by the EU during the Arab Spring, EU members’ policies on arms transfers to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and how these experiences might inform the forthcoming review.
‘Lessons from MENA: Appraising EU transfer of military and security equipment to the Middle East and North Africa’, co-edited by Saferworld and published the same day, recommends that the review should consider:
- establishing and regularly updating a list of ‘countries of concern’ made up of those states for whom extra care should be taken when arms transfer licence applications are assessed
- introducing governance issues as a component in the licensing assessment process
- ways to take better account of long-term or ‘over the horizon’ risks
- developing a more joined-up-government approach to arms transfer decision-making
- improving information sharing and exchange mechanisms among EU members
- enhancing transparency on arms transfers.
The report also shines a light on a number of problematic arms transfers from EU members to MENA, which has been a key market for EU defence manufacturers in recent years, despite the authoritarian nature of a number of regimes in the region. While examples exist from across a range of countries, Libya and Saudi Arabia stand out as of particular note.
Since UN and EU arms embargoes on Libya were lifted in 2004, there has been a progressive increase in licences granted for arms transfers to Libya, from almost nothing in 2004, to 18 licences worth €72 million in 2005 ,and then to 283 licences worth €272 million in 2009. Included in the equipment that EU members agreed to supply Libya were small arms, anti-tank weapons and military helicopters.
Saudi Arabia has long been recognised as having a problematic human rights record, and recently has shown signs of becoming more assertive beyond its own borders. In 2009 Saudi planes, sourced from the UK, attacked Yemeni territory and earlier this year Saudi forces entered Bahrain to help put down demonstrations. Saudi troops are also reported as having fired on their own citizens during protests this year.
However, Saudi Arabia remains the EU’s main customer in the region with approved arms sales to the Kingdom totalling more than €50 billion over the last decade for which data are available, with only one licence refused over the same period. Licences for 2009 alone were worth €5 billion. News over the summer of a major new tank deal with Germany, and the UK’s failure to cancel virtually any Saudi licences while revoking more than 150 licences for transfers to Bahrain, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, suggest that when it comes to Saudi Arabia, EU members are continuing with business as usual.
Find out more about Saferworld's work on arms transfer controls
