An all-party group of MPs has called for an immediate suspension of UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia and an international independent inquiry into the kingdom’s military campaign in Yemen.
The call from the international development select committee follows evidence from aid agencies to MPs warning that Saudi Arabia was involved in indiscriminate bombing of its neighbour.
The UK government has supplied export licences for close to £3bn worth of arms to Saudi Arabia in the last year, the committee said, and has also been accused of being involved in the conduct and administration of the Saudi campaign in Yemen.
In their letter to the international development secretary, Justine Greening, it urged the UK to withdraw opposition to an independent international inquiry into alleged abuses of humanitarian law in Yemen.
A leaked UN report last week said Saudi Arabia was involved in breaches of humanitarian law, and in response the Saudis set up an internal inquiry, a move welcomed by the Foreign Office.
The committee said it was astonished to hear the extent to which the government had watered down calls for an independent inquiry proposed by the Netherlands last September at the UN.
“It is a longstanding principle of the rule of law that inquiries should be independent of those being investigated. Furthermore given the severity of the allegations that the Saudi-backed coalition has targeted civilians in Yemen, it is really unthinkable that any investigation led by coalition actors would come to the conclusion that the allegations were accurate,” the letter said.
It said it was shocked that the UK government could claim there had been no breaches of humanitarian law and had significantly increased arms sales to the Saudis since the start of its intervention in Yemen.
“We received evidence that close to £3bn worth of arms licences have been granted for exports to Saudi in the last six months. This includes £1bn worth of bombs rockets and missiles for the three-month period from July to September last year – up from only £9m in the previous three months,” the MPs said.
Amnesty International UK’s arms control director, Oliver Sprague, said: “It’s shocking that the UK has continued to sell billions of pounds’ worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia even as the civilian casualties have mounted in Yemen.”
Andrew Smith of the Campaign Against Arms Trade said: “The humanitarian situation is getting worse and the UK government has been complicit in it. We agree that arms sales need to stop, but they should never have been allowed in the first place.”
The committee said it had heard reliable evidence from humanitarian organisations including the head of Unicef Yemen that the Saudi-led coalition was involved in actions that risked civilian deaths and breached humanitarian law.
“We need an independent, international fact-finding mission to uncover the truth. Until then we should cease selling arms to Saudi Arabia,” said the committee chairman, Stephen Twigg. “All parties to this conflict should review their obligations under international law and undertake to put civilians and humanitarian work above other interests.”
The committee said the deteriorating security situation in Yemen was exacerbated not only by the coalition but also by the atrocities committed by the rebel Houthis.
The UK has recently increased aid to Yemen by a further £10m, prompting claims that the government was supplying arms that led to devastation that was then cleaned up with British aid money.
Twigg said there was a “clear paradox” in the government’s actions.
