Government should look to block arms sales to countries accused of rights abuses, influential group of MPs says

The government should tighten restrictions on the sale of UK arms to countries accused of human rights abuses, an influential committee of MPs has said.

The Committee on Arms Export Controls (Caec) said ministers’ default position should be to block the sale of weapons to countries that have not signed an international arms trade treaty and those on a Foreign Office human rights blacklist.

It also called on the government to start monitoring where UK arms are being deployed, in order to ensure British weapons are not being used in attacks on civilians or other human rights abuses.

Critics say the failure to monitor the end destination of British-made weapons allows manufacturers to deny culpability for how their products are used.

The committee also warned that ministers have not clarified how Brexit will affect the regulation of arms sales.

Caec brings together the House of Commons defence, foreign affairs, international development and international trade committees to assess how the government regulates the export of arms and other military hardware.

In its latest report, the committee called on ministers to consider introducing a “presumption of denial” when considering applications for the sale of arms to countries that have not signed the international Arms Trade Treaty or are on a Foreign Office list of nations with worrying human rights records.

That would restrict sales to many of the top destinations for UK arms exports, including Saudi Arabia, India, Indonesia, Oman and China, none of which have signed the Arms Trade Treaty. It could also limit arms deals with the US, which has signed but not ratified the treaty.

China and Saudi Arabia are also on the Foreign Office’s list of “human rights priority countries”.

UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia dwarf those to other countries.

In their report, the MPs said: “We have heard a proposal for a ‘presumption of denial’ in respect of open licences for exports to countries that have not signed the Arms Trade Treaty, and a similar proposal in respect of countries that are on the Foreign Office’s list of “Human Rights Priority Countries”, as set out in its Annual Human Rights Report.

“We can see that there are arguments for and against both proposals. The government should review these proposals and report back, either in response to this report or in correspondence, with its findings.

“In any case, we believe there must always be a more stringent process in place for any arms exports to such countries, so the government will be able to show, if such arms exports are approved, that they would not be in breach of the criteria [for approving sales].”

They also called on ministers to introduce “end-use monitoring” to determine whether British weapons are being used to commit human rights abuses.

This has been a key demand of anti-arms trade campaigners, who say failure to monitor the final destination of UK weapons allows manufacturers to say they have no proof their products are being used to commit war crimes or other abuses.

The MPs said: “We believe that some end-use monitoring is advisable, and that it would assist the government in making better, more informed, export licensing decisions, as well as in addressing questions around compliance and enforcement.”

The committee also said the government should clarify how it plans to coordinate arms regulations with the EU after Brexit, expressing “concern” that this had not already happened.

The committee chair, Graham Jones, said: “Although the UK has one of the toughest arms-control systems anywhere in the world, this in-depth analysis has highlighted some of the gaps in those controls.

“I am delighted that there was a consensual view across the committees on what is a very thorough report. There are, however, outstanding questions and the committees intend to look into these further in the future.”

It comes as new figures revealed the UK nearly doubled the value of arms sales to countries on the government’s list of human rights abusers in the past year.

Licences for arms deals worth some £1.5bn were approved in Whitehall in 2017, up from £820m a year earlier, according to figures compiled by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (Caat) pressure group.

Sales were granted to 18 countries, including China, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Israel, Egypt and Pakistan, compared to 20 different states in 2016.