The UK government has approved more than 3,000 export licences for military sales to countries which it believes have questionable records on human rights, MPs say, the BBC reports.
Sir John Stanley
According to the BBC report; The House of Commons Committees on Arms Export Controls says the value of the existing export licences to the 27 countries in question exceeds £12bn. This includes significant sales to China, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Sales to Sri Lanka raise “very serious questions”, the report adds.
The chairman, Conservative MP Sir John Stanley, said he was astonished at the scale and value of the licences.
Arms licences to Sri Lanka included pistols, small arms ammunition and approval for the sale of 600 assault rifles, which he said “raised very serious questions”.
The report concludes: “Whilst the promotion of arms exports and the upholding of human rights are both legitimate government policies, the government would do well to acknowledge that there is an inherent conflict between strongly promoting arms exports to authoritarian regimes whilst strongly criticising their lack of human rights at the same time, rather than claiming, as the government continues to do, that these two policies ‘are mutually reinforcing’.”
Thiru / July 17, 2013
“Whilst the promotion of arms exports and the upholding of human rights are both legitimate government policies, the government would do well to acknowledge that there is an inherent conflict between strongly promoting arms exports to authoritarian regimes whilst strongly criticising their lack of human rights at the same time, rather than claiming, as the government continues to do, that these two policies ‘are mutually reinforcing’.”
UK Government action is like rocking the baby and pinching it!
/
lal / July 17, 2013
Atlast, the Uk govt has ‘accknowledged’ the actions taken by the Sri Lanka against the racist, murderopus terrorists the LTTE was justifiable. The Sri Lankan people are grateful to the UK for their support in keeping SL forces equiped in case such terrorists raise their ugly heads yet again.
/
Amarasiri / July 17, 2013
Lal,
1. UK was primarily responsible for Sri Lankas woes, courtesy Soul bury constitution, that helped bury 100,000 souls. Therefore it was their fiduciary duty.
2. Now they to help Sri Lanka handle the Sinhala Buddhist racist, who are the core cause, led by Racist Buddhist Monks, that had nothing to do with True Buddhism.
/
lal / July 18, 2013
Amaralingam,
Soulbury Commission rejected the demands of 50-50 and other unreasonable demands made by the then racist Tamil leadership. The Tamil leaderships ever since has been playing cheap politics, to protect their priviledges over the poor lower caste Tamils and the Sinhalese population as a whole. They have failed to achieve anything for Tamils but only lots of dead bodies. The Sinhalese leadership will give the Tamils a better deal than the Tamil leaders who are yet to adopt a cooperative approach to politics. There is no evidence to suggest that there are racist Buddhist monks. So, get a life!
/
Stewart Sloan / July 18, 2013
The UK has expressed ‘concerns’ over Sri Lanka’s human rights record and then sells weapons to the country. Money! Money doesn’t talk; it swears! Shame on the mercenary UK!
/
Peter Casie Chetty / July 19, 2013
The Tamil cause was never seriously treated because it is not a cause to be treated seriously. You lose the war and the drug business and have no money to oil the palms of the MPs in UK so now you will have to find some other way of pleasing the Millibands, Cameron, Simon Hughes and the other leeches. No-one really cares about the Tamils and their ranting! Now you can plant the Eelaam flag where the sun never shines. Good luck with getting a homeland in Canada, India, Australia and Tooting Broadway.
/