Subject: RT: British MPs Criticize Government On
Arms Sales
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 09:59:53 -0400
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>Thursday August 5 8:01 AM ET
British MPs Criticize Government On Arms Sales
By Dominic Evans
LONDON (Reuters) - A British parliamentary committee has criticized the government for
granting arms-related export licenses to Indonesia and Eritrea, saying it had brushed
aside concern over human rights and economic development.
The International Development Committee, in a report on conflict prevention released
late Wednesday, said control over arms exports was a litmus test of the British
government's declared ``ethical foreign policy.''
It said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which approved two licenses each
for sales to the two countries despite concerns expressed by development officials, had
not met those ethical standards.
``It is clear that the DTI has yet to take on board effectively the human rights and
conflict concerns which are at the heart of development policy,'' the report said.
DTI officials declined to comment on the specific exports to Indonesia -- accused by
human rights groups of decades of repression in occupied East Timor -- and Eritrea, an
impoverished nation at war until last month with neighboring Ethiopia.
But the officials said licenses for military or dual-use exports were not granted if
the equipment could be used for ''internal repression or external aggression.'' If another
ministry objected, the export could be blocked.
The report said Britain, one of the world's biggest arms exporters, and other
industrialized nations should coordinate more closely to stem the flow of weapons to
poorer countries.
``The lack of proportion between the expenditure of developing countries on arms and
their expenditure on social sectors is a scandal, and one in which many developed
arms-exporting countries are implicated,'' it said.
It quoted an academic report that said Britain's Defense Export Services Organization
(DESO) had offices in Indonesia with more staff and funds than the whole Foreign Office
arms control research unit.
British arms exports to Indonesia have been condemned by human rights groups who say
they help the Jakarta government's occupation of East Timor. British firms deny the
charges.
``We recommend that the government state in their response how the activities of DESO
are compatible with state policy on conflict prevention and arms control,'' the report
said.
It also recommended the government introduce a register of arms brokers in Britain and
prevent them brokering the sale of arms to countries to which the government would refuse
licenses.
The wideranging report called on the government to outlaw bribing of foreign public
officials by British firms and to set an example in the campaign against child soldiers by
ending the deployment of soldiers in the British army under 18 years of age.
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