February 2023

Those following events in Yemen – somewhat eclipsed in the news by Ukraine – will know that the UK has been involved in supplying weapons to the Saudis, which have caused immense destruction and thousands of deaths. In addition to weapons, UK personnel, including it is reported from the RAF, are involved in advisory capacities being careful to stop short of becoming mercenaries. The scale of weapons sales is over £20bn.

A clear pattern to the Saudi bombings was the attacks on domestic targets including hospitals, schools, weddings and funerals. Despite this, the UK has been keen to continue to allow arms sales and to sign off licences. The Court of Appeal ruled in 2019 that the UK had broken its own arms export laws by continuing to allow this trade to continue.

The Campaign Against the Arms Trade, CAAT, has been doggedly pursuing this matter through the courts and the High Court has allowed a fresh hearing between 31 January and 2 February 2023. This is hopeful and we await the results of this action.