BigJim, I need help understanding the lingo...
Is it simply that I'm not familiar with the terms?
What is the distinction this article makes between "The Government" and everybody else it mentions?
Just who is this "UK Government" who told members of the British parliament last month that it "remained concerned about the situation in Indonesia" after foreign observers were refused access to Aceh.
Is the British parliament not also the Government? Is the Foreign Office not part of the Government?
And if they are, why are they not SCREAMING in outrage about this?
Is this Nigel Griffiths, the British Trade Minister, responsible for approving these sales? Is he not accountable for violating the UK Government's arms export guidelines? If not him, then who? (sorry about the grammar 🙂
The article states:
"The British Government is selling arms and security equipment to countries whose human rights records it has strongly criticised.
Lists of weapons cleared for export reveal:
The countries include Indonesia, where the UK Foreign Office (FO) has reported "serious problems remain, with allegations of extrajudicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary detention, rape, torture and mistreatment of prisoners".
The Government approved export licences for categories of arms including machine guns, rockets and missiles, Hawk jets and Scorpion tanks deployed in Aceh in Indonesia.
The UK Government told members of the British parliament last month that it "remained concerned about the situation in Aceh".
Next week human rights activists in Indonesia are planning to challenge the legality of British arms exports to the country.
The Government has also approved big increases in the sale of arms to Nepal.
Yet the Foreign Office in its annual report accuses the Nepalese army and Maoists of "...widespread human rights abuses - extensive and systematic illegal detentions, torture and summary executions".
The UK Government's arms export guidelines state that licences will be refused if there is a "clear risk [they] might be used for internal repression", and "...will not issue licences which would provoke or prolong armed conflicts".
The list of export licences was provided by Nigel Griffiths, the British Trade Minister, in response to questions from Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat party's foreign affairs spokesman."
I won't even get started about Saudia Arabia, who seems to have carte blanche to behave any way it chooses with the approval of both the US government and the UK government.
Madness!! 😕
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