The neutrality of the chief gatekeeper to the UK’s arms control regime has been brought into question after he repeatedly attacked the integrity of British NGOs’ claims about civilian deaths in Yemen. Jones is the most senior parliamentarian overseeing Britain’s arms control regime, including the lawfulness of UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia and Yemen. During the last parliament there was no agreement on whether the government should ban British arms exportcontrol licences to Saudi. One international arms control NGO, Control Arms, wrote to Jones in August urging CAEC to return to inquiring into specific licences. “The UK’s recent licensing practice has given more cause for concern than at any time since current legislation was adopted in 2002,” Control Arms explained.

Source: The Guardian February 04, 2019 06:00 UTC