Victory for campaigners over arms sales to Saudi Arabia
Quakers in Britain welcome the legal decision that UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen are unlawful and applaud the dedicated work of Campaign Against Arms Trade taking this through the courts.
Announcing the decision, judges ruled that the government "made no concluded assessments of whether the Saudi-led coalition had committed violations of international humanitarian law in the past, during the Yemen conflict, and made no attempt to do so".
Marigold Bentley, Head of Peace Programmes and Faith Relations, welcomed the decision and said, "Whenever I am asked by funders or others about the wisdom of supporting Campaign Against the Arms Trade, I always say that if CAAT folded, we Quakers would simply have to work with others, as we did in the 1970s, and create it all over again. It is essential as an arms producing nation that we collectively continue to protest and challenge the death machine that the arms trade is."
Work against the arms trade continues with planned opposition to the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEi) arms fair in London in September. Roots of Resistance are coordinating a Quaker response.