We lost our court case against the Government to stop it selling arms to Saudi Arabia – but that doesn’t mean we were wrong

If the ruling is not overturned then it will be regarded by Whitehall and Westminster as giving a green light to continue arming and supporting brutal dictatorships and human rights abusers

Yemenis stand on the rubble of houses destroyed by an air strike (AFP)

The ongoing war in Yemen is often referred to as a ‘forgotten war’. The victims are many, with over 10,000 killed, but their names are rarely shared in the UK and their stories are seldom told.

There have been atrocities committed on all sides of the conflict, but most of the deaths have been caused by the Saudi-led bombing campaign – a bombardment that has been armed, fuelled and supported every step of the way by successive UK governments.

This morning the High Court rejected a Judicial Review brought by Campaign Against Arms Trade. The Review had called on the Government to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen, pending a review into if the sales are compatible with UK and EU arms export law. The verdict is deeply disappointing, and we are pursuing an appeal against it.

On paper, UK arms export criteria are very clear in saying that if there is a ‘clear risk’ that UK arms ‘might’ be used ‘in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law (IHL)’ then an arms sale should not go ahead.

If this criteria is to be applied properly then it must surely stop the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia, a country run by a regime that has one of the world’s worst human rights records and that has been widely accused of grave IHL violations in Yemen.

If the ruling is not overturned then it will be regarded by Whitehall and Westminster as giving a green light to continue arming and supporting brutal dictatorships and human rights abusers, including Saudi Arabia. It will be regarded as permission to continue selling arms for use in war zones like Yemen, and into fragile and unstable political situations around the world.

The message that it will send to the Saudi military is even worse. It will tell them that they can continue exactly as they are in their brutal bombardment, which has already led to the deaths of thousands of civilians and the destruction of vital and lifesaving infrastructure.

Those deaths include the 140 people who were killed by the Saudi bombing of a funeral last October. As horrifying an assault as this was, it was not an isolated incident. It was one of many that have hit civilian targets. The last two years have also seen Saudi forces accused of turning a busy marketplace, a refugee camp and multiple schools and hospitals into the sites of massacres.

As the House of Commons’ committees for Business, Innovation & Skills and International Development said in a report last year, “it seems inevitable that any violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by the coalition have involved arms supplied from the UK.”

Despite these terrible attacks, the arms sales have continued. In the two years since the bombing began, the UK has licensed £3.3 bn worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia. Right now, UK made fighter jets are being flown by UK-trained military personnel and dropping UK-made bombs on Yemen. The UK is not just a bystander in this war, it is an active participant.

These bombs have fallen on a country that was already the poorest in the region, and where more than 1500 people have already been killed in the worst cholera outbreak in the world. The UN estimates that up to 5000 new people are being infected with the deadly disease every day. Medecins Sans Frontieres confirms that this has been exacerbated by the war and the terrible damage done to health infrastructure across the country.

A devastating report by UNICEF found that a child is dying every ten minutes from preventable causes, in a humanitarian catastrophe that is among the worst in the world.

Our Judicial Review was originally given permission to proceed last June. Since then the situation in Yemen has become immeasurably worse, with many more being killed or having their lives uprooted. Who knows what misery will be inflicted between today’s verdict and our appeal if it is granted?

Regardless of the damage it has done and the pain it has caused, the Saudi military will almost certainly be among those invited to London this September for Defence and Security Equipment International, one of the biggest arms fairs in the world. While there, they will be courted by civil servants and arms company reps who will be rolling out the red carpet for them and touting for further business.

One positive outcome of our legal case to date is that it has led to an increased scrutiny of the Government’s toxic relationship with Saudi Arabia. It is a relationship that needs to be examined and exposed more than ever, particularly when investigations by the Guardian suggest that Saudi royalty has been involved in funding, or at least willingly ignoring, links to violent groups in the UK.

Recent polling shows that two thirds of the UK is opposed to arms exports to Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, the recent election saw every opposition party with MPs, except the DUP, which didn’t mention it, standing on manifestos that explicitly called for an end to arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

That opposition needs to be mobilised. It is vital that the legal battle continues in the courts, whatever the final verdict it will set a very important legal precedent. However, there is also an important political campaign to be fought. These arms sales, and the devastation they have caused, has been done in all our names. It’s time to stop it for good.

Andrew Smith works for Campaign Against Arms Trade