UK decision to resume arms sales to Saudi Arabia ‘tantamount to signing death warrants of children’
The British War Child Charity has warned that the decision of the British government of Boris Johnson to resumes arms sales to the Saudi regime is tantamount to signing the death warrants of thousands of children in the Middle East, particularly in Yemen.
The news paper quoted Rob Williams, the chief executive of the charity as saying that “by allowing these arms sales, the UK will be complicit in the suffering and murder of children in what is already the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
He described the government’s decision as “shameful and deadly”.
Colette Fearon, War Child’s director of programs and advocacy, told The Independent: “The arms the UK are providing to Saudi Arabia flies in the face of all our commitments to protection of children and the upholding of human rights.”
She added: “To stand up and proclaim to be a supporter of human rights and rules-based systems and, yet, at the same time, trade arms when we know this was declared illegal, is unacceptable.”
The UK paused exporting weapons to the kingdom last summer amid fears the hardware was being repeatedly used to commit war crimes in Yemen.
But, despite a review finding Saudi forces had continually breached international humanitarian standards since weighing into the conflict in 2015, the British government announced on Tuesday it would continue sales.
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Source: The Independent
Hamda Mustafa