SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Dutch Lawmakers Call for Saudi Arms Embargo Over Human Rights Violations
Landmark bill cites UN figures that Saudi-led troops has killed nearly 6,000 people in Yemen—half of them civilians
Mar 16, 2016
Dutch lawmakers called on their government to ban weapons exports to Saudi Arabia over the kingdom's violations of humanitarian law, making the Netherlands the first country in the European Union (EU) to follow through on a motion by the European Parliament in February.
The landmark resolution, approved on Tuesday, asks the Dutch government to impose a full arms embargo on Saudi Arabia, including dual-use exports that could be used to violate human rights. The bill cites United Nations figures that Saudi-led troops have killed nearly 6,000 people in Yemen--half of them civilians.
The bill also noted the Saudi government's ongoing executions of its own citizens, many of them political dissidents.
The parliamentary vote puts additional pressure on other EU governments, such as Britain and France--Saudi Arabia's core suppliers of weapons, in addition to the U.S.--to enact a similar ban. According to the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), the UK has sold about $9.4 billion (PS6.7 billion) in weapons to the Saudi government under Prime Minister David Cameron's administration.
"Saudi Arabia has a terrible human rights record and governments like the UK must stop supporting it," Andrew Smith, CAAT spokesperson, told The Independent on Wednesday. "The bombardment of Yemen has lasted almost a year now and the humanitarian situation is desperate."
"The Dutch parliament has set an important precedent and it's time for other arms dealing governments to do the same," Smith said. "The decision can't just be temporary though, it must be permanent."
Rosa Curling, from a legal firm representing CAAT, told Sputnik News on Wednesday, "If there is a clear risk that arms exported from the UK might be used to violate international humanitarian law, the UK has a legal obligation not to grant licenses for the export of military equipment and arms.... We can see no reasonable basis upon which the government could conclude there is not such a risk in relation to exports to Saudi Arabia. The evidence is overwhelming."
*This article has been edited to clarify that the lawmakers called for a weapons embargo, but the government did not enact one.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
Dutch lawmakers called on their government to ban weapons exports to Saudi Arabia over the kingdom's violations of humanitarian law, making the Netherlands the first country in the European Union (EU) to follow through on a motion by the European Parliament in February.
The landmark resolution, approved on Tuesday, asks the Dutch government to impose a full arms embargo on Saudi Arabia, including dual-use exports that could be used to violate human rights. The bill cites United Nations figures that Saudi-led troops have killed nearly 6,000 people in Yemen--half of them civilians.
The bill also noted the Saudi government's ongoing executions of its own citizens, many of them political dissidents.
The parliamentary vote puts additional pressure on other EU governments, such as Britain and France--Saudi Arabia's core suppliers of weapons, in addition to the U.S.--to enact a similar ban. According to the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), the UK has sold about $9.4 billion (PS6.7 billion) in weapons to the Saudi government under Prime Minister David Cameron's administration.
"Saudi Arabia has a terrible human rights record and governments like the UK must stop supporting it," Andrew Smith, CAAT spokesperson, told The Independent on Wednesday. "The bombardment of Yemen has lasted almost a year now and the humanitarian situation is desperate."
"The Dutch parliament has set an important precedent and it's time for other arms dealing governments to do the same," Smith said. "The decision can't just be temporary though, it must be permanent."
Rosa Curling, from a legal firm representing CAAT, told Sputnik News on Wednesday, "If there is a clear risk that arms exported from the UK might be used to violate international humanitarian law, the UK has a legal obligation not to grant licenses for the export of military equipment and arms.... We can see no reasonable basis upon which the government could conclude there is not such a risk in relation to exports to Saudi Arabia. The evidence is overwhelming."
*This article has been edited to clarify that the lawmakers called for a weapons embargo, but the government did not enact one.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
Dutch lawmakers called on their government to ban weapons exports to Saudi Arabia over the kingdom's violations of humanitarian law, making the Netherlands the first country in the European Union (EU) to follow through on a motion by the European Parliament in February.
The landmark resolution, approved on Tuesday, asks the Dutch government to impose a full arms embargo on Saudi Arabia, including dual-use exports that could be used to violate human rights. The bill cites United Nations figures that Saudi-led troops have killed nearly 6,000 people in Yemen--half of them civilians.
The bill also noted the Saudi government's ongoing executions of its own citizens, many of them political dissidents.
The parliamentary vote puts additional pressure on other EU governments, such as Britain and France--Saudi Arabia's core suppliers of weapons, in addition to the U.S.--to enact a similar ban. According to the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), the UK has sold about $9.4 billion (PS6.7 billion) in weapons to the Saudi government under Prime Minister David Cameron's administration.
"Saudi Arabia has a terrible human rights record and governments like the UK must stop supporting it," Andrew Smith, CAAT spokesperson, told The Independent on Wednesday. "The bombardment of Yemen has lasted almost a year now and the humanitarian situation is desperate."
"The Dutch parliament has set an important precedent and it's time for other arms dealing governments to do the same," Smith said. "The decision can't just be temporary though, it must be permanent."
Rosa Curling, from a legal firm representing CAAT, told Sputnik News on Wednesday, "If there is a clear risk that arms exported from the UK might be used to violate international humanitarian law, the UK has a legal obligation not to grant licenses for the export of military equipment and arms.... We can see no reasonable basis upon which the government could conclude there is not such a risk in relation to exports to Saudi Arabia. The evidence is overwhelming."
*This article has been edited to clarify that the lawmakers called for a weapons embargo, but the government did not enact one.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.