Parliamentary committee questions UK arms exports to Sri Lanka
17 July 2013
17 July 2013
A report by a parliamentary committee has criticised exports of arms to countries that the Foreign Office has expressed human rights concerns about.
The House of Commons Committees on Arms Export Controls concluded in their 2013 report that over 3,000 export licenses, worth over £12bn, were approved by the UK to the 27 countries in question, including Sri Lanka.
The report says the sales to Sri Lanka, worth over £8mn raised “very serious questions”.
The committee’s chairman, Conservative MP Sir John Stanley, said he was astonished at the scale of the exports, to countries including China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
