SPEAK Arms Trade Campaign (Main Page May 2024)
UK Government support of the Arms Trade fuels conflict, aids oppression, and harms development, keeping poor countries locked in poverty.
SPEAK has been campaigning for an end to the UK government’s promotion and subsidisation of the arms trade since 2003 (20+ years).
We have also been campaigning for the end of UK arms sales to oppressive regimes with poor human rights records Such as Saudi Arabia and to the end of the DSEi arms fair.
Some of Our Results with Arms Trade Campaigns
In 2003, SPEAK first launched an Arms Trade campaign, which enabled us to expose the UK Government’s funding of private arms deals that fuel conflict, aid oppression, and harm development. Between 2003 and 2007, SPEAK actively campaigned for the closure of the Government’s Defence Exports Services Organisation (known as DESO) a Government department that existed to promote UK Arms exports. In 2004 we held a big Day of Action. Over 400 people prayed outside and lobbied DESO:
RESULT: 2007 saw the closure of DESO (Defence Exports Services Organisation)!
SPEAK’s campaigning role in this closure was acknowledged publicly, by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (known as CAAT) and documented on Wikipedia.
Over 200 MPs were in support of SPEAK’s Early Day Motion, with the support of Stephen Timms MP, pictured above. The campaign postcard prompted support from MPs, with 679 voting for closure of DESO and 686 voting for closure in Early Day Motions.
DESO Background- The Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO) which was set up in 1966 and ran until 2007, spent £15m a year on helping British firms sell military equipment abroad, whilst the UK government allows small UK charities providing proportionally more jobs to struggle.
(Article By Elizabeth Clifford-Marsh in https://www.army-technology.com/news/news1941-html/ 2007).
2017-2020- Arms To Saudi- Partial Success with Ongoing Action (LINK)-
2017-2020- In August 2017 we sent out our first digital Pray and Post campaign, in Partnership with CAAT asking people to ask their MP to sign the Early Day Motion (EDM)124.
We teamed up with CAAT who advised us to communicate with our MPs on this Early Day Motion (EDM)124 pushing for Parliamentary Scrutiny of Arms Export control. https://www.parliament.uk/edm/2017-19/124
This EDM called for the re-establishment of the Committees on Arms Export Controls (CAEC), as a matter of urgency, to provide scrutiny over current UK arms sales and the UK’s arms export control regime post-Brexit; and notes the considerable public concern about UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the use of such arms in the Yemeni civil war.
The Good News is that Committees on Arms Export Controls (CAEC) have now been established! Yes, a partial campaign success! We partnered with CAAT on this campaign but there was some progress, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
UK ARMS TO SAUDI ARABIA
Stop UK Weapon Use in Yemen- Human Rights Watch
2024 UK Arms To Israel and Palestinian Human Rights
2020- 2021 Arms To Saudi Arabia and Yemen Human Rights
2017 Arms Trade Pray and Post
History of Our Arms Trade Campaigns Resources/ Pray and Posts
- 1998 Action for Landmines Victims- 1998
- 1999-2000 SPEAK for the People in East Timor- 1999/2000
- April-2003-Arms Trade: Intro
- September-2003-Arms Trade: Iraq -Arms Trade Export Credit Guarantee (blue)
- November-2003-Arms Trade: Indonesia (Burgundy)
- November-2004-Arms Trade: South Africa
- January-2005-Arms Trade: Israel/Palestine
- January-2005 Arms Trade: Early Day Motion
- January-2007 Arms Trade: Time to close DESO
- January-2008 Where do UK Arms end up-Burma Repression in Burma
- May-2010 Arms: Indonesia & Papua
- January-2010 AMRS TRADE
- September- 2010-AMRS TRADE
- September 2015 Arms To Renewables – Arms and Arms Fair Take Note Campaign
- 2011- Humanising Destruction- Campaign Action On Drones
- December 2020 and January 2021 Arms To Saudi Arabia and Yemen Human Rights
- 2017 Farewell to Arms
- 2023-2024 Arms To Israel and Human rights in Palestine.
Note To Reader- NB There are lots more Pray and Posts on Arms Trade and human rights in the past. We are just in the process of online archiving and adding more to this list! Hallelujah we have done too much work to track easily! A network and community of very busy Bees determined to end arms injustice!
History Of Our Arms Trade Campaign Resources
2015 Arms To Renewables – Arms and Arms Fair
Take Note Campaign
2011- Humanising Destruction- Campaign Action On Drones
2010 Welfare or Warfare Arms Trade Action
2008 Arms Trade Action Where Do UK Arms End Up?
2007 Time to Close DESO
2005
2005
2004
2004
2003
2003
2000
1998
What’s the impact in Yemen of UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia? – BBC Newsnight 15th July 2020
This video covers Stopping arms sales
CAAT’s first Judicial Review was formally launched in March 2016. More than three years later, on 20 June 2019, the Court of Appeal ruled in CAAT’s favour. It found that it was ‘irrational and therefore unlawful’ for the Secretary of State for International Trade to have granted licences for the export of arms to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen without making any assessment as to whether violations of International Humanitarian Law had taken place.
As a result of this landmark decision, the government was ordered to retake all decisions to export arms to Saudi Arabia in accordance with the law and to stop issuing new arms export licences to Saudi Arabia. The government applied the same restrictions to licences to its coalition partners, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Egypt, for use in Yemen.
As a result of our action, hundreds of millions of pounds of arms sales to the Saudi-led coalition were put on hold.
Government resumption
However, the government refused to accept the Court of Appeal judgment and was granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. This case was due to be heard in November 2020. Since then, this decision was reversed
The ‘Historic’ UK decision outlaws arms sales for Saudi 2019 war on Yemen then later got reversed as isolated incidents in 2020. This is shocking and there is still so much to do.
Then, on 7 July 2020, the then Secretary of State for International Trade Liz Truss issued a written statement to Parliament. She said the government had completed the review ordered by the Court of Appeal, and had determined that any violations of international law were “isolated incidents”.
The government would therefore resume issuing new licences for arms sales for use in Yemen: “clearing the backlog of licence applications for Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners.”
The UK has continued to support air strikes by Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners in Yemen, in spite of overwhelming evidence of repeated breaches of international humanitarian law by the coalition.
SPEAKS Arms Trade Campaign History
Sheffield SPEAK’s Chloe Skinner talking about why she is passionate about ending the destruction that the arms trade causes…