Arms trade

Pressure mounts on Western powers to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia

The Swiss city is hosting the second conference on the UN-backed Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which came into force in 2014 to lay out new rules governing the international arms trade. Advocacy groups are urging signatories to keep their commitments under the treaty, which requires states to block arms deals if there are grounds for believing the weapons will be used against civilians.

Control Arms, a coalition of NGOs, called on France, Britain and the United States on Monday to halt sales to Saudi Arabia over its actions in Yemen, saying the trio was guilty of “the worst kind of hypocrisy”. All three countries have signed the treaty, though the US Congress has refused to ratify it.

By continuing to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia, which has waged a 17-month-long campaign against a Shiite Houthi insurgency in Yemen, the three Western countries “are violating [the treaty] with impunity”, said Control Arms director Anna Macdonald.