Arms Trade: Israel
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has assessed if there is a clear risk that arms exports licensed by the UK government might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law by Israel in Lebanon.
Answered by Chris Bryant
The Prime Minister has been clear that the conflict in the Middle East is not our war. We are responding to this crisis with clear and calm leadership to protect our national interests without being drawn in to the conflict.
Export licence applications are rigorously assessed against the UK’s Strategic Export Licensing Criteria, including criterion 2(c) which states that we will not grant a licence if there is a clear risk that the items under that licence might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law. We also keep all existing licences under continual review on the same basis. This means that all these issues are kept under continuous review.
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