Arms Trade: United Arab Emirates
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessments he has made of the potential risk that arms exports licensed by the UK Government to the United Arab Emirates might be diverted and used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law in Sudan.
Answered by Chris Bryant
We take very seriously any allegations of UK military equipment ending up in Sudan in breach of the UK arms embargo. However, after extensive assessment, we have found no evidence of UK weapons or ammunition being used in Sudan.
We keep all our licensing decisions under close review, and we reviewed over 3,000 current and historic licences in recent months, considering any destinations where there are allegations of diversion to Sudan. We have not found any that required suspension or revocation.
Between 2021-2025, there were 29 refusals for Standard Individual Export Licences (SIELs) for the UAE, the majority of which were under Criteria 7 of the UK’s Strategic Export Licensing Criteria, which considers risk of diversion.
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