Ordered by date
The UK has suspended 30 of the 350 currently extant licences for exports to Israel but continues to allow the most problematic of UK arms exports, components for F-35 fighter aircraft, which have been at the heart of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
3 September 2024
With COVID-19 creating havoc for all manner of international processes, the Sixth Conference of States Parties of the Arms Trade Treaty limited itself to a ‘conference by written procedure’, intended to do little more than keep things ticking over. In this it largely succeeded, but a pre-COVID-19 trend to less transparency seemed to accelerate over the year, writes Roy Isbister.
28 August 2020
Despite a June court decision barring the UK Government from approving arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the UK’s International Trade Secretary has admitted to granting two licences in violation of the ruling. Roy Isbister argues that this is yet another example of how the current UK system is fundamentally flawed.
20 September 2019
The landmark ruling from the Court of Appeal on the UK government’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia undermines UK claims that its arms exports are not at risk of fuelling serious violations of international humanitarian law in Yemen. Now the government needs to honour the spirit as well as the letter of that ruling, says Roy Isbister.
26 June 2019
The third annual Conference of States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty provided a largely familiar tale of frustration and disappointment.
20 September 2017
Originally published on the Forum on the Arms Trade's Looking Ahead blog, Roy Isbister looks at the UK High Court hearing in 2017 to review the legality of UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia in light of violations of international humanitarian law in Yemen.
19 December 2016
The first international treaty of its kind, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) sets out rules to govern the international transfer of conventional arms.
22 August 2016
It is not just France’s credibility at stake over the way it has handled a sale of two Mistral class assault ships to Russia, says Roy Isbister, but the credibility of the whole EU Common Position on arms transfers.
21 November 2014
Selon Roy Isbister, ce n’est pas seulement la crédibilité de la France qui est menacée par la manière dont le pays a géré la vente de deux porte-hélicoptères d’assaut Mistral à la Russie, mais la crédibilité de la Position commune de l’UE sur les transferts d’armes toute entière.
21 November 2014
In 2011 France agreed a contract to supply Russia with two Mistral-class amphibious assault ships - the first major arms sale to Russia by a NATO state.
21 November 2014