Jaajef wa G-L,

Information from the Campaign Against the Arms Trade from their website:

http://www.caat.demon.co.uk/


THE ARMS TRADE

An introductory briefing

Tens of millions of people have been killed in wars since
1945. The arms trade fuels these wars and wastes human
skills, natural resources and vast sums of money. The
Government has a policy of using military exports as a tool
of foreign policy. 

Such a powerful trade will not be stopped immediately, but
a number of key areas need to be addressed. This briefing
focuses on ways in which the UK could disengage from the
arms trade, with Government policy shifting from a
vigorous promotion of arms exports to one of reducing and
eventually ending them.

THE HARD SELL

For decades the UK Government has had a policy of
promoting arms exports, seemingly at any cost. The result of
this policy is that the UK continues to arm repressive regimes
around the world, despite the fact that massive Government
financial and political support is needed to prop up UK military
industry. 

The Government doesn’t simply wait for customers to
approach military companies to buy arms. It goes out to
actively promote military exports, giving the industry support
massively in excess of that the civil sector could expect. This
for an industry which has accounted for an average of less
than 3% of visible UK exports over the last five years of
available data (1991-1995).1,2 

This subsidy takes many forms, including the expense of
running the Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO), the
cost of Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) cover
for arms sales, and the subsidy for military research and
development.

The UK is one of the world’s leading arms exporters - ranked
second behind the US in terms of total arms deliveries in 1997.
France is not far behind, but Russia, the next largest, is a
distant fourth.3 

At least £4,598 million worth of military equipment left the UK
for overseas countries in 1997, while new orders totalled
around £5,500 million.1

In 1996/7 150,000 people in the UK were directly or indirectly
dependent on arms exports for their employment.1

The DESO

The DESO, part of the Ministry of Defence, was set up in 1966
to assist military exporters. It provides marketing assistance
and military advice to exporters, as well as organising arms
exhibitions and promotional tours. It has about 6004 civilian
and military employees in London and in nine offices
overseas. No other sector of UK industry enjoys this level of
government support for exports. Heads of the DESO, past and
present, come from major military exporters, effectively giving
the arms manufacturers a voice in Government.

ECGD

The ECGD, part of the Department of Trade and Industry,
helps exporters by underwriting loans and providing
interest-rate subsidies. ECGD backing for an export means that
if the buyer does not pay back the loan, the Government (in
other words, the taxpayer) guarantees to do so. Without this
backing, many arms sales to high risk countries would not go
ahead. 

Arms deals account for a disproportionately high level of
ECGD backing. Between 1990/1 and 1996/7 credits for military
exports accounted for 27% of the guarantees for capital goods
and projects underwritten by the ECGD5,6,7. This percentage
peaked in 1993/4 at 48% - an incredible proportion of the
allocation given that military exports comprised only 2.2% of
total visible exports in 1994. 

* CAAT is calling for the closure of the DESO and an end to
ECGD support for exports of military equipment.

Research & Development

In addition to disproportionate help promoting and selling
military equipment, the Government provides disproportionate
help with the R&D costs of the arms industry. It assists
through both internal Government research and directly
financing the R&D of military contractors. In 1996/7, the MoD
spent £804 million on ‘Intramural’ R&D and £1,440 million on
‘Extramural’ R&D.1 

JOBS

The effect of the above subsidies is to undermine the perceived
importance of the arms trade to the UK economy. This
extravagant use of public money means that other,
non-military, sectors are deprived of support, and it appears
certain that civil manufacturing would be able to create more
employment per pound than millitary production because of
the latter’s massive R&D and capital costs.

* CAAT has long been calling for the creation of a national
Conversion Agency that can begin to develop and implement
an imaginative economic programme to reorientate the UK
economy from military to civil production. Producing civil
goods, such as transport equipment, alternative energy
systems, and medical equipment would utilise the existing
skills from military industry and create jobs.

The creation in late 1998 of the Defence Diversification
Agency (DDA), despite its name, does not meet this need. Its
emphasis is on support for military industry rather than the
reorientation of the economy, reflected in the placing of the
DDA in the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. 

LICENSING CONSIDERATIONS

The Government claims to have a responsible policy on
military exports, and to take human rights concerns into
account. In practice, however, the UK arms some of the most
repressive regimes and pours weapons into regions of military
tension. 

Anyone wishing to export military goods needs to obtain an
export licence from the Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI). The Ministry of Defence (MoD), Foreign and
Commonwealth Office (FCO) and The Department for
International Development (DFID) are each consulted before a
licence is granted.

The Government has signed up to three sets of internationally
agreed criteria for arms exports - the European Union’s Code
of Conduct, the Permanent Five of the United Nations and the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. These
criteria are implemented through guidance given to FCO desk
officers. This requires them to consider the consequences of
arms exports on existing armed conflict, the human rights
record of the purchasing government, the effect on internal
tension within the recipient country, and the technical and
economic capacity of the recipient. 

However, the decision-making process is weighted heavily in
favour of exports. Time and time again, concerns of human
rights are overridden in the interest of exports, so that the UK
is arming some of the worst dictators in the world.

Human rights

The Government continues to allow the export of military
equipment to Indonesia, a country with an appalling human
rights record, arguing that it has received assurances that
equipment such as Scorpion light tanks will not be used for
internal repression. This is in spite of the fact that previously
supplied Scorpion tanks have been used against protesters.

As well as the sale of equipment which is used directly in
repression, all arms sales give moral support and credibility to
the recipient. For this reason, people working for justice often
give a very high priority to campaigning for an end to arms
supplies to their governments. The UK government has
imposed complete or partial embargoes on the sale of military
equipment to China and Burma * countries where there were
few arms sales. However, it ignores human rights
considerations when big orders are at stake, and consequently
the UK continues to arm Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.

Fueling conflict

Many of the UK’s arms customers are situated in areas of
actual or potential conflict. For example, there is growing
tension in the Far East over recent oil and gas fields discovered
in the Spratly archipelago and Paracel Islands. The UK’s
contribution to raising the stakes has been to sell high tech.
military equipment into the area. 

The Al Yamamah contract with Saudi Arabia is the UK’s
biggest export order ever. Supplying huge quantities of the
latest weaponry to such a heavily armed region raises tensions,
not only in the Middle East but globally, as this region is of key
strategic importance.

Development

Countries with massive development needs, like India, are
among the UK’s most lucrative customers for military
equipment. The Government’s support for arms sales
encourages such countries to waste money - money that could
be spent to meet people’s basic health and education needs. 

 

* CAAT is calling for an immediate ban on the supply of
military, paramilitary and police equipment to governments
with records of sustained human rights abuse or which are
involved in armed conflict. Training of military, security and
police personnel from these countries should also be ended.

* CAAT is also calling for the effects on development to be
taken into account when arms export applications are
considered.

SECRECY

Although there have been some moves to lift the secrecy
surrounding arms sales, including the promised Foreign Office
annual report, a veil still remains.

In the UK, successive governments have claimed to exercise
responsible control over military exports but, usually for
reasons of "commercial confidentiality", no-one is told what is
being sold to whom. A register of licence applications would
rectify this lack of information, allowing the public and MPs
the chance for debate before the equipment is exported. 

At the international level, a step towards greater openness was
taken in December 1991 when the United Nations’ General
Assembly voted to establish a Register of Conventional Arms.
Governments are invited to inform the Secretary-General about
their arms exports and imports, military holdings and national
arms production for the following categories of equipment:
battle-tanks, armoured combat vehicles, large calibre artillery
systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles
and missile systems. It is published annually, but covers only
equipment which has already been exported. 

* CAAT is calling for a register of all applications for UK arms
export licences to be available for public inspection to enable
comment and, if appropriate, parliamentary debate before a
licence is granted. This would complement the UN Register.

LANDMINES AND LASER-BLINDING WEAPONS

Every month anti-personnel landmines kill over 800 civilians
worldwide and maim another 450. Mines are hidden and
indiscriminate killers, remaining active for many years after
they are laid. The UK Government ratified the 1997 Ottawa
Treaty on landmines in July 1998.

* CAAT is calling on the UK Government to apply pressure to
other states, including the US and Russia, to persuade them to
ratify the treaty. It is also monitoring the UK Government’s
implementation of the Treaty, which includes mine clearance
and the care & rehabilitation of mine victims. 

Lasers are frequently used in guidance systems, but in recent
years there has been concern that they might be used as
weapons in their own right. This prompted governments to
agree, in 1995, Protocol IV of the Inhumane Weapons
Convention, which prohibits the use against the naked eye of
any laser weapon which has blinding as one of its combat
functions. Despite its limitations, this Protocol is a start to
tackling these weapons. The Protocol will come into force
when it has been ratified by twenty governments.

* CAAT is asking the UK government to ratify Protocol IV of
the Inhumane Weapons Convention.

ABOUT CAAT

The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) is a broad coalition of
groups and individuals committed to the following basic objectives:

    an end to the international arms trade and the UK’s role in it as one of
    the world’s leading arms exporters;

    the conversion of military industry to civil production.

CAAT makes no essential political or moral distinction between arms
suppliers, being opposed to all arms exports. Neither does it prescribe
any one specific means for reducing and eventually eliminating arms
exports. Within CAAT there is diversity of opinion on such wider issues
as military defence, non-violence and political security, but sponsors,
affiliates and supporters of the Campaign are expected to support CAAT’s
basic objectives. This they do according to the resources and priorities of
their own particular concerns.

 

CAMPAIGN AGAINST ARMS TRADE

CAAT was set up in 1974 by a number of peace and other organisations,
which were concerned about the growth in arms exports following the
Middle East war of 1973. Since then CAAT has helped to make the arms
trade a significant political issue. 

In 1999 public awareness reached an all time high when around one
thousand people contributed to protests against the government sponsored
Defence Systems Equipment International exhibition in Surrey and London
Docklands. CAAT took a golden opportunity to highlight the
Government’s massive role in the international arms trade. DSEi was the
biggest UK arms exhibition ever to take place. It was sponsored by the
Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, part of the Ministry of Defence,
and was opened by the Secretary of State for Defence.

CAAT is currently campaigning on a number of issues resulting from the
DSEi fair, including the existence at the fair of promotional material for
anti-personnel landmines.

CAMPAIGNS

Companies, which supply riot control and counterinsurgency equipment,
and public order weapons, participate in the privately run COPEX
exhibition. In 1999 COPEX will be at Sandown Racecourse from 2nd * 4th
November. CAAT will continue to follow the exhibition around the
country until its deadly business is stopped. CAAT will also be
campaigning at the high-technology arms fair, Armed Forces
Communications Equipment Association (AFCEA) this year. AFCEA has
moved from Belgium because the campaign against it there has been so
effective. CAAT hopes to repeat that success when AFCEA is in London
from 27th * 29th October. CAAT will also be joining our European
partners campaigning against the Eurosatory arms fair in Paris, during
2000.

CAAT also highlights the activities of arms exporters in their local
communities, empowering local individuals and groups to tackle them.
The office may be able to supply information to CAAT supporters about
the arms exporting factories in their locality.

Although CAAT works for an end to all arms sales in the long term, it also
campaigns for an immediate military embargo on specific countries with
particularly bad records on human rights, or particularly developmentally
needy countries. Currently CAAT is campaigning against arms sales to
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, South Africa and the Far East. It has recently
published briefings on development, mercenaries, small arms, NATO and
Africa. 

 

June 1999 - Stop the Arms Trade Week. The second international week of
action against arms trade, with local activities and lobbying. We hope to
follow up the successful week, with a similar event next year.

In 1999, CAAT is highlighting its parliamentary and party political
activities. CAAT continues to call for the implementation of the
Government’s ethical foreign policy. Some parliamentary work is done
directly by the CAAT office staff, but it is of utmost importance that
supporters also campaign locally.

For several years CAAT has run a Clean Investment Campaign. This looks
at the military investments of local authorities, churches, health
authorities, charities and universities and encourages them to disinvest, or
use their shareholder power to encourage conversion. A pack, which
includes major research done over the years, is available from the office.
The new lists of investments and a slow but ever-growing list of
disinvestments are now available.

Work on the economics of arms exports, including the effects on
employment, continues. Research on the issue is being undertaken in
conjunction with academics. So far research has revealed the huge
subsidies that the arms exporting companies enjoy.

The AGMs of military companies continue to be a major focus. The
biggest of the companies is British Aerospace, and their AGM was on 28th
April. It will be on 4th May in 2000. CAAT shareholders questioned the
board about arms exports, while CAAT supporters protested outside.
CAAT also campaigned at the AGMs of GKN and GEC. We are awaiting
the results fo the merger of GEC’s defence arm with British Aerospace.

CAAT continues to campaign against landmines, playing a major role in
the UK Working Group on Landmines, which co-ordinates the work of
about fifty UK non-government organisations. The campaign has seen
phenomenal success. In December ’97 the Ottawa Treaty, banning
landmines, was signed, and in July ’98 finally ratified by the UK
government * albeit with loopholes which CAAT and the UK Working
Group on Landmines continues to campaign on. The treaty came into effect
in March 1999. CAAT continues to monitor the implementation of the
campaign, and this has resulted in official complaints being made to the
police and the government.

MATERIALS

CAAT has leaflets and briefings on many aspects of the arms trade and
stocks videos, badges, balloons, stickers, mugs, posters, etc. There is also
the CAAT newsletter that comes out every two months, packed with
information about the arms trade and the campaigns against it.

 INFORMATION SERVICES

CAAT has comprehensive files on the international arms trade,
categorised by company, country and topic. These files are available to
anyone for reference purposes, by appointment. The CAAT staff also uses
them to answer queries from the press, campaigners and the public.

HOW IS CAAT RUN?

CAAT has no formal membership structure. Individual supporters and
affiliated groups (local branches of peace organisations, trade unions,
churches etc), donate whatever they can afford towards the cost of running
the Campaign and receiving the newsletter. The Campaign is also
supported by Sponsoring Organisations, national organisations who
helped set up CAAT or who have subsequently given major support.
These organisations are listed at the foot of the page overleaf.

CAAT has over 20 local groups, plus around 100 Local Contacts who,
between them, cover much of the country. They are CAAT’s
representatives in their area and try to encourage groups and individuals
to include the arms trade amongst their concerns. CAAT has a network of
Student Contacts doing the same work in universities and colleges.

The Steering Committee is CAAT’s ultimate policy and decision-making
body. It is composed of six supporter representatives as well as
representatives of the Sponsoring Organisations, Special Interest Groups
(e.g. Christians, students) and staff - it meets four times a year. The twice
yearly National Forum feeds ideas and campaigning priority suggestions
into the Steering Committee. A smaller Executive Committee meets
monthly and ensures that Steering Committee decisions are carried out.
All CAAT supporters are welcome to attend the twice yearly National
Forum.

CAAT has three full-time paid co-ordinators and a part-time Research
co-ordinator, a Sales Worker and a Fundraiser, as well as many
volunteers who work for a day or more a week in the office. If you would
like to volunteer, please contact the office for details.

FINANCES

In 1998 more than three-quarters of CAAT’s money came from donations
from individuals. The rest came from materials sales, grants from the
Sponsoring Organisations and miscellaneous sources. CAAT’s budgeted
income for 1999 is just under £150,000. If more money were available
there is no doubt we could easily spend it to raise the profile of the arms
trade and increase our efforts to end it.

Sept 1999.

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