AhlulBayt News Agency

source : Amnesty
Friday

27 January 2012

8:30:00 PM
293333

Amnesty International Criticizes UK for Exporting Tear Gas to Bahrain

Amnesty International criticized the United Kingdom's decision to license the export of tear gas to Bahrain, where multiple deaths have been caused as a result of the use of this weapon by the country's security forces.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Amnesty International criticized the United Kingdom's decision to license the export of tear gas to Bahrain, where multiple deaths have been caused as a result of the use of this weapon by the country's security forces.
 
A recent Amnesty report revealed that the UK recently authorized the sale of a variety of weapons, including grenade launchers, riot guns and tear gas to Bahrain, despite there being a substantial risk that these weapons could be used to carry out serious human rights violations within the country.

Amnesty has urged the UK Government to strengthen its arms sales policy to ensure that no equipment, including tear gas, is exported to regions where there is substantial risk that these weapons would be used to commit human rights violations.
 
Commenting on the topic, Amnesty International's UK Arms Program Director Oliver Sprague said: "The UK Government must not shirk its commitment to human rights for the sake of lucrative arms sales to the Middle East region."

He further stressed that " London mustn't permit transfers of any weapons where there is a substantial risk that they will be used to kill, torture or maim civilians or be used to brutally suppress peaceful protests" "Recent exports of tear gas to Bahrain clearly demonstrate that the government got its licensing policy wrong, mistakes it must not repeat in the future," he added.

"The current unrest in the Middle East - where tear gas and other potentially lethal crowd-control equipment on peaceful protesters have been so widely misused in brutal crackdowns - clearly demonstrates why it is essential to include these items within the scope of the international Arms Trade Treaty," said Amnesty.

The organization also called "for tear gas and other weaponry, munitions and equipment used for law-enforcement operations to be included among the conventional arms to be regulated by a new international Arms Trade Treaty being negotiated later this year."

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