A lawsuit filed in Canada last week asks to stop the sale of light-armored vehicles totaling US$15 billion to Saudi Arabia, reports The Intercept.
The lawsuit is part of a larger movement to halt arms sales to the country due to war crimes it is commiting in Yemen.
The suit was filed by Daniel Turp, a constitutional law professor at the University of Montreal. According to Turp, the sale to Saudi Arabia violates various Canadian laws, among them regulations on the export of military equipment. The latter explicitly prohibits sales to countries where human rights are “subject to serious and repeated violations”.
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“The suppression of human rights in Saudi Arabia and the Saudi government’s actions during the war in Yemen make the sale of these armored vehicles legally unacceptable,” Turp said.
Arms sales to Saudi Arabia are also prohibited in Canada if “there is a reasonable risk exported equipment will be used against the civilian population.”
If Canada's lawsuit is successful, it would revoke the export permit that is currently allowing the sale and ultimately cancel it. Lawyers involved in the case hope they will be able to set an international precedent against the sale of weapons to countries that grossly violate human rights.
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“This case is in part about sending a message that Canadian weapons should not be used against civilian populations,” said Anne-Julie Asselin, who is a lawyer at the Quebec firm litigating the case. “But it’s also about setting a precedent. If Saudi Arabia can’t buy these weapons here, we don’t want them to buy them from another country either.”
Saudi forces have been accused of committing war crimes through the use of cluster munitions in civilian neighborhoods as well as the designation of complete cities as military targets.
Just a few weeks ago an attack killed 120 civilians at a market in Mastaba, including at least 20 children.
Human rights groups worldwide have been calling for legal and political action against Saudi Arabia and some governments have already followed.
Earlier this month, The Netherlands became the first European Union country to launch an arms embargo, following a vote by the Dutch parliament citing human rights violations.
The European Parliament had urged a bloc-wide Saudi arms embargo last month with a non-binding resolution, but neither the United Kingdom nor France, both among the top suppliers to the kingdom, responded to the request.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has even boasted about the sale of more “brilliant” jet fighters sent to the Saudis.
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Saudi Arabia has killed thousands of civilians in Yemen as part of its bombing in support of the government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi. In January a Doctors without Borders hospital was bombed, killing five people and injuring 10 more.
According to the UN, more than 6,000 people have been killed in the war, including over 2,800 civilians.
Nevertheless, U.S. weapons manufacturers have made billions of dollars selling munitions to Saudi Arabia, ultimately ensuring the war on Yemen continues.
According to Raed Jarrar, government relations manager with the American Friends Service Committee, an advocacy group with a mandate to promote peace, the U.S. has been selling weapons knowing that they are to be used in Yemen
“We’re only asking for implementation of existing laws and we’re not picking on Saudi Arabia or anyone else because of a partisan agenda,” he said, “but the U.S. should stop facilitating death and destruction in the Middle East through arms sales to regimes it knows are committing war crimes.”