Sheep magazine Archive 2: issues 10-17

Meanwhile statistics collated by UK Trade and Investment, a government
body that promotes British exports abroad, show the UK has sold more
arms than Russia, China, or France on average over the last 10 years.
Only the United States is a bigger exporter.
“The UK is one of the world’s most successful defence exporters,
averaging second place in the global rankings on a rolling ten-year
basis, making it Europe’s leading defence exporter in the period,” the
body boasted in a report released this summer.
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Ministers, who must sign-off all arms export licences, say the current
system is robust and that they have revoked permission to export defence
equipment in the past – for example in Russia and Ukraine.
But the Government has also ignored calls to stop selling weapons to
repressive regimes, including Saudi Arabia, which has been accused by
UN bodies of potentially committing war crimes in its military operation in
Yemen against Houthi rebels.
Both the European Parliament and the House of commons International
Development Committee have called for exports to the autocracy to stop,
but the Government says it has not seen evidence of Saudi war crimes.
The saudi-led coalition has bombed multiple international hospitals run
by the charity Médicins Sans Frontières, as well as schools and wedding
parties. Food factories have also been hit, as Yemen faces severe food
shortages. Human rights groups say there is evidence civilian targets are
Artwork: Alan Rutherford
SHEEP IN THE ROAD : NUMBER 15