Australia significantly increased the number of permits for the export of military equipment to Saudi Arabia last year despite calls for such sales to be banned because of the humanitarian crisis in war-torn Yemen.
The Australian government continues to maintain significant secrecy over the type and value of weapons and military technology exported to nations such as Saudi Arabia.
But figures provided to the Greens senator David Shoebridge show that Australia approved 21 permits for the export of military or dual-use equipment to Saudi Arabia between 1 January and 9 November 2022. That was already more than the 17 permits approved in 2021 and considerably more than the five between 23 August 2019 and 26 October 2020.
Human rights groups have in recent years warned against exporting defence materials to Saudi Arabia because of its primary role in the Yemen war. That conflict – involving the Saudi-backed government, a Saudi and UAE-led military coalition and Houthi rebels – has lasted eight years, displaced millions of people and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
In 2018, UN investigators accused the Saudi-led coalition of killing thousands of civilians in airstrikes, torturing detainees, raping civilians and using child soldiers – acts they said may constitute war crimes.
Germany and UK ceased selling arms to Saudi Arabia over the Yemen war, although restrictions in both nations have since eased, allowing a resumption of military exports.
Australia does not release any information about what equipment it is exporting to Saudi Arabia, but it has previously said it could include weapons, munitions, armour, radios, simulators and training equipment that is “not necessarily for a military purpose”. The permits also relate to dual-use goods, which can be used for civilian and military application.
Shoebridge said exporting military equipment to Saudi Arabia while it conducted a brutal war in Yemen was a “gross breach of ethical standards”.
“When Australia changed governments last year, there was hope it would reverse Australia’s push to be a top-10 global arms dealer. Instead, the Albanese government has doubled down on arms sales to some of the world’s most troubling regimes,” he said.
“When you sell weapons, you can expect people to use them. When you sell weapons to countries engaged in violent military occupations or wars of aggression, you can assume they will be used to breach human rights.”
Mat Tinkler, the chief executive of Save the Children Australia, said it was “disturbing” that Australia’s approval of military exports to Saudi Arabia had increased despite claims of its involvement in human rights abuses and indiscriminate attacks that had killed Yemeni children.
“Moreover, the blanket secrecy surrounding Australian arms exports, which has continued under successive governments, is deeply concerning,” he said.
“Right now, due to the lack of transparency, Australian-made weapons could be being used to harm children or could be ending up in the hands of child soldiers and the Australian public would have no idea.
“The Australian government claims national security concerns, but the basic information it is refusing to release is information that many other countries already make publicly available.”
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Defence has previously said all applications to export military or dual-use goods were assessed against criteria including Australia’s international obligations, human rights, national security, regional security implications and foreign policy. Such exports were also “informed by the contemporary geopolitical situation”, the department said.
The department has also previously said that permits would be refused if there was an “overriding risk that the goods and/or technology may be used contrary to the national interest or to violate human rights”.
Tinkler characterised the exports as “simply putting export profit over the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people”.
“Australia has made clear its intention to become a major global arms exporter, but we must ask at what cost? Yemen, for example, is experiencing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world yet Australia’s military exports to countries involved in that conflict are likely worth more than the humanitarian aid Australia has committed to alleviating the crisis.”
The defence minister, Richard Marles, announced a review of the laws controlling the trade in defence and dual-use technology last week. The government has appointed experienced public servant and diplomat Peter Tesch and former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Graeme Samuel to lead the review.
They have been tasked with ensuring “Australia’s export control regime remains fit for purpose, balancing appropriate safeguards with a rapidly evolving strategic environment”.
Defence did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.
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