NGOs vs UK Defence Equipment Company

Date filed

6 June 2016

Keywords

Human rights

Countries of harm

Saudi Arabia

Current status

Rejected

Sector

Security & Defense

NCP

NCP United Kingdom

Allegations

On 6 June 2016, two NGOs (one from the USA and one from Germany) filed a complaint to the UK NCP against a UK defence equipment company that supplied munitions to the Saudi Arabian government. The complainants allege that the companys munitions were used in a raid in April 2015 on a village in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia that resulted in human rights violations. The complainants stated that the company breached the Guidelines by failing to address the human rights impacts of its operations and business relationships.

Between June and August 2016, the NCP communicated with the parties separately. The UK offered to meet with both parties to explain the process, but neither party accepted. In its response, the UK company stated the products referred to in the complaint were covered by a valid UK government export license, in which the UK government makes a human rights assessment when deciding whether or not to grant an export license.

In its 14 October 2016 Initial Assessment, the UK NCP does not accept the specific instance for further examination citing a lack of substantiation of the claims regarding the specific incident made by the NGOs (as the use of the products in the raid could not be verified as the complainants source was anonymous) and stated that the company approach to reply on the UK governments export licensing procedure as a human rights risk assessment was appropriate. The UK NCP also rejected the complaint stating that it would not serve the purpose and effectiveness of the Guidelines- nor be fair- to oblige one particular company to be held accountable for activities that other companies also undertake on the pretext of a specific link that cannot be verified.